Expert: Salome Zurabishvili knows the role Azerbaijan plays in Georgia’s foreign policy - COMMENT

Baku. 29 November. REPORT.AZ/ The new president of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, as an experienced diplomat, will try to influence the country's foreign policy, political analyst Ilgar Velizade told Report commenting on the results of the presidential elections in Georgia.

"Executive power in Georgia is concentrated in the cabinet of ministers, in fact, the country is governed by the prime minister.He is responsible for the country's foreign policy”, Velizade said.

According to him, the president in Georgia has representative functions.

"Yes, he has the ability to influence the formation of foreign policy, but he cannot determine the foreign policy course of the  cabinet of ministers of the country, which is given this prerogative within the framework of the Constitution," he added.

The expert pointed out that Azerbaijan and Georgia are bound both by a large legal framework, on which bilateral relations are based, and by various regional formats.

“In any case, regardless of who took the post of president or prime minister of the country, by and large, the nature of relations between Baku and Tbilisi will not change,” Velizade said.

“The legal framework and geopolitical conditions doom our countries to cooperation,” the political scientist added.

Political scientist Ilgar Velizade

"Speaking about Zurabishvili's personal qualities, he indicated that she is quite an ambitious and competent politician, a professional in international relations".

İlqar Vəlizadə

Политолог Ильгар Велизаде:

In any case, regardless of who took the post of president or prime minister of the country, by and large, the nature of the relations between Baku and Tbilisi will not change.

“She has a proven track record. Naturally, such a person should not be expected to stay idle, but will try to influence the formation of foreign policy. It is necessary to recall that Zurabishvili pioneered the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish tripartite format. This happened at the time when she was the foreign minister of Georgia. She took part in the first meetings of this format," Velizade said.

"She is an experienced diplomat and she will rely on the contractual and legal framework for cooperation. The new president is well aware of the nature of bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and its importance for Georgia’s foreign policy, " the political analyst emphasized.