Georgian, Polish PMs Discuss Security Challenges, Georgia’s EU Integration
By Khatia Bzhalava
Friday, March 18, 2022
Yesterday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili hosted his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Batumi. As the governmental press service reports, the sides discussed the security challenges created in the region as a result of the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, as well as the applications submitted by the Associated Trio countries (Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova) on EU integration. In this regard, the Prime Minister of Georgia stressed the importance of the support of international partners in this process, including Poland.
“Poland is Georgia’s outstanding friend and partner, with having strategic cooperation and close relations in many areas,” Garibashvili announced after the meeting. The Prime Minister stressed that the two countries are successfully cooperating in both bilateral and multilateral formats and are interested in further expanding the multidimensional relations.
The Prime Minister expressed gratitude towards Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who arrived in Tbilisi with European leaders in August 2008, during the large-scale war with the Russian Federation, stressing that “Georgians, will never forget the heroic behavior of President Kaczynski”.
The head of the government announced at the joint press conference that he had informed his Polish colleague on the “active political and humanitarian assistance” that Georgia provides to Ukraine at ‘all international and political levels’. According to him, the Georgian Government has co-sponsored resolutions in aid of Ukraine and has supported the recently launched International Criminal Court investigation into war crimes committed in the conflict.
According to the Polish Prime Minister, there are rumors about Georgia not being fully involved in sanctions, however, as he noted, PM Garibashvili assured him that “Georgia is doing everything possible to stop this aggression, uphold democratic values and support the freedom and sovereignty of Ukraine”.
The Polish PM noted that everything must be done to stop this aggression. He mentioned the initiative voiced by Poland to deepen the sanction packages already adopted by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, stressing that “this barbaric approach to Ukraine is unacceptable”.
“Russia's current aggression is an aggression against our values, each demolished house must be followed by yet another sanction,” he noted.
PM Morawiecki expressed strong support towards Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as, Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
