 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday, April 25, that Georgia must uphold democratic standards ahead of meeting with the country's prime minister, irakli Garibashvili. Stoltenberg said he welcomed Tbilisi's decision on March 9 to scrap plans to introduce what critics called a Russian-inspired foreign agents bill which would have required individuals and organizations that receive 20% of their funding from abroad to register with the government. I welcomed the decision to withdraw the draft law on foreign influence, which was incompatible with Euro-Atlantic values and the protection of fundamental freedoms, he said. Garibashvili earlier met with EU Council President Charles Michel. Georgia applied for EU candidate status in March 2022, alongside Ukraine and Moldova. But Brussels rebuffed Tbilisi's bid, citing concerns over the rule of law and judicial independence, among other factors.