Jonathan DJANOGLY MP: “The overall desires of our two countries are similar”
09.06.2023 (Caucasian Journal) The special guest of Caucasian Journal today is Mr. Jonathan DJANOGLY, Member of Parliament (MP) of the United Kingdom and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Georgia.
Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of CJ: Dear Mr. Djanogly, welcome to Caucasian Journal, and many thanks for attention to our readers. You are the head of your Parliament’s Group on Georgia, and the Honorary Member of the British Georgian Society, received in recognition of “an outstanding role played in support of Anglo-Georgian relations”. May I start by asking how popular is Georgia among the British parliamentarians? What are the roots of your interest towards this region?
Jonathan DJANOGLY MP: I joined the Georgia All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) around ten years ago after returning from a parliamentary delegation to Georgia. I was incredibly impressed with the beauty of the Georgian countryside, its history and the warmth of its people. I was even intrigued by the complexity of its politics.
Since that time, the interest in Georgia in the British Parliament has increased significantly, and we have over fifty members of the APPG representing both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
AK: I suppose there is a lot that the Members of Parliament can do to help in developing the relations with a foreign country. In case of Georgia, can you share some of the success stories of the parliamentarians’ involvement? Or, perhaps, some of the challenges that you or your colleagues helped to resolve?