The Foreign Relations Committee heard today the Swedish Ambassador Ulrik Tideström speaking about the foreign policy of Sweden and relations with Georgia.

The Chair, Nikoloz Samkharadze, in his welcome speech, congratulated the Ambassador and the Swedish people on the National Day and thanked the Swedish Government for the support the country renders to Georgia since the very first day of restoration of independence. He expressed his gratitude to the Swedish Government for the support of the territorial integrity and the EU integration of Georgia.

“Sweden is a strong supporter and co-sponsor of the Resolutions supporting Georgia. Sweden also supports us in OSCE, CoE and other international organizations, and is one of the active supporters of the EU integration of Georgia, and despite that Sweden is not yet a NATO member state, we are also supported by them in our aspiration to NATO. Our political relations are at the highest rank and as to the economic cooperation and trade, we need to take the advantage of the greatest potential we enjoy and shall jointly work in this direction”, - said Samkharadze.

The Ambassador dwelt on the foreign policy priorities of Sweden, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Georgia-Sweden relations. He stressed the non-provoked war by Russia in Ukraine and its global impact.

“Russia holds the illegal war against Ukraine, which has significantly and drastically changed the security milieu in Europe. These actions taken by Russia condition the long-term and drastic aggravation of the security architecture. We, in Sweden, strictly condemn this war and our response is clear – we render aid to Ukraine and join the sanctions against Russia”, - Tideström noted.

He introduced extended information about the bilateral cooperation and close and friendly relations between the two countries at the Governmental and Parliamentary levels, and the people-to-people links. The Ambassador reaffirmed the unwavering support to the territorial integrity and EU integration of Georgia.