In an in-depth interview with Euronews, Georgia's PM Irakli Kobakhidze emphasizes the upcoming elections as crucial for EU integration and distancing from Russian influence, amid economic growth and political polarisation.
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00:00At a time of major political transformation, Georgia is going to the polls in one of the
00:05most crucially important elections in a generation.
00:09Euronews has already sat down with President Salom Zorabishvili, and I'm in Tbilisi for
00:15an in-depth interview with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakidze.
00:21Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining us on Euronews.
00:25It's a pleasure to be here.
00:26I know this is an extremely busy week for you.
00:29This is also a crucial time for Georgia as the country is heading into elections, which
00:36are seen as a decision-maker for the future of Georgia.
00:40For you, as a young Prime Minister, what do you see as the future of Georgia?
00:47First of all, thank you very much for this interview.
00:50It's a pleasure for me to be interviewed by Euronews.
00:52Thank you for your interest.
00:56We are anticipating really crucial elections for Georgia.
01:02We enjoy quite a rapid development in our country.
01:05We enjoy a rapid economic development.
01:07The country is developing.
01:08But the challenges are quite essential for Georgia.
01:12We are seeing very directly and very explicitly that these elections is also a referendum
01:18about the war on the peace issue.
01:22The Georgian dream government, we believe, is the strongest guarantee for the peace in
01:27this country.
01:28But it's also about the development of the country.
01:31We have, again, the rapid economic development that we want to keep this trend for Georgia.
01:38During the last three years and a half, we enjoyed almost double-digit economic growth.
01:45And we had the highest growth not only in the region, but also in Europe.
01:50The average economic growth in Georgia used to be 9.7% in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
01:58And also this year's preliminary figure is 10% economic growth.
02:02So for us, keeping this trend is very important.
02:06Also with regard to the European integration of Georgia, because we know that without proper
02:13economic figures, Georgia will never be accepted as a full-fledged member of the European Union.
02:18What is the level of dialogue then with the EU in terms of your EU membership?
02:24And what is the next stage of that for Georgia?
02:27Unfortunately, we are facing some challenges in terms of the dialogue at this moment.
02:33But in general, if we summarize the outcomes of our policies, Georgian dreams policies,
02:45the Georgian dream government managed to achieve all important steps towards the European integration.
02:53We managed to sign as a Georgian dream government the association agreement with the European Union back in 2014.
03:00We managed to sign the DCFTE with the European Union.
03:04We got the visa-free regime for our citizens.
03:07And finally, the Georgian dreams government managed to get the candidate status for Georgia.
03:13I strongly believe that as soon as these elections will be over, and as soon as the war in Ukraine will be over,
03:19we will essentially improve and restart the relations between Georgia and the EU and also between Georgia and the US.
03:27As a Georgian, what does Europe mean to you?
03:31And what would it mean to be part of that club that is seen as the European Union?
03:37To be part of the European family is a kind of historic choice for Georgia and for Georgians.
03:45You know that we are a Christian nation and Europe was always associated with Christianity,
03:53with defending and protecting Christianity for Georgia.
03:56So that's why Europe was always a kind of natural choice for Georgia and for Georgians.
04:02And that is one of the strongest reasons why we want to be the full-fledged member of the European family.
04:10Europe also means a higher level of prosperity, means development for Georgians.
04:16So that's why it's our very strong aspiration to move towards Europe.
04:22So that's why we are very much committed to this foreign policy priority of Georgia.
04:28The world has been debating the question in the East and both the West,
04:32and especially in your country, as you say, are you pro-Russian or anti-European?
04:38Can you put it to rest once and for all for us?
04:42We are clearly pro-European as a government and we have evidenced it by our actions.
04:50There are very specific actions through which we managed to move the country towards the EU.
04:58That's why there is no space for this kind of manipulation, but the opposition is there to manipulate.
05:05That's their choice, that's their job, that's part of democracy.
05:10We will continue to make everything to promote Georgia's EU accession also in the future.
05:17As well as talking obviously to the EU, which you are clearly doing,
05:20you speak to governments all around the world.
05:22When was the last time you spoke to the Kremlin?
05:26We have no diplomatic relations with Russia.
05:29Maybe Georgia is the only country in the region which has no diplomatic relations with Russia.
05:36And we have communication with our Western partners in Europe and in the US.
05:43So that's the current state of affairs.
05:47That's why there is also in this case no space for any manipulations.
05:52Well, this week again we've seen elections in other countries, in particular Moldova.
05:59There was a lot of controversy in terms of Russia's involvement in the political process there.
06:05Will we see anything like that come here to Georgia?
06:08You can say that Russia is not influential in Georgia.
06:15There are no political parties where they would enjoy their influence.
06:19There are no influential media channels with their influence.
06:25So that's why the Russian side cannot influence the elections in Georgia essentially.
06:33Looking in, it seems that you're matching certain Kremlin narratives
06:38in terms of some of the policies and laws that are being introduced here.
06:42The foreign agents law, LGBTQ.
06:45Is that something that you would say is following in their footsteps?
06:50These are the decisions made by the Georgian government.
06:53And these decisions have nothing to do with the decisions made by the Russian government.
07:00We have introduced the transparency law.
07:03And the content of this law has nothing to do with the content of the Russian law about the NGOs.
07:11This law is only about the transparency.
07:13The only thing which is envisaged by this law is to ensure that the NGOs are publicizing
07:20their annual financial declarations to the Ministry of Justice.
07:23And that's it.
07:24There are no restrictions.
07:26That's why this message about the Russian law was also a complete fake.
07:31The law about the LGBTI, that's also our national decision.
07:35When it comes to war in Ukraine, there seems to have been a shift in tone on that.
07:41You know, is Georgia seeing this as an opportunity to have its independent voice heard?
07:47And if there is an opportunity there, what is it for you?
07:50Well, in general, we are strongly supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
07:55We have condemned the Russian military aggression many times.
07:59We have joined more than 600 international acts in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine
08:06and condemning also the Russian military aggression.
08:10So that's why we can say very firmly that our position with regard to the ongoing war in Ukraine is very strong.
08:18And of course, this position is based on international law standards.
08:25Any war brings with it horrors that we see happening in Ukraine and Georgia lost territories throughout history.
08:33How did that shape you as a person and a politician in terms of your policies, you know, throughout your career?
08:43So we had a very complicated history, especially during the last 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
08:52But we also learned a lot.
08:54And this experience is something which helped us to avoid many problems during the last decade.
09:03And for me, also as a politician, this experience is very useful and very important.
09:09And again, so the entire team used this experience for managing the issues and for avoiding the war in Georgia.
09:18What does that mean for a country like Georgia that is surrounded by war?
09:23It puts us into a very complicated situation, of course.
09:27But again, despite all these challenges, we managed to keep peace in the country.
09:32How do you react to Western sanctions against Russia and what impact does that have on the region?
09:39I remember that the opposition was very much pushing us to join these sanctions.
09:46But we made a different decision and I can explain it very easily.
09:53The share of the Georgian trade and the entire Russian trade is 0.3%.
09:59Of course, Georgia cannot damage the Russian economy by introducing the economic sanctions.
10:05At the same time, introducing sanctions would mean escalation of the conflict.
10:12So that's why we had a very strong ground for not following this opposition's demand.
10:22But again, so we are doing our best not to let anybody to use the Georgian territory for avoiding the sanctions.
10:31Let's talk trade and energy security, which is very important for this area.
10:37You know, where does Georgia play into that?
10:39And the strategic location is crucial for Georgia, isn't it?
10:43Strengthening the connectivity function for Georgia is one of the key tasks for us.
10:48And especially under the new geopolitical circumstances,
10:52we can really essentially strengthen our connectivity function in this region.
10:59For example, we have very important strategic projects which connect us with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
11:05And there are some other important projects in this, for example,
11:08the Black Sea underwater electricity cable project and the internet cable project,
11:14which will connect Georgia with the European markets.
11:18And we are also investing a lot into the development of the infrastructure.
11:22We managed to build around 300 kilometers of highways in Georgia.
11:28Now we have ordered the launch of constructing a new port on the Black Sea.
11:33We are launching to construct a new Tbilisi International Airport.
11:38We are expanding the capacity of the Kutaisi International Airport, etc., etc., railway.
11:43There are many different projects which are also part of our program.
11:47And we are fully concentrated on this agenda for this country.
11:51Prime Minister, thank you so much for spending time with us today.
11:54It was a pleasure to meet you.
11:55Thank you very much.
11:56Thank you so much.
11:57Pleasure.