New sport exchange to enhance US-Georgia relations

America is continuing to support Georgia improve the quality of education in areas including science, technology, engineering, math and now sports.

The United States (US) announced a new sporting exchange program for 2015 at the annual meeting of the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission’s working group yesterday in Washington, D.C. The meeting topic was People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges and hosted by US Department of State.

The group commended Georgia’s new public-private partnership in support of the expanded Fulbright graduate student program.

In addition, the US State Department highlighted that the number of students who will participate in the annual Future Leader Exchange Program (FLEX) will increase by 33 percent and the number of US Peace Corps volunteers serving in Georgia will increase by 23 percent, including in regions where volunteers have not served since 2008.

The Government of Georgia welcomed US efforts to further bolster people-to-people engagement on the ground.

Meanwhile, the working group spoke positively of the continued support of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and USAID to improve the quality of education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in Georgia.

The annual US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission’s working group on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges meeting aimed to advance cooperation in the areas of public outreach, education, cultural exchanges and health in Georgia.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Toner, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Jonathan Katz, Georgia’s First Deputy Foreign Minister David Dondua and First Deputy State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili co-chaired the working group meeting.

The Strategic Partnership Commission is the primary mechanism for organising and arranging 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, defense and security, economic- trade and energy and people-to-people and cultural exchanges.