Georgian PM says no one should have right to seek to change Gov’t “against will of people” through foreign funding of NGOs

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday said no one should have the right to seek to change a Government in the country against the will of the people through foreign funding of NGOs.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that his Government was committed to fully protecting national interests, which is why it was seeking to introduce legislation similar to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Speaking to Georgian journalists in Kazakhstan, Kobakhidze underscored that his Government was not alone in recognising the serious problem posed by foreign-funded NGOs. He expressed support for expanding existing legislation to enhance transparency in NGO funding and operations, arguing that the best approach would be to directly adopt the US FARA law into Georgia’s legal framework.

“We have been discussing these problems for several years now, especially the last two years, which the new United States Government has now openly spoken about - there is a direct recognition that foreign funding, specifically American funding, was used to stage revolutions and unrest in various countries, including Georgia, and non-governmental organisations funded from abroad played a decisive role in this”, the Government head said.

“Given that everything is evident and the Georgian Government is not the only one talking about this very serious problem, we can freely expand the legislation related to the transparency of non-governmental organisations. In such a case, we think that the best way is to directly adopt the American law to fit our reality. The rest is a subject of discussion”, he continued.

Kobakhidze further emphasised the reason why many non-governmental organisations had refrained from registering in the registry to submit their annual financial reports was that they did not want to present their revolutionary projects to the Georgian public.

“But we have our national task, our national task is to protect sovereignty and no one should have the right to seek to change a Government in this country against the will of the people with foreign funding of non-governmental organisations. Therefore, we will fully defend Georgia's national interests”, the Prime Minister concluded.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the ruling party would introduce a bill that was directly mirroring the current version of the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act.

In his remarks, Mdinaradze noted that the transparency law adopted by the Georgian Parliament in 2024 was a milder version of FARA but was not fully implemented.