TBILISI, September 25 – Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze used his address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday to appeal directly to the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Kobakhidze said Russia still occupied 20 percent of Georgia’s territory and that hundreds of thousands of displaced people remained unable to return home. Turning to the people living in the two breakaway regions, he stressed their shared history with the rest of Georgia and said the dividing lines separating them should not determine the next generation’s future.
The prime minister argued that people in Abkhazia and South Ossetia should also benefit from peace and Georgia’s economic development.
In line with Georgia’s long-standing policy, his appeal was addressed to the Abkhaz and Ossetian people, rather than to the de facto authorities governing the breakaway regions, because doing so might imply lending legitimacy to them.
Elsewhere in his speech, Kobakhidze presented Georgia as a route linking Central Asia with Europe through the South Caucasus and the Black Sea. He said the country planned to invest USD 7 billion in major transport projects by 2032, including railway upgrades, development of the Anaklia deep-water port, a new international airport in Tbilisi and an expanded highway network.
He also pointed to economic growth and poverty reduction, while saying that narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas would be a priority over the next five years. On foreign relations, he said Georgia was ready to work with international partners on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality, and argued that lasting partnerships required dialogue rather than pressure.
On the sidelines of the assembly, Kobakhidze met leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. He also met Swiss Foreign Minister and current OSCE chair Ignazio Cassis and took part in a panel on peace and conflict prevention.
The speech drew criticism from opposition politicians in Tbilisi, with Salome Samadashvili of Lelo saying Kobakhidze had failed to press Russia over its military presence in the breakaway regions or reaffirm EU membership as a foreign-policy goal. Politician Teona Akubardia argued that the speech emphasized Georgia’s transport and economic role while giving less attention to European integration and the steps needed to end the occupation.
