Georgia would probably have not survived its brief war with Russia in August 2008 without money from Europe, the US and even Japan, Baramidze said.
Without international funding to help rebuild the country and boost its ailing economy, Georgia would have fallen prey to "internal social strain, tensions [and] turbulences," he explained.
"Georgia would not have survived," he said.
The deupty prime minister said that the donors' money is being put to good use, essentially in support of internally-displaced persons - for whom he says the government is doing a very effective job - and to sustain the economy, which had almost collapsed after the war.
"Now we have used this money to build new roads, new hydropower stations, power lines and other major infrastructure in the country," Baramidze said.
Asked if Georgia would appease Russia by abandoning its plans to join NATO, Baramidze said such an offer had already been made to Moscow before the August 2008 conflict.
"We told Russia that if the price of Georgian freedom, security and independence was NATO membership, we were ready to discuss this in a trilateral format with the West, Russia and Georgia," Baramidze said. "[Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili proposed this to [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin. And Putin replied: 'I am not going to exchange your territories with your foreign policy'."
Baramidze said Putin's words meant that Moscow already considered Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be Russian territory, not Georgia's.
"Russia could be a good neighbour if it respected international law and basic international behaviour," the top official went on, saying Georgia's leaders knew they stood no chance when confronting Russia militarily.
"But if Russia attacks us, we think that this is not just a matter of Georgia; the problem of Georgia is not just Georgia's problem. Willingly or unwillingly, this is also a European problem. Europe, together with the US, needs to cooperate in order to confront this issue and ensure peace and stability for Georgia," Baramidze pleaded.
