US official: “Georgia’s better future lies in stronger cooperation with US”

Senior officials from Georgia and the United States (US) have discussed ways to intensify bilateral relations.

Today Georgia’s Foreign Ministry hosted a meeting of the People-to-People and Cultural Exchange Working Group of the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission. This format of meeting considers the issues relating to cooperation in the areas of public relations, education, sport, cultural exchanges, internally displaced persons and healthcare.

Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani described the meeting as "highly successful” and said concrete projects were planned to boost relations between Georgian and American people.

Thomas Melia, USAID Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia, attended the meeting on behalf of the US side. He highlighted the successful US-Georgia cooperation within the framework of the Working Group and said "a clear proof of this success” was an increase in US foreign assistance for Georgia.

The main focus of discussions was the way the partnership between the US and Georgia is benefiting the Georgian people in the areas of health and education,” he said.

We discussed many aspects of education and training for Georgians and this will continue to be a large part of our cooperation.”

Melia noted that the parties also talked about the way mutual programmes could broaden the linkages between Georgian citizens living in the territory of breakaway Tskinvali region (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia and about the various ways Georgia and the US could bridge the communication gap.

"The US assistance budget for Georgia increased last year and is increasing this year. And we will continue to invest in this partnership with the Georgian Government to further demonstrate to the Georgian people that their better future lies in the stronger cooperation with the United States,” Melia said.

The Strategic Partnership Commission is the primary mechanism for organising and prioritising the broad and deepening cooperation between the US and Georgia. 

The Commission includes four bilateral working groups on priority areas identified in the Charter on Strategic Partnership: democracy and governance; defense and security; economics, trade, and energy; and people-to-people and cultural exchanges.