Zurabishvili and Gakharia travel to Munich Security Conference

Georgia's fifth President Salome Zurabishvili and former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia will attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which opens today and runs until February 16.

According to Zurabishvili's office, she will hold bilateral meetings with European leaders, EU leadership, representatives of the US delegation and other international organizations during the forum.

A separate panel discussion will be organized for Georgia at the conference - “Georgia in the Spotlight”. Zurabishvili will also take part in the discussion “Russia's Hybrid Tactics” where she will touch upon the current problems and situation in the country.

Gakharia, in turn, will take part in panel discussions where he will discuss the ongoing political crisis in Georgia and security challenges in the region. He will hold meetings with representatives of the US, UK, EU and leading analytical organizations, stressing the importance of the speedy release of political prisoners and the return of Georgia to the path of democratic development, which is possible only through holding new elections in a changed electoral environment.

Georgian Dream representatives are not attending the conference. The government administration said that members of the cabinet would not go even if they had received an invitation. Recall that last year Georgia was represented at the MSC by Zurabishvili and the Foreign Minister, while Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze did not attend the event. The media linked this to possible discontent with the Georgian Dream after the party's founder, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, was referred to as a “Russian oligarch” in the MSC's annual report.

The Munich Security Conference is one of the world's largest foreign policy and defense forums. This year's participants will focus on the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine.

Two days before the forum, Donald Trump held phone talks with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the MSC could be a venue for preliminary talks between the sides.

The US will be represented at the conference by Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and retired General Keith Kellogg, special envoy for Ukraine. A U.S. congressional delegation is also announced to attend.

Reprinted from https://www.newsgeorgia.ge/