Georgian FM meets US assistant secretary of state to discuss strategic partnership
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani and the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker have met in Washington. Photo: Foregn Ministry press office.
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Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has met with the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker in Washington to discuss the issues of strategic partnership.
The Georgia-US cooperation has been given highly assessed in all fields, as well as the activities of the group created per the Strategic Partnership Charter,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported earlier today.
Great meeting with congressman @RepRickLarsen good friend of Gerogia, we appreciate his support and fruitful cooperation on issues related Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic path pic.twitter.com/o1ZB2Q09wO
— David Zalkaliani (@DZalkaliani) February 5, 2020
FM Zalkaliani spoke about the current situation in Georgia’s two Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali and the existing security situation in the region, the ministry said.
He also briefed Reeker on the current developments inside the country.
Before the meeting Zalkaliani met with US senators and congressmen.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has met with US Senator Jim Risch, a chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, in Washington earlier today stating that the senators ‘have very obviously seen the political will of the Georgian government to further strengthen democratic institutions in the country.’
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said in response to the recent letter from the four United States Congressmen that Georgian officials are “always ready” to talk to “strategic partners” of the country. Gakharia, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21-24, responded to the question from a Georgian journalist.
Congressmen Adam Kinzinger, Gerald Connoly, Eliot Engel and Michael McCaul wrote on January 21 that they are “concerned over the decision to forego promised democratic reforms and the associated violence against peaceful protesters” in Georgia.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze has responded to a recent open letter published by US Congressman Markwayne Mullin on ‘the deteriorating economic climate’ in Georgia, by saying that Georgia listens to the official statements of the US government. “Top officials of the US State Department and our American partners say that Georgia has irreversible progress in terms of development of democratic institutions."
Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze, who is visiting the United States from February 5-10, is holding meetings with US Congressmen. Talakvadze held his first meeting with Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who is one of thoe legislators who sent letters to Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia with ‘grave concerns’ over political and economic issues in the country.
US Acting Assistant Secretary of State of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker congratulated Georgia on its Independence Day and said that ‘the United States will always support Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.’
The candidate for Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has stated in parliament earlier today that Russia, as an occupying country, has tripled its efforts in the international arena against Georgia’s territorial integrity. "Russia is doing its best to assure the international community that Georgia’s two occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali are independent states,” Zalkaliani stated at the joint session of Parliament’s Committee for European Integration, Diaspora and Caucasus Issues and Foreign Issues Committee.
United States Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker has stated in Tbilisi that Georgia remains the US’s top strategic partnership in the South Caucasus and a crucial partner in the Black Sea region. He said that his recent visit to Georgia aimed to ensure the further development of Georgia as a safe and a democratic country ‘for which the implementation of the April 19 EU-mediated agreement is important.’
The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday appointed Ambassador Philip Reeker as Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, and noted the significance of the Geneva International Discussions, a platform created following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and in the wake of the ongoing occupation of Georgian regions, for the US.