Margvelashvili’s Delivers a Lecture in Abu Dhabi

On 10-11 April, the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili visited United Arab Emirates. He held the meetings with government officials and members of the royal family. At the end of the visit, Margvelashvili visited the Center for Strategic Studies of Emirates and delivered a public lecture, where he focused on Georgia's security and its role for the international community.

The President stated that the main purpose of Georgia is to make more friends and allies who are interested in the security and protection of this small country, allies who realize the strategic importance of Georgia.

He noted reasons why Georgia must be an interesting country for other states: "we will attract partners from the East and West, and at the same time we will increase the number of countries interested in stability. In 2019 we will implement a project, which will start in Baku and complete in Italy and Greece.This project will provide additional energy opportunities in Southern Europe. This means that Georgia will have more supporters and more friends,” stated Margvelashvili.

Besides the transit functions of Georgia, Margvelashvili mentioned a potential of the country as a trading hub. He stated that supports free trade, and despite the small number of population in Georgia, investing here means to invest in the market, which has free trade with Europe, Turkey, the former Soviet Union Member States and with China. Therefore, Georgia could be a gateway which connects global economies.

According to Giorgi Margvelashvili, while discussing the future for partnership and opportunities, everybody must mention the threats Georgia is facing. "These challenges are very important for a small country with an important geopolitical location. Georgia which is located at the crossroad is looking for a mechanism to protect its security.

Georgia's challenges are new decisions that are not based on the rule of law, but the current power games in the region. I represent a country whose 20% is occupied by a neighbor, nuclear state, which violates all the mandates of international law and logic of history and economics, as the occupation of Georgia has brought nothing to Russia.

Margvelashvili also said that Russian aggression is not only Georgia's problem. This is an example of how the privileged country occupies territories of its neighbor which has no nuclear weapons or a big enough army to defend itself. Similar precedent will create an unstable international political environment in the future.

The visit of the President to the United Arab Emirates is an important step for Georgian diplomacy and the process of raising awareness about threats of imperialism.

Georgia's position to become an important partner for other countries to maintain its security is rational and logical. The geographical location of Georgia gives an opportunity to consider the country as an alternative source of gas and oil transit in Europe. This fact increases the political significance of Georgia. On one hand Russia doesn't want Georgia to become a member of NATO and on the other- Western countries don't want Georgia to be under Russian influence and give Russia an opportunity to increase its imperialist ambitions.

For a country like Georgia, the main guarantor of security should be international community. At the moment, Georgia has no military potential to cope with the aggression from the north. Russia ignores international norms and regulations, therefore, diplomacy and international relations to increase the international importance of the country must become one of the main instruments for Georgia to defend itself.