US Secretary of Defence visits Georgia

Days after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit in Wales ended, United States (US) Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel is visiting Georgia on his first official visit.

In a meeting with Georgian officials yesterday, Hagel pledged the US would help the former Soviet republic improve its security.

The head of the Pentagon touched down on Georgian soil on Saturday evening and was greeted at Tbilisi International Airport by a contingent of officials including Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Defence Mikheil Darchiashvili and Ambassador of the US to Georgia Richard Norland.

On his first day of official duties Hagel held meetings with the country’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Minister of Defence Irakli Alasania and discussed bilateral cooperation in the defensive sphere and future cooperation between the two nations.

Hagel, who is the first US Defence Secretary to visit Georgia in more than a decade, said Russia’s aggression in Ukraine had strengthened ties between the US and its European allies, and alluded to the parallels between Ukraine and Georgia.

"Russia’s actions here and in Ukraine pose a long-term challenge that the United States takes very seriously,” said Hagel after his meeting with Alasania. "But President [Vladimir] Putin’s actions have brought the United States and our friends in Europe, including Georgia, closer together.”

While Hagel didn’t spell out details of the US pledge, he did say the US was keen to continue enhanced cooperation with Georgia in the defensive area to help the country strengthen its own security and self-defence. The importance of the US-Georgia partnership was discussed by the two officials, as was the support package offered to Georgia at last week’s NATO Summit in Wales. Hagel positively assessed the package and pledged the US would support Georgia in its implementation.

In his official meeting with President Giorgi Margvelashvili, the officials discussed the new NATO training centre which will be developed in Georgia in the framework of the support package offered to Georgia at last week’s Summit.

Meanwhile at his meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Hagel delivered a personal greeting from the President of the United States Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to the head of the Georgian Government. 

In response, Garibashvili said to Hagel: "The US remains a strategic partner for Georgia and your visit here reflects the greatest support which we are getting from Washington. He said developing relations with the US to a new level was one of Georgia’s major foreign policy priorities.

Hagel also thanked Garibashvili for Georgia’s contribution to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

Afterward Hagel visit the memorial of the heroes fallen in the fight for Georgia’s unity and territorial integrity, where he respected a minute of silence in their honour then laid a wreath at the memorial. 

He also visited Georgian military and US Marines at the Krtsanisi National Training Centre with Defence Minister Alasania and Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze.