Georgian, Swiss presidents pledge to deepen ties during phone talk
President Salome Zurabishvili's official visit to Switzerland was postponed last year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Photo from 1TV.ge
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Georgian and Swiss presidents Salome Zurabishvili and Guy Parmelin have pledged to deepen their two countries’ ties in a phone conversation.
During the call, President Zurabishvili thanked Guy Parmelin for his contribution and efforts in the release of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze, who was illegally detained and sentenced by the occupation forces over a year ago.
On his part, President Parmelin reiterated his invitation for President Zurabishvili to visit Switzerland as her official visit to the Swiss Confederation was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
“We are a sovereign and independent state. We are doing everything, and we are a distinguished star among the EU Eastern Partnership states, with our reforms, achievements”, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has told journalists today. In his comments he has assessed recent political developments in Georgia, country's EU aspirations, media freedom in Georgia, relations with US and recent appointment of Supreme Court judges.
President of the European Council Charles Michel and the presidents Moldova and Ukraine Maia Sandu and Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Georgia to participate in the Batumi International Conference beginning on Monday, July 19.
The international community has welcomed the release of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze after more than a year of illegal detention in Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). Gakheladze, who was shot and illegally detained by Russian-controlled occupation forces in the summer 2020 and sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison, was ‘pardoned’ by the de facto president of Tskhinvali yesterday.
Zaza Gakheladze, an illegally detained Georgian citizen who was ‘pardoned’ by the de facto president of the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), says he did not expect to be released today.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has called yesterday’s disrupted parliamentary session ‘damaging and unacceptable’ amid the upcoming 17th International Conference - Georgia's European Way, which is taking place in Batumi today. Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri was to deliver an address at yesterday's extraordinary session regarding the events of July 5 and the measures taken by the police. Gomelauri was interupted by opposition MPs from the beginning of his speech and was not allowed to continue.
European Council President Charles Michel has stated that judicial reform is the condition for the disbursement of EU macro-financial assistance to Georgia, following l meetings with Georgian officials and parliamentary opposition parties amid the 17th International Conference - Georgia’s European Way.