The incompetence of Diplomats Leads to Damage to the Country's Image, Says Papuashvili on the Danish Ambassador

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According to the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, the Danish ambassador was not competent enough to formulate his opinion in a way that would not lead to different interpretations. Papuashvili accused Danish Ambassador Anne Toft Sorensen of spreading disinformation.

“Based on the recent recommendations of the European Union, the fight against disinformation is an important issue. Responding to any misinformation is crucial. Yesterday, we witnessed a statement from the Danish embassy, which appeared to attribute the entire situation to the incompetence of the ambassador, suggesting that he could not formulate his opinion in a way that was understood correctly.

It is sad and regrettable that the incompetence of diplomats ultimately leads to damaging the image of the represented country in the eyes of the Georgian public. Regarding my statement about the ambassador's incompetence, I hope that the Danish embassy will understand my statement in the appropriate context.

When the statement is that there was a misunderstanding of the context, it appears that the ambassador was not competent enough to formulate his own opinion in such a way that it would not be interpreted in different ways,” this is how the chairman of the parliament responded to the article published by the Danish ambassador in the press, where Bidzina Ivanishvili, a prominent figure, is referred to as an enriched oligarch in Russia in the 1990s.

In addition to Ivanishvili, the ambassador mentions the so-called Even the Russian law on foreign agents, which was passed by Georgian Dream in the first reading despite people's protests, and only after thousands of protests, a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, and unprecedented international response, was dropped. Anne Toft Sørensen also writes about the restoration of direct flights and increased trade with Russia.

Because of this opinion, the Danish diplomat was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and asked for an explanation. According to the Ministry, the article “contains significant factual inaccuracies and non-objective assessments, which do not contribute to the formation of a positive attitude of the international community, including Danish readers, towards the country.”

At the same time, the Georgian side emphasized at the meeting that “the publication was used for political interpretations by certain forces, which prevents the effective implementation of the main task defined by the European Union for the country - depolarization.”

The Danish Embassy also released a statement regarding the ambassador's article. As they explained, the excerpt taken from the article is used without context in Georgian debates, they have no desire to contribute to it and refrain from additional comments. According to the embassy, the article was written for the Danish newspaper after the historic decision to grant Georgia EU candidate status.

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