Giorgi Badridze: Caucasus is on the rise despite its troubled past at the crossroads

TODAY the University of St Andrews is hosting a conference on the Caucasus. The importance of the region is often overlooked and I welcome this timely initiative as an evidence of interest in our ethnically and culturally diverse region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, where due to its geographic location my country, Georgia, has always played a central role.

It is fitting that Scotland is the venue for the event. Relations between our two great nations have always been strong. We are both small countries with big hearts, a strong sense of national identity, a rich cultural heritage and a proud past of guarding our freedoms.

As The Scotsman reported two years ago, Scottish troops once fought for Georgia. On Christmas Day 1918, soldiers of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders were dispatched to Tbilisi along with the British Army's 27th Division, to help protect Georgian independence from Bolshevik incursions. Thanks to the recollections of one brave Scot, Tom Gorie, we know that they were received well and enjoyed the hospitality of Princess Chavchavadze at a chateau near the capital, where during one respite in the hostilities the soldiers shared their jam rations with Georgian troops and Scottish reels were performed.

More recently our two nations have joined battle on the football field, and readers may be familiar with some of the Georgians who have played for Scottish teams over the years. I personally, like a lot of Georgians, have relatives here in Scotland.

Both our countries have been subject to political and economic change in recent years. Today at St Andrews I will be outlining the history and importance of the Caucasus and particularly Georgia's economic transformation, which many international institutions agree, has been inspiring examples of progressive reform.

Georgia and the rest of the Caucasus has been a subject of fierce competition between the great powers around us for most of our history. Imposed conflicts of 1990s in Abkhazia and south Ossetia, which culminated in the Russian invasion of 2008, was the price Georgia had to pay for its freedom and its aspiration to join the European family of nations.

Today in Georgia we are faced with the tragic reality that Russia has annexed two of our territories and occupies 20 per cent of the country. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians and people of other ethnicities have been made refugees in their own country. Ethnic Abkhaz and Ossetians are now sharing the grim realities of Russia's "care" with the residents of the North Caucasus.

But while Georgia's trouble with Russia has been making headlines for years, our success in transforming our country since the Rose Revolution through political and economic reforms has not been given the attention it deserves.

The Rose Revolution of November 2003 was followed by a very eventful six years, with years of high growth and massive investment inflows spurred by our free-market reforms, only to be interrupted by the Russian invasion and global financial crisis.

But we in Georgia are finding our feet again, with a revitalised energy sector and new economic reforms, which have taken us from 112th place in the World Bank's rankings in 2005 to the 11th place last year – ahead of all emerging markets and most EU economies.

We have also made much progress on democratic reforms, inviting all Georgians to have a say in key constitutional reforms and to participate fully in our first Tbilisi mayoral elections next month.

It was Voltaire who said: "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." Today at St Andrews I hope we can continue in that vein.

• Giorgi Badridze is Georgian ambassador to the UK