“The Secretary of State made it unequivocally clear that the legacy inherited in Georgia–United States relations is a troubled one and requires fundamental reassessment. Georgia expects that this will happen sooner rather than later,” Georgia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Maka Botchorishvili, has made these remarks on Imedi TV whilst discussing her communications with JD Vance and Marco Rubio in Milan.
Botchorishvili stated that the blame lies squarely with those who participated in the process that damaged Georgian-American relations during the previous administration.
“Georgian citizens, representatives of political circles, and non-governmental organisations were involved in all of this, and regrettably, some remain so to this day. These are the people who continue to feed Joe Wilson and various other organisations with false information and misleading narratives,” Botchorishvili noted.
The Foreign Affairs Minister also spoke about the visit of U.S. Vice President JD Vance to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“There was a very straightforward rationale behind it. You will be aware of the prominence of peace agreements on President Trump’s agenda, and of the immense importance he attaches to relations with countries in this regard. Azerbaijan and Armenia represent, in a sense, the continuation of the agreement signed at the White House on August 8, and the Vice President’s visit to these two South Caucasus nations, which have brought decades of conflict to a close and delivered peace to the region, was precisely a demonstration of that,” the Foreign Affairs Minister stated.
The Minister also commented on the change in policy towards Georgia by the new American administration, highlighting the year-long silence from the State Department as a clear indication of a shift in stance.
“That silence was, in its own way, a change of position. You will recall that before President Trump entered the White House, not a single day passed without Georgia featuring in some form on the previous administration’s agenda. There have probably been few subjects anywhere that generated as many hearings as Georgia did. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the so-called MEGOBARI Act was not passed, and I am quite certain it would not have been blocked if the State Department had not taken a stance against that policy.
As for what the new framework will look like, that, of course, requires work. It requires collaboration. And on our part, there is complete and unconditional readiness: whenever the United States considers it appropriate to build a new framework for relations with Georgia, we will be there to do exactly that,” the Minister declared.
