Diplomatic Community Calls Zurabishvili's Appointment a Dangerous Trend

The Georgian Diplomatic Community considers the appointment of the acting First Deputy Foreign Minister as the Prime Minister's Special Representative for relations with Russia and the expansion of his mandate a rather dangerous trend.

"Until now, no diplomat currently serving in the Foreign Ministry has ever been Georgia's special representative for relations with Russia. In addition, the special representative's mandate was always limited to economic, cultural and humanitarian issues, while meetings had an informal character. Accordingly, granting this status to the acting First Deputy Foreign Minister can be regarded as a form of restoring diplomatic relations or as preparing the ground for it, which contradicts the principled approach of having no diplomatic relations," the statement of the Georgian Diplomatic Community says.

According to the signatories of the statement, it is especially alarming that the mandate of the Prime Minister's Special Representative has been supplemented with "peaceful settlement of the conflict with the Russian Federation." In their assessment, this means creating a direct alternative to the Geneva negotiation format.

"The goal of Georgian diplomacy has always been to make the Georgia-Russia conflict a subject of discussion in an international format, so that Georgia would not remain alone face to face with Russia in these negotiations. That is precisely why the Geneva International Discussions format is important, which was created on the basis of the 2008 August 12 ceasefire agreement and the peaceful settlement of the Russia-Georgia conflict, where the EU, the UN and the OSCE are represented as mediators, while the US participates. The decision made contradicts both the principled approach of having no diplomatic relations and also threatens the Geneva format and harms the prospects for peaceful settlement of the conflict," the statement says.

The Georgian Diplomatic Community brings together career diplomats of different generations. Many of them resigned from their positions or were dismissed from the diplomatic service due to their support for European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Almost a year after a pause, Irakli Kobakhidze appointed the Prime Minister's Special Representative for relations with Russia and named "peaceful settlement of the conflict with Russia" as his new task. Until now, this representative conducted informal dialogue with Moscow on trade, transport links and humanitarian-cultural relations, while the conflict issue remained a matter for discussion in the format of the Geneva International Discussions.

"Peaceful settlement of the conflict with Russia, maintaining and developing the existing trade and economic relations, and conducting constant dialogue on humanitarian issues is one of the most important priorities of our country. In the absence of diplomatic relations, together with the Geneva format, the post of the Prime Minister's Special Representative is of key importance in fulfilling these tasks," said Irakli Kobakhidze.

The post of Special Representative for relations with Russia will be held by Giorgi Zurabishvili, First Deputy Foreign Minister, which points to raising the rank of Georgia's representation in the informal dialogue format. Kobakhidze states that in relations with Russia, Zurabishvili represents Georgia as the Prime Minister's Special Representative and not as the Deputy Foreign Minister.