Q-n about the event
Ambassador Kelly Degnan: This is a very important day and I’m very pleased to be here for the signing of this Polling Code of Ethics. The researchers, the polling researchers, the polling organizations, the individual pollsters who have participated in this initiative over the last three months have done some very important work here, and I’m pleased that USAID here and the Ilia State University were the sponsors of the work that happened. The result is very important for citizens who, including those who sometimes don’t have a channel to express their needs and priorities. It’s also an invaluable tool for public officials and for politicians to see what the priorities of their citizens are. This is a Code of Ethics that will guide the work of the pollsters, sets standards that they all have agreed on, are of utmost important for their profession and I’m sure that an association is gonna be formed as a result of this three months hard work that will further professionalize this polling but also help the public better understand the level of professionalism and the importance of the work that polling organizations do. Thank you.
Q-n about the recent developments regarding Davit Gareji Monastery and the border delimitation-demarcation commission. How will this effect Georgia-Azerbaijan relations and is the government using this as a tool against the opposition?
Ambassador Kelly Degnan: This is a very serious case. It’s a very important issue. Investigation is underway, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment in-depth on the investigation as its currently underway. But obviously its a very important issue, there has been a lot of work done on the border demarcation over the years really, so can only encourage the investigation to proceed in a transparent, fair manner, as I’m sure it will. Thank you.