US visit Day 2: President Margvelashvili honours deceased Georgian cadets

The President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has honoured the memory of two Georgian military cadets who tragically died in a car accident in the United States (US) six months ago.

Today Margvelashvili visited the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut and remembered former students Soso Makaridze and Besarion Gorjoladze. The pair died in a car accident in New Jersey on March 8.

The President and chief commander of the Georgian military was welcomed to the Academy and received military honours on his arrival.

The ceremony continued by raising a Georgian flag in front of the Coast Guard’s Academy Hamilton Hall, followed by a 21 military salvo. After this the Academy’s brass band performed the Georgian national anthem.

President Margvelashvili delivers a speech at the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. Photo by the PM's Press Office.

After the official greetings, President Margvelashvili held personal conversations with the host families of the deceased Georgian students then delivered a speech at the Academy.

The two Georgian military cadets Makaridze and Gorjoladze died in March when they were in a vehicle that lost control while travelling on icy roads in the US state of New Jersey.

Makaridze was a fourth year student and had been studying in the US since 2011. Gorjoladze, a second year student, entered the US Coast Guard Academy in 2013.

Georgia’s President is visiting the US - Georgia’s major strategic ally – in the framework of the 70th session of the United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA).

Already he has held bilateral meetings with his Latvian counterpart and Slovenian Prime Minister, after which an announcement revealed Latvia’s President Raimonds Vejonis would visit Georgia next year.

The Latvian President accepted the invitation of his Georgian counterpart and said he would visit Georgia next year. Photo by President Margvelashvili's Press Office. 

Later today Margvelashvili will meet his Polish and Croatian counterparts and the Prime Minister of Belgium before delivering public speeches at the Council of Foreign Relations and Fordham University.

Margvelashvili will also participate in a discussion organised by the President of Lithuania, titled "Future of Eastern Europe, Strengthening Women’s Roles”.

Tomorrow the Georgian official will visit Washington where meetings were scheduled with senators and congressmen, including Senator of Arizona State John McCain.

Before returning home on October 2 Margvelashvili will meet representatives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the US business community.

In the coming days President Margvelashvili was also due to deliver a speech at the Wilson Centre and the Strategic and International Research Centre.