Georgian PM in Kyiv: "We have a common goal - EU and NATO membership"

Georgia and Ukraine’s common goal is EU and NATO membership

Georgia and Ukraine support each other on issues of sovereignty and territorial integrity, they have common European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, and they have a common understanding of regional security issues, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili summed up the results of the meeting in Kiev on August 22 with the President and Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Denis Shmigal.

On August 23, Garibashvili, among the leaders of more than 40 countries, is participating in the Crimean Platform Summit in Kiev.

“It has been 13 years since Georgia’s war with Russia in August 2008, and 20% of Georgia’s territory is still occupied by [Russia]. Of course, we are concerned about Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Crimea, separatist regions, and also on our territories. Borderisation also continues in Tskhinvali and Abkhazia”. Irakli Garibashvili said at a joint press conference in Kiev.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine, in turn, said that Tbilisi and Kiev should work together on de-occupation and move together towards full membership in the European Union and NATO. “In the face of increasing pressure from Russia, Ukraine has always felt the support of Georgia, and appreciates it very, very much”, Denis Shmigal said.

Priority for both countries, in his opinion, are issues related to the deepening of cooperation mechanisms with NATO and further involvement in the dialogue on security in the Black Sea.

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The day before the meeting in Kiev, the Georgian prime minister made a humiliating remark regarding the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is a citizen of Ukraine and was appointed by President Zelensky as chairman of the executive committee of the National Council of Reforms of Ukraine in May 2020.

In Georgia, Saakashvili was convicted in absentia and put on the wanted list for the murder of Tbilisi resident Sandro Girgvliani and the beating of deputy Valery Gelashvili.

In August 2020, Saakashvili announced in Kiev that he was returning to Georgia. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili commented on these words a year later, before flying to Kiev: “We all the ties necessary to meet him with and ensure his comfort in prison”.

This phrase refers to an incident caught on cameras during the August 2008 war. The footage shows the nervous President Saakashvili talking on the phone and chewing on the edge of his tie.