I congratulate the Georgian people on the success of their first round of parliamentary elections.

Once again Georgia has demonstrated that its young democracy is mature and well able to function.

According to international observers, including the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe (OSCE) and those sent by the Council of Europe, the elections were well organised and almost universally complied with our European standards of fairness and transparency. These high international standards need to be upheld for the second round of elections.

The Georgian electorate has impressively demonstrated that a large majority continues to support a determined policy of moving closer to Europe as well as the reforms this entails.

After the second round of elections and the subsequent formation of a government, I look forward to working closely with the new Georgian Government in the same spirit of trust we have enjoyed in the past.