Johnny Melikyan: I would not say that the 3+3 format has prospects

Today, the situation in relations between Georgia and the West is quite complicated, Johnny Melikyan, expert on Georgia, told Alpha News, explaining why Georgia refused to participate in the 3+3 meeting. He added that Georgia is interested in regional relations, but as domestic and foreign policy problems pile up, it prefers to stay away from such formats.

According to Melikyan, a lot depends on the upcoming parliamentary election in Georgia and the West’s position towards it, that is, what the election results and subsequent statements will be and whether the Georgian Dream Party will remain the ruling political force or the opposition will come to power.

“If the opposition comes to power, relations with the West will become even closer, so the prospects associated with this format will not be good,” Melikyan said.

At the same time, the expert does not consider the meeting in the 3+3 format to be effective.

“If the current authorities stay in the office and make attempts to restore relations with the West at a certain level, in this case, they may not join the 3+3 format. But with the help of various diplomatic levers, the Georgian authorities will try to obtain information about the issues under discussion, since discussions about the region are based on Georgia’s interests. I would not say that this format has prospects until the conflict in the region disappears. And today we do not see this,” Johnny Melikyan concluded.