There are no grounds for a deterioration of relations between the West and Georgia. Such a statement made the Mayor of Tbilisi. He commented on the scheduled hearing at the US on relations with Georgia following the adoption of the Law on Transparency, Rustavi 2 reports.

 

“I would like to emphasise once again that the Georgian Government is ready for partnership, friendship, deepening of relations. It is ready to reboot existing relations, because if we have achieved any success on the path of European integration, it is the merit of the ruling Georgian Dream party together with Georgian citizens,” said Kakha Kaladze.

 

He rejected statements made by Western officials about the Georgian Government no longer taking democratic steps and instead adopting laws that contradicted democratic values by saying that “these are false allegations.”

 

“The people from whom we hear these statements were assessing the situation in the country before 2012, the troubles that were happening in the country, what [Mikheil] Saakashvili was doing to citizens, as a “beacon of democracy”. Now these people tell us that the country has taken a step back in democracy.

 

The Government will not allow anyone to use interests of the country to pursue interests of their countries. We will not allow anyone to drag the country into a situation in which, unfortunately, Ukraine is today,” said Kakha Kaladze.