Mikheil Janelidze: Georgia Upholding the Interests of the Euro-Atlantic Community

Exclusive Interview

GEORGIA TODAY met the Georgian Vice Prime Minister, Foreign Minister H.E. Mikheil Janelidze to talk about this week’s Wardrop Strategic Dialogue in London which aimed to set out the details and goals of bilateral relations between the two countries over the next year. Interview topics include, among others, Brexit, security agreements, trade, and the progress of diplomatic relations over the preceding 25 years.

THIS IS THE FIRST WARDROP DIALOGUE TO BE CONDUCTED AT A STRATEGIC LEVEL. WHAT CHANGED, WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED, AND WHAT IS THE STRATEGY?

It’s a great format between two countries, strategic partners like the UK and Georgia. It’s a format of comprehensive dialogue on issues which are related to the foreign policy of those countries: issues of culture and defense, education, people-to-people contacts, and most importantly, business and economic cooperation. This format has been expanded in these four years and it includes not only trade and economic issues but also private-sector components. Yesterday [October 23], we had our first ever discussion, with the invitation and support of the Lord Mayor [of London], tied up with the private sector presenting Georgian business and investment opportunities. Yesterday I signed an agreement with Wilton Park which is another component in terms of having more active cooperation on issues relating to international conferences, organizing forums here in Britain and Georgia on international issues which are of interest to both countries, and to global affairs generally.

An important part of our talk was also linked with the post-Brexit period. We agreed to start consultation on organizing the legal framework which will cover our bilateral relations after Brexit, including a preliminary agreement on a free trade arrangement and avoiding any obstacles to our established free trade regime. That is a very important achievement and we will start these consultations very soon in order to have all positions and documents ready for bilateral cooperation after Brexit.

Also important is that we have both defense ministers present and the Georgian State Minister for Reconciliation. It gave the Georgian Defense Minister a chance to meet with his counterpart and to sign a cooperation plan on defense issues between the UK and Georgia, and I had a meeting with Boris Johnson.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BORIS JOHNSON?

We’ve always had great meetings in other multilateral formats, we had a great meeting yesterday where we touched on regional issues. We discussed bilateral issues and British support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. Britain is a strong supporter of Georgia and I invited Boris to Georgia. I hope that his visit will occur soon, as well as other high-level reciprocal visits to Britain.

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS FOR BRITISH-GEORGIAN RELATIONS OVER THE NEXT YEAR?

First of all, the expectations are increased trade and economic cooperation. Britain was the first large investor in Georgia with BP investing in 1998. It was a strategic investment, the project has been operating successfully over the past 20 years and there is an ongoing development in this project: up to 2 billion is invested in Georgia for the upgrade of this project and the delivery of additional gas resources to Europe from the Caspian via Georgia. It’s not the only field in which we cooperate: there is increased potential for tourism. We already have direct flights established between Georgia and Britain: three times per week Tbilisi-London; and two times per week Kutaisi-London. I came here from Kutaisi with a flight for 40€ so it’s a great opportunity for tourists from both sides to come and visit each other. We’ve had a 30% increase in visitors from Britain to Georgia, which is great. We are very happy to see visitors and tourists coming to Georgia, and the Georgian hospitality sector in general is booming. We look forward to more British companies in the hotel sector and general tourism services where Britain and British companies have good experience, knowledge and expertise. We already have retailers and British brands on the Georgian market and we look forward to seeing more. The Georgian market, although it is 3.7 million, has twice more visitors per year who are very much interested in shopping and spending money so it’s an opportunity for British retailers to expand their presence. At the same time, Georgia has transformed into an open-liberal economy and an economy integrated with other markets. We have a free trade agreement with all the CIS countries including the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia – central Asian countries – we have a free-trade agreement with the European Union and Turkey. In May we signed a free-trade agreement with China, and we are exploring a free trade opportunity with India. It provides a huge opportunity for British businesses to explore Georgia as a regional hub for growing business, this is what we are offering.

Georgian companies are also enjoying a presence on the London Stock Exchange: the two largest private banks in Georgia are on the premium listings of the London Stock Exchange, and not only banks but also the largest private health-care group. It’s an example for other companies to find capital here on the Exchange.

We are developing our own capital market which we want also to link with the London Stock Exchange and capital market so this is another area (the self-services and financial services) where we want to continue our cooperation and offer opportunities to British businesses.

HOW HAVE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UK AND GEORGIA CHANGED IN THE PAST 25 YEARS? WHAT HAVE BEEN THE HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY ACHIEVEMENTS?

I think that this format, the dialogue between Britain and Georgia is an indication of how comprehensive our relations have become during the last 25 years. Last year we upgraded the talks to a strategic level and every year we are adding new components and enhancing our dialogue. We’ve managed to build full trust and reliability, we’ve developed economic projects of strategic importance for both sides, we managed to build strong security and defence cooperation and - most importantly – this hasn’t just been bilateral but we have contributed to international security. We are together in Afghanistan: Georgia is one of the largest per capita troop contributors, and it all serves the interests of Euro-Atlantic security. What we’ve achieved during these 25 years is this unity of upholding the interests of the Euro-Atlantic community and interest of security, peace, and stability.

GEORGIA RECENTLY RECEIVED A GREAT DEAL OF SUPPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. DOES THAT GIVE YOU GROUNDS FOR OPTIMISM IN TERMS OF COMBATING RUSSIAN SOFT AGGRESSION AND RECLAIMING THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES?

Georgia’s European integration process is going very successfully. We’ve achieved all the major targets of the Eastern Partnership: an association agreement has been signed and has been in force since 2014; the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement; this year we got visa liberalization which is a great achievement on the European integration path; we joined the energy community; we’re joining other EU specialized agencies; we’re joining special programs oriented on deeper cooperation in culture, education, and innovation etc. This process of integration in European structures and the European market is going very well. This has a very positive impact on our economy: the EU has become our number one trading partner and our exports are growing. For instance, this year there was 30% growth of exports to the European market. It delivers benefits to small farmers producing nuts or honey or fisheries. There are new openings, for example honey was recently allowed to enter the market which is important for ordinary citizens, small farmers and people living in rural areas.

This is a very positive process. That process is very important for confidence-building, engagement, and reconciliation with the people living in the occupied territories. It is in our interests to spread the benefits of these positive developments and European integration to the people living in Georgia. In all the regions, including the regions occupied today. They are our citizens. We are doing our best to make those benefits accessible, which will ensure more opportunities for rebuilding trust. Russian occupation is the biggest barrier to rebuilding this trust and starting the process of reconciliation, but we are very firm in our approach of peaceful conflict-resolution; an approach linked to building bridges between the people and defeating this challenge through peaceful and people-to-people interactions.

Robert Edgar