Who is the new US Ambassador to Georgia nominee?

Overnight (local-time) the man who has been nominated by United States (US) President Barack Obama to be America’s new Ambassador to Georgia has spoken for the first time about his vision of US-Georgia future relations.

At the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on pending nominations, US Ambassador to Georgia nominee Ian Kelly condemned Russia’s occupation of Georgian territory, said the US would continue supporting Georgia as it strived towards Euro-Atlantic integration and personally promised to help support the country’s economic development if he was confirmed as the new US Ambassador to Georgia.

The United States stands firm in its commitment to Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence. We condemn the ongoing occupation of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions by Russian forces. Furthermore, Russia’s so-called "treaties” of alliance with the de facto authorities Abkhazia and South Ossetia have absolutely no legitimacy,” said Kelly, who first visited Tbilisi nearly 40 years ago.

"If confirmed, I will support Georgia’s focus on the future, particularly economic development, to create jobs and contribute to the long term stability of the country and the region,” he said at the Senate hearing.

Ian C. Kelly at the confirmation hearing. Photo from Kelly's Facebook  page. 

Georgia’s economic opportunities

After his testimony, Senator Ron Johnson asked Mr Kelly about the economic opportunities in Georgia, to which Mr Kelly replied:

"I think in terms of the greatest opportunities for Georgia, I think it is (I mentioned already) it’s recent agreement with the EU to increase trade with the EU and I think that’s a tremendous opportunity for Georgia.”

"And also I think Georgia’s strategic position between Asia and Europe and I think that it can really gain a lot from being this East-West corridor, for energy in particular, but also in transporting goods from Central Asia to Europe. And if confirmed, I look forward to working with you and with Congress to identifying more opportunities.”

Independence of Georgia’s judiciary

Senator Jenne Shaheen asked: "Mr Kelly, one of the issues that I’ve had the opportunity to raise with Georgian officials when they have been here, is concern about the perception that arrests of some former political leaders raised questions about the rule of law and the judicial system in Georgia. And to what extent, what can we do in the United States to encourage Georgia to continue to move forward with democracy and to address the potential to see former political opponents as subject to arrest, as opposed to what they are, as former political opponents.

Mr Kelly answered: "Our top foreign policy priority for Georgia is helping it attain its aspirations to join Euro-Atlantic institutions, and of course we would not want to see anything degrade that trajectory towards Euro-Atlantic integration. And I know that Ambassador Norland has had good consultations with the Georgian government and we have stressed the importance of not even having the perception of any kind of political use of any kind of judicial levers.”

"Having said that, we also have very strong cooperation with Georgia to ensure the judicial process in Georgia in all cases is transparent and accountable and I think Georgia has made great strides in ensuring the independence of the judiciary.”

Senator Shaheen: "My time is up but let me just say how much I appreciate the close relationship that America and Georgia have had, and their contributions to our efforts in Afghanistan have been significant, so I think they’ve made tremendous progress and I want to see them continue to succeed”.

The hearing was hosted by Senator Johnson, Senator Shaheen and Senator Tim Kaine.

The three-year term of current US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland will end in September, after which the new US envoy will take up the post.

To watch the video of the Comitte Hearing go to the link.