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Bidzina Ivanishvilli declares main priorities: To apply for membership of NATO and EU

02 October 2012 14:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. â€œWe are interested in membership of NATO and EU. As there is no more democratic institution than EU, and no international organization better than NATO. But I canâ€™t compare the euro Atlantic way of Georgia with establishing closer relations with Russiaâ€, said Bidzina Ivanishvilli, the leader of the Georgian opposition party â€œGeorgian Dreamâ€ after winning parliamentary elections on October 1, APA reports quoting â€œNovosti Gruziiâ€.

In his interview to the Georgian Public Television, Bidzina Ivanishvilli disproved the statements that he accused Georgia of the war happened in August, 2008: â€œI have never said that Georgia launched the war. Russia intended to interfere into the Caucasus several centuries ago. Russia needed only a pretext to realize its plan and Saakashvilli gave them an opportunity. In stead of involving international observers as much as possible, Russia sent military vehicles thereâ€.

The businessman noted that the more Georgia intends to enter the North Atlantic alliance, the more Russia tries to prevent it and that this is very natural:â€œEvery country, including Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the US has their own geopolitical interests. There is no any universal recipe, but we must start with solving our internal problems. We should try to attract NATO by ensuring the development of democratic institutions both for ourselves and for our Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers. But the current situation is so that Ossetians and Abkhazians do not believe in Georgia to enter the alliance and many citizens leave the country.â€

According to Ivanishvili, the best way of integration for Georgia into international arena is to understand that it would never be the main political player in the world as Saakashvili claims: â€œThatâ€™s why we must start a dialog with Russia by restoring trade and cultural relations. Because, Russia, even China will try to integrate into Europe and rely on the European democratic values, sooner or laterâ€.