The Swedish government has announced that they have stopped direct cooperation with the Georgian authorities, but the Swedish funding of the projects of Georgian NGOs will continue, Benjamin Dousa, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden, told the Dagens Nyheter daily of Sweden.

The minister said that Sweden will halt direct cooperation with the government agencies of Georgia, and this decision was taken before the Georgian parliamentary election on October 26, due to the retreat of democracy in Georgia, in particular, the adoption of the controversial law on "foreign agents."

"It’s about cooperation with [Georgian] tax authorities, which we consider inappropriate in the current situation," said Benjamin Dousa.

He added, however, that Sweden stands ready to restore cooperation with Georgia if the latter changes its current political line, but which seems unlikely as long as the ruling Georgian Dream party remains in power in the country.

"If later it turns out that Georgia takes its move towards the EU seriously and values relations with the European Union, Sweden's doors are open [to Georgia]," added the Swedish minister.