PM Kobakhidze kicks off official visit to Azerbaijan

Salome Zourabichvili is the opposition’s main mistake. All those, who trusted and followed her committed a mistake,” said Aleksandre Rakviashvili, a member of the Girchi party. According to Rakviashvili, the opposition has not decided what they want: elections should come first or reforms and who should implement the reforms. “All this looks even more immoral in the light of the fact that this part of the opposition seems confused, and on the other hand, people are imprisoned, and in fact, they are betraying the people who are rallying in the street demanding new elections,” he said. Rakviashvili believes that none of Salome Zourabichvili’s initiatives will be successful. “Sooner or later the Georgian people will realize that they committed a mistake but much energy will be spent and many more mistakes will be committed. I don’t expect that anything good will happen with the support of Salome Zourabichvili, on the contrary, things will get worse,” he said.

Congressman Joe Wilson, who chairs the Helsinki Commisssion and is the author of the MEGOBARI Act introduced Salome Zourabichvili to President Donald Trump’s son and two members of the future US administration. “I was grateful to introduce the President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili to the President’s son Donald Trump Junior. Two amazing people who are working to do so much good in the world,” he wrote on the X Platform. According to Joe Wilson, Salome Zourabichvili met the US future Defense Secretaries Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth. “It was great to bring together President Salome Zourabichvili with future Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Peace through Strength is back,” he said. “I am grateful to bring together two great patriots President Salome Zourabichvili and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to safeguard the strong US-Georgia relationship and defeat the tyrannical Ivanishvili regime,” Joe Wilson wrote following the meeting.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, speaking to journalists in Baku, stated that opposition representatives failed to participate in the inquire and refrained from approaching the prosecutor’s office with any evidence of election fraud or significant manipulation, as no such evidence exists. He also referred to the Public Defender’s statement as supporting this position. “The Public Defender requested one straightforward thing—facts and evidence. We are demanding the same: the presentation of facts and evidence. Instead, we hear completely absurd claims about 300,000, 200,000, or even 400,000 votes being falsified, all without any basis. These are mythical assertions and baseless versions, which is precisely why opposition politicians avoid addressing the prosecutor’s office,” Kobakhidze remarked.

In a statement issued on Thursday, leading MEPs expressed their ‘profound concern regarding the further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia.’ The Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs David McAllister, the Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Sergey Lagodinsky, the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus Nils Ušakovs, the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur for Georgia Rasa Juknevičienė and the Chair of the European Parliament’s Election Observation Mission for the 2024 parliamentary elections in Georgia Antonio López-Istúriz White issued the following statement on Thursday.“We express our profound concern regarding the further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia. We are shocked by the news that former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia was violently assaulted in a Batumi hotel and afterwards treated in hospital. This is yet another example of the escalating violence orchestrated by the Georgian Dream and its allies against peaceful protesters and dissidents. We stand with the peaceful protesters who for 50 days have been demonstrating every evening in the streets of Georgia for a democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of their country. Georgia was for many years a champion of Euro-Atlantic aspirations with an overwhelming support of the people for this choice. That has not changed. What has changed is that the Georgian Dream has denied Georgians their future and does not even pretend anymore that they want a European democracy for Georgia. The deteriorating situation in Georgia should not stay without a response. We stand by the position that currently President Salome Zourabichvili is the only clearly legitimate representative of the will of the Georgian people. We do not recognise the results of the parliamentary elections on 26 October 2024, as they were fraudulent and did not respect international standards for democratic elections. We do not recognise any decisions taken by this body. We strongly encourage the EU and its Member States to introduce personal sanctions against all those who are responsible for the democratic backsliding, in particular Bidzina Ivanishvili and Irakli Kobakhidze. We encourage individual Member States and relevant regional organisations to avoid actively legitimising the self-appointed Georgian Dream authorities and call in this regard for suspending the EU Georgia Association Council. We urgently call for early elections, conducted in an improved election environment, managed by an independent and impartial election administration with widespread international observation, to ensure a genuinely free, fair and transparent process that would represent the will of the people of Georgia.”

In 2024, Georgian wine was showcased at 24 international exhibitions, 13 festivals, and approximately 100 tasting events involving around 200 Georgian wine companies, the National Wine Agency reported. The agency noted that Georgian wine presentations took place in 20 countries, including the USA, Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Germany, China, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Hungary, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, and Latvia. “Strategic markets for Georgian wine still are the USA, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Baltic States, China, South Korea, and Japan. Various promotional activities are being carried out in these regions by the National Wine Agency’s partner companies to enhance the global profile of Georgian wine and boost exports. In addition to international events, Georgia hosted wine exhibitions, competitions, tours, and festivals in 2024, contributing significantly to wine tourism development and fostering wine culture among the local population. Across Georgia, 54 wine-related events were held, including 17 exhibitions and festivals, 15 tasting presentations, 16 wine tours with foreign wine professionals, as well as competitions and a symposium. The state program for Georgian wine promotion, aimed at market diversification and increasing export potential, had a budget of GEL 16 million in 2024. Notably, preliminary data indicates that Georgian wine exports grew by 6% compared to 2023, reaching 95 million litres,” the National Wine Agency stated.