“Kakha Kaladze won the local self-government elections by a large margin, which clearly proves how satisfied the population of Tbilisi is with his work,” – said Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó after a meeting with Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. The comment was circulated by the press service of the Tbilisi City Hall.

According to City Hall, the meeting was held in Budapest as part of the official visit of the Georgian delegation. The discussion focused on the friendly and partnership relations between the two countries and the prospects for further deepening cooperation. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó congratulated Kakha Kaladze on his re-election in the local elections and noted that the results demonstrated once again the unwavering support of Tbilisi voters for him.

The minister also conveyed support to Kakha Kaladze from the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.

“It is a great honor for us that the Mayor of Tbilisi, Kaladze, is visiting the ministry. It is very rare for a two-time champion to visit this building. We enjoyed this meeting and took it as a great honor. I am proud that we have known each other personally for a long time. We rarely follow local elections in foreign countries because it is their internal matter. However, in this case, we were rooting for Mr. Kaladze to win the elections in Tbilisi once again.

He won by a large margin, which clearly proves how satisfied the population of Tbilisi is with his work. I ask him, if he has time, to give lectures in Budapest to our mayor — I am sure he can share valuable advice on managing a capital city.

We are proud of our excellent relationship with Georgia and Georgian Dream. We are proud that this is cooperation between two governments that are patriotic, pro-sovereignty, and pro-peace.

I told Mayor Kaladze that we, Hungarians, will always support Georgia and will not allow the European Union to impose sanctions on Georgia’s leaders. Hungarians know very well what it means to swim against the current and not align with the liberal mainstream. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Hungarian people support us. Since your government also pursues patriotic policies, that is why the people of Georgia support it as well,” — said Péter Szijjártó.

For his part, the Mayor of Tbilisi thanked the Hungarian authorities for their support toward Georgia.

“We spoke about everything at the meeting. Special attention was paid to the pseudo-liberal ideology, which is being forced upon us and which represents a huge problem — a serious challenge today. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Hungary, its government, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for their support and solidarity toward the Georgian people and our state. We are glad that both Georgia and Hungary fight for the truth — this is very important,” — stated Kakha Kaladze.

In addition, as Kakha Kaladze noted after the meeting, the discussion also touched on events unfolding in the region.

“The meeting also covered the developments in the region and the grave situation caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. We see what processes are taking place, and all of us very much hope that the tragedy happening in Ukraine will soon come to an end,” — said Kakha Kaladze.

The meeting was attended by Georgia’s Ambassador to Hungary Nikoloz Laliashvili and other members of the delegation.