Democracy ‘key’ to US-Georgian cooperation, opposition after State Department delegation meeting

Leaders of Georgia’s opposition alliance on Thursday said democracy, judicial independence and the rule of law remained essential preconditions for deeper cooperation between the United States and Georgia following a meeting with a US State Department delegation.

Speaking after the talks, Coalition for Change leader Nika Gvaramia said some people mistakenly viewed US interests in Georgia as being limited to economics.

“American interests in this country are not defined solely by economics and cannot be,” Gvaramia said. “First and foremost, they are shaped by the position of the Georgian people, which is incompatible with the policies pursued by Georgian Dream.”

He argued that Western political and economic interests could not function in an environment where, according to him, “Russian influence” was shaping political decisions in Georgia.

Gvaramia also accused ruling party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and the ruling Georgian Dream party of obstructing democratic development and creating conditions that discourage foreign investment.

“No investor, especially an American investor, will enter a country where there is no independent judiciary and where political destabilisation is being managed by the authorities themselves,” he said.

Gvaramia added the discussions with the US delegation demonstrated that Georgia’s Western partners “clearly understand” the current political situation in the country.

Another Coalition for Change leader, Zurab Japaridze, said the talks focused on aligning Georgian and US interests in the region rather than any possible normalisation between Washington and Georgian Dream.

“There was no discussion whatsoever about normalisation between Washington and Georgian Dream,” Japaridze said.

He said the meeting centred on Georgia’s interests, US regional interests and how those priorities could be jointly advanced.

“The prerequisite for this is democracy, an independent judiciary and the rule of law,” he said.

Japaridze added that the current US administration placed significant emphasis on economic interests, but argued that sustainable economic cooperation requires institutions associated with liberal democracy.

“Our message was that this is exactly what we are fighting for,” he said.