Georgian President Receives Award at Krynica Economic Forum in Poland
Within the framework of Krynica Economic Forum in Poland, the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, was given a special award during the Gala Awards Ceremony for High-Ranking Guests.
The former President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, handed the award to Margvelashvili in the Congress Center on September 6.
The Georgian President thanked the heads of various states, representatives of local self-governments and the business sector for the award.
He underlined that the Krynica Economic Forum has once again highlighted the common values of the Georgian and Polish peoples: freedom, human rights and legal state.
“It is very important for me to receive this special award; an award which reflects the commitment of my people, diplomats and civil servants, who have worked hard to advance Georgia's European integration,” Margvelashvili stated at the ceremony.
As a part of the forum, the Georgian president and the Ambassador of Georgia to Poland, Ilia Darchiashvili, hosted a special Georgian Evening, where Georgian products were exhibited, including wine, sweets, fresh drinks, and a variety of dairy products.
At the exhibition, the Polish edition of the Georgian epic poem -The Knight in the Panther's Skin was also displayed. Margvelashvili addressed the audience and thanked the Polish people for their firm support of Georgia.
“Georgia is one of the oldest winemaking countries in Europe and in the world, and we share this tradition with our friends,” he stated.
The 27th Economic Forum in Krynica Zdrój was opened on September 5 and closed on September 7.
The largest conference of this type in Central and Eastern Europe, it was inaugurated by a plenary session attended by the presidents of Poland, Georgia and Macedonia.
Andrzej Duda, George Ivanov and Giorgi Margvelashvili took part in the panel entitled “Unfinished Integration and the Aspirations of European Countries” where they debated the future of European integration and how to reconcile the interests of member states with the aspirations of other European countries.
Prior the forum opening, the Georgian and Polish presidents held a meeting during which they highlighted the importance of the joint Declaration signed on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Republic of Poland. They also discussed the situation in the occupied territories of Georgia. President Margvelashvili thanked his counterpart for his unwavering support of Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-recognition policy of the occupied territories and European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
Sharing Poland's wide experience in terms of European and Euro-Atlantic integration and Poland’s support of Georgia in this process was also mentioned.
Margvelashvili underlined the significance of NATO’s open-door policy and assessed the importance of the NATO Summit of 2018 in further advancing Georgia’s NATO integration.
The sides also emphasized the significance of regional cooperation within the Visegrad Group format and spoke about the prospects of expanding partnership between the V4 Group and the Black Sea region.
The prospects of strengthening economic cooperation in order to fully use the potential of both countries were also discussed at the meeting.
The Economic Forum in Krynica is the largest conference in Central and Eastern Europe. Every year the forum, organized at the beginning of September, brings together around 3500 guests: political, economic and social leaders, as well as around 500 journalists. The guests come from over 60 countries in Europe, Asia and America.
Thea Morrison