Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze used his address to the UN General Assembly's 81st session in New York this week to make a two-part case: that Georgia is becoming an indispensable regional hub, and that it remains open to repairing ties with international partners.
Kobakhidze anchored his pitch in Georgia's position on the Middle Corridor, the trade route running through the South Caucasus and across the Black Sea that has drawn growing interest as an alternative to routes through Russia.
He cited free trade agreements that give Georgia access to a market of 2.3 billion consumers, and detailed $7 billion in planned investment by 2032: railway modernisation, the Anaklia deep-sea port, a new international airport in Tbilisi, expanded highways and a Black Sea fibre-optic cable extending the ambition into digital infrastructure.
He paired the infrastructure pitch with economic figures: 9.3 per cent average annual growth over the past five years, 7.9 per cent growth in the first seven months of 2026 and foreign direct investment averaging over six percent of GDP between 2021 and 2025 — among the highest ratios for comparable economies.
The IMF projects Georgia's growth to average 5.4 per cent over the medium term, among the highest in the region. Kobakhidze also pointed to poverty falling from 21.3 per cent in 2020 to 7.1 per cent today.
Framing Georgia as a “bona fide mediator” in the South Caucasus, he argued the region's future should be defined by connectivity rather than old dividing lines — a message aimed at Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia's Central Asian neighbors alike.
After building his regional and economic case, Kobakhidze turned to international partnerships, saying Georgia remained ready to renew relations with any partner on the basis of “mutual respect and sovereign equality,” and that such partnerships “can never be attained through pressure or coercion.”
Neither the European Union nor the United States was named — but for context, Georgia's EU accession process has stalled since late 2024 and Washington has scaled back high-level engagement amid disputes over Georgia's foreign agent legislation and the disputed 2024 elections.
Meanwhile, Russia's occupation of roughly 20 per cent of Georgian territory and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of citizens was raised again, referring to Russia’s continued control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
Kobakhidze did break from routine by directly addressing Abkhaz and Ossetian communities, invoking shared history over the political lines dividing them today.
He closed his speech by calling the United Nations an “indispensable forum for dialogue and joint action” amid global uncertainty, backing reform efforts under the UN80 initiative, a framework of goals for sustainable development.
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