On 2 December, the first meeting of the French-Georgian dialogue format, named after the World War II Georgian officer and national hero in France Dimitri Amilakhvari took place in Paris. The dialogue aims to further strengthen cooperation in politics, defence, security, trade and finance, culture and education between France and Georgia.

Before the meeting began, Georgian Foreign Minister visited the Leuville Estate, located 37 kilometres south of Paris. The Leuville Estate is where officials of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia officials and their descendants lived in exile.

The Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani met with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss the steps Georgia has taken for its Euro-Atlantic integration and the current situation in Georgia’s two Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).

“It’s alarming that 30 years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall we have to speak about barbed-wire-fences [erected by Russia] cutting [through] the territories of Georgia, Ukraine and Europe, about the people whose lives were claimed by occupation forces, about a half million people [in Georgia] who were forced to leave their homes due to ethnic cleansing and are unable to return back to Georgia’s two Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali,” Zalkaliani stated at the meeting. “Facing the challenges, the active, effective, principal steps of the international community, especially the EU member states, France among them, play a vital role,” he added.

According to Zalkaliani,  Yves Le Drian told him that the French President Macron spoke about Georgia at a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and that “this communication will continue in future.”

Zalkaliani also met with Macron’s Foreign Policy Adviser Emmanuel Bonne, discussing the human right situation in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, as well as Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration agenda.

The French-Georgian dialogue format was established on 18 February 2019 when Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and French President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting at the Elysee Palace and signed the declaration on French-Georgian cooperation. The declaration is aimed at developing and deepening cooperation in politics, defence, security, trade and finance as well as culture and education fields. 

At the signing, Macron stated that education is a priority cooperation field and that the operation of French-Georgian University (UFG) confirms it. He also said he foresees other projects in culture within the framework of Eastern Partnership, cooperation in military and cyber-security fields, and the development of strategic cooperation between the two countries.