On 4 March, the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili delivered her second annual state of the nation address in Parliament. She named the Russian occupation of the separatist territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, Georgia’s relations with the West, the upcoming parliamentary elections, raising the trust in the country's judicial system and the impact of the coronavirus on the country's economy as the main challenges Georgia is facing at the moment.
"If Russia wants to use the occupation to divert Georgia from its path and force the country to fail to accomplish its goal, it will not get the result it seeks,” said Zourabichivli in regard to the Russian occupation. However, she added that if Russia's goal is to establish new neighbourly relations with Georgia and the region, this would be in everyone's interest. “These steps are neither a concession nor a compromise,“ she said.
Zourabichvili also said that Georgia has made important peaceful steps regarding the occupied territories, however, beyond these steps, the country should be prepared for more thorough policy implementation. “We have to show the Abkhaz and Ossetian people the prospect of a future, the prospect of living in [a] united state; a prospect that will not endanger them but open the way to Europe, that is, to prosperity,” she said.
Speaking on Georgia’s relations with the EU, US and NATO, Zourabichvili emphasized that Georgia has to do its part for the EU and NATO not only by contributing and participating to existing programs and policies, but by offering new ideas. She named the fields of cybersecurity and a secure Black Sea and its transformation in a space of communication and connectivity as some of the actual issues where Georgia could contribute more. She also named the bipartisan Georgia Support Act adopted by the U.S. Congress last year as an important milestone in the US-Georgia relations (Caucasus Watch reported).
Speaking on the upcoming elections, she said that the last days had shown steps being taken in the right direction, referring to the recent foreign-mediated consultations between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition over the electoral reform (Caucasus Watch reported).
Finally, in regard to the judiciary reforms in the country, Zourabichvili said that the Georgian judicial system is not yet comparable to the judicial systems in Europe, but added that the decrease of Georgian cases in front of the European Court for Human Rights (Caucasus Watch reported) and the rapid and complete implementation of the reform in the High School of Justice show signs of the country's progress.
