Georgia remains a committed and reliable partner of the European Union. Such a statement made today the Prime Minister of Georgia at the joint briefing with Prime Minister of Croatia.

“The present geopolitical context has demonstrated the acute need to diversify interconnections and address key challenges of energy and food security in Europe and globally. Georgia has a key role to play in addressing these challenges with its potential to act as a regional hub of energy transit or flight transportation and digital interconnections.

Particularly, I want to mention the so-called Middle Corridor and future projects such as the ferry feeder direct service in the Black Sea, the Black Sea Submarine electricity transmission, and the fibre optic cables, which could be interesting also for Europe, for Georgia, for the entire region.

Georgia has always been the EU’s most credible partner in the region. As a security ally, Georgia has been one of the top per capita contributors to the security of the EU by actively participating in the EU’s missions abroad, including NATO’s missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We’re also committed to our Euro-Atlantic integration process. We underscored the NATO aspirant Georgia has achieved significant progress in its Euro-Atlantic integration path and has proved on multiple occasions its ability to share the burden of collective defence.

And we also, unwaveringly, I have to say, continue the peaceful conflict resolution policy and effective use of diplomatic and legal instruments in this process. Unfortunately, Georgia’s 20% is occupied by Russia.

We had a brutal war in 2008, which was devastating for us. And, of course, we are thankful to the international community, including Croatia, for demonstrating support for Georgia’s efforts in this direction.

Of course, implementation of the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement of August 12th, 2008, the de-occupation of two Georgian regions, and reconciliation and engagement between the communities across the occupation line, which the Prime Minister visited himself several years ago, must stay high on the international agenda in order to establish lasting peace and stability in Georgia”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.