Baltic, Icelandic foreign ministers to visit Georgia on Wednesday
Foreign ministers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland will make an official visit to Georgia on May 15, following the passing of the "foreign agents" law today.
The ministers will meet with President Salome Zourabichvili, Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, representatives of the opposition parties, members of the Georgian government, and civil society organizations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Current developments, including the "Transparency of Foreign Influence" law, progress with EU integration reforms, and resistance to Russian threats will be discussed.
Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna will visit alongside Latvia's Baiba Braže, Iceland's Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, and Lithuania's Gabrielius Landsbergis.
And we have landed in #Georgia
— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) May 15, 2024
When times are challenging you can count on your friends. pic.twitter.com/0QzV5PsJ0a
On May 10, the Baltic and Nordic countries published a joint statement saying the law "is incompatible with European norms and values" and urging leaders to drop the bill.
Under the legislation, media or civil society groups in Georgia that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad will be required to register as "organizations serving the interests of a foreign power".
It is similar to legislation introduced in Russia in 2012 that critics say has been used to silence critics.
The bill, under debate since mid-April 2024, prompted harsh criticism from Georgia's bilateral and international partners and led to some of the largest peaceful protests in the country in recent decades, Human Rights Watch has said. There have been multiple, credible reports of unjustified police use of violence to disperse them.
The president has said she will veto the bill, but the governing party has sufficient numbers in the parliament to overrule her, the Guardian reported.
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Editor: Helen Wright