The Hill: 'Support Act will bolster Georgia's trade and security partnership with America'

The Hill has published an op-ed of the Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze on bolstering trade and security relations between Georgia and the United States.

PM Bakhtadze wrote in his op-ed that US–Georgia relations are "at an all-time high and expected to grow" amid the support from the US President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress.

Powerful evidence of the enduring partnership is the Georgia Support Act, currently making its way through Congress, which builds up our alliance while clamping down on Russian aggression", Bakhtadze said.

He also noted that eleven years after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, "we must live with the consequences of that tragic war". However, he adds that with the support of its US and European friends, Georgia "has proven the old adage that in adversity lies strength".

In recent years, we have stimulated economic development, increased investments in our national security, and accelerated the pace of our democratic reforms. Our elections are fair, boisterous, and strongly contested", Bakhtadze noted.

He further stressed that "today Georgia is among the world’s most favourable business destinations as measured by virtually every global metric.

We are a world leader when it comes to the ease of doing business, with a low tax regime, and solid economic growth of 5 percent", he noted.

Bakhtadze also mentioned that the development of Black Sea ports, "which will cut many days off the transit of high value goods between Europe and Asia, will put even more energy into Georgia’s growing presence as a trading hub".

He thinks that Georgia Support Act "aims to build on these achievements" with tangible economic and security investments by the US in Georgia.

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