Ivanishvili has spent 13 years convincing us that we are a useless, dysfunctional, pathetic nation, - said Salome Samadashvili, one of the leaders of the Lelo Strong Georgia.

As she explained at the briefing, yesterday, when neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a historic agreement under the leadership of President Trump, clearly showed what Georgia has lost.

“I would like to respond to the historic meeting held yesterday in Washington and the difficult situation in which Georgia has found itself today as a result of the policies pursued by the Russian government of Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Yesterday, we all witnessed the historic agreement that our neighbors, Azerbaijan and Armenia, signed under the leadership of President Trump. With the direct participation of America, with its financial and security guarantees, our neighbors agreed not only on long-term peace and normalization of relations, but also on the creation of a new transit corridor - the Zangezur corridor, which bypasses Russia and creates a new transport route to connect the West with the Caspian Sea region. This is the result of both a truly established peace and a real strategic partnership with the United States. We congratulate both Armenia and Azerbaijan on this.

The only result of Ivanishvili's policy today is that Russia, through Maria Zakharova, instructs her government to recognize the independence of the occupied territories and prepare to establish bilateral relations with them.

In contrast, yes, yesterday's historic day showed us what the steps taken by sovereign countries in our neighborhood for the well-being of their people mean. This agreement strengthened the sovereignty and peace of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and created new opportunities for the well-being of their people. Opportunities that Georgia is bypassing. Ivanishvili’s “Russian regime” made Georgia lose a historic chance when, on Russia’s instructions, it killed a century-long project by prosecuting the founders of the Anaklia project, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze. Georgia lost both its attractiveness and its function in terms of transit, and today, when new projects are being implemented in the region, Georgia has long ceased to be a globally competitive country due to lost opportunities. Today, when the US is showing new strategic strength to increase its role in this region, Georgia has lost a strategic cooperation agreement with the world’s most powerful state.

Since the restoration of independence, all formations of the government of Georgia have left a tangible historical legacy for our state and the Georgian people. The government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia created independence. The Shevardnadze government created an international function for Georgia, primarily as a transit corridor for important energy projects, while the Saakashvili government firmly placed Georgia on the path to joining the Euro-Atlantic space - it gained a completely new level of cooperation with the European Union.

Ivanishvili's Russian regime has gradually destroyed the Georgian state and its international functions built over three decades over the past 13 years. Because the real ruler of this country, Bidzina Ivanishvili, himself states that he only needs Georgia's future as a trading topic for his personal financial interests, and Georgia as a territory for laundering dirty Russian money and protecting the interests of sanctioned businesses.

In such a situation, it is clear that Georgia will have neither a transit nor any other function for Western countries. For Georgian citizens, this means even greater unemployment, higher prices, more difficult living conditions, and even physical isolation, if the EU revokes the visa-free regime”, she said.