Georgian parliament reveals solidarity to Ukraine

Ukraine is Georgia’s strategic partner and a positive relationship with the country has great importance in terms of politics and economics.

However, the current government moulds its policy to Ukraine taking several factors into account.

The Georgian authorities try to be cautious while showing solidarity to Ukraine without provoking the Russian government.

On the other hand, the appointment of former Georgian officials to high posts in the Ukrainian government has considerably strained relations between Georgia and Ukraine.

It is likely that these two aspects have hindered the meeting of Georgia’s Prime Minister with the Ukraine’s president.

Instead Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili paid his visit to the ally state on April 20-21.

In the course of the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Usupashvili emphasized the significance of closer relations at bilateral and multilateral forums.

The two Speakers stressed that a deep cooperation would promote much for the common challenges Georgia and Ukraine are facing currently.

Usupashvili especially underlined Georgia’s solidarity to Ukraine during this hard period.

“Georgian people stand by Ukrainians, Georgian parliament stands by the Ukrainian parliament, the Georgian government stands by the Ukraine’s government. We want you to know that we support you in this hardship. We should resist any and all aggression together and we should restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our countries simultaneously. We should continue our path towards Europe,” Usupashvili said.

The same aspiration was divulged during the meeting with Ukraine’s Prime Minister. Usupashvili declared that Georgia and Ukraine enjoy the same objectives and foreign orientation and not only common troubles.

“Unfortunately the international community showed insufficient attention to the occupation of Georgia’s territories through the Georgian-Russian War in 2008 that resulted in the similar developments in Ukraine,” Usupashvili said.

He also stressed that the deepening of institutional links and exchange of experience would be beneficial for both states.

The Georgian side also initiated an annual conference with the participation of Georgian, Ukrainian and Moldavian MPs and European colleagues.

“We would create an arena for the countries that face common problems and work together to overcome them,” said the Ukraine’s parliament chair.

Following Usupashvili’s visit to Kiev, heads of the foreign and Euro-Integration Committees of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia will meet in May in Tbilisi, in the frame of a two-day visit. During the meetings, collaboration intentions among the parliaments of the three counties will be discussed in depth.

In addition, Batumi will host a Georgian-Ukrainian economic commission meeting, where the government members will speak about common projects.

“All of these activities are profitable for both states. When we support Ukraine, we support our own interests. If the Russian aggression is not halted in Ukraine and Georgia, the whole region will be pushed into further complications. Thus, we agreed on a closer relationship and coordination on the international arena,” Usupashvili said.

The visit has been criticized by the pro-Russian Democratic Movement-United Georgia party. Its members have emphasized that the parliament chair even did not mention the appointing of former “criminal” officials of Georgia to leading posts in Ukraine.

Of course the current authorities are not happy with the being of Georgia’s ex-officials to Ukraine. However, common values and problems with Ukraine, as well as the obvious benefits of strategic partnership, have caused them to turn a blind eye to the issue.