Parliamentary Visit in Ukraine Ends, Delegation Returns to Georgia
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, April 18, 2022
The Georgian parliamentary delegation returned from Ukraine on April 17. Advistor of the Prime Minister of Georgia David Sergeenko assessed the visit to Ukraine to be crucial in terms of current and future relations between the two countries.
“During the planning of the visit, of course, we had two expectations. First, it was an expression of Georgia's solidarity towards the country. Second, it would allow the existing misunderstandings to be resolved. The meeting at Rada, which lasted several hours, emphasized that this meeting changed a lot for the better. Their attitude from the beginning to the end of the meeting significantly changed towards positive.
Most of the misunderstandings were clarified. If there is any direction left, for example in terms of support or no support of sanctions, Shalva Papuashvili made very clear and unambiguous explanations, which turned out to be absolutely understandable and acceptable to them.
I think we can say that the vast majority of these issues are already closed and if there is anything left, it is already on the way to a positive solution,” said Sergeenko.
According to Lelo member Anna Natsvili, Ruslan Stefanchuk asked the Georgian side for two things. The first is for Georgia to discuss bilateral sanctions, where it sees the possibility of doing so, and the second is for Georgia to take steps that Ukraine has already taken, including fighting Russian propaganda and disinformation.
“It was stressed that Georgia will not become a black hole to bypass international sanctions,” Natsvlishvili stated.
According to MP Khatuna Samnidze, the visit to Ukraine was delayed, but it was important for the restoration of relations between the two countries.
“After this meeting, I hope that a discussion will be opened, including with the opposition on what can be done to support our partner Ukraine,” Samnidze said.
The delegation consisting of 9 deputies of the Parliament of Georgia arrived in Ukraine on April 16. The delegation included: Shalva Papuashvili, Archil Talakvadze, Davit Sergeenko, Levan Ioseliani, Beka Odisharia, Ana Natsvlishvili, Vakhtang Megrelishvili, Khatuna Samishvili. They visited the Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Irpen.
