Finance minister: US “strategic partner”, further development of cooperation “very important”

Georgian finance minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Tuesday said the United States was Georgia’s “strategic partner”, adding the quality of cooperation between the sides and its further development was “very important”.

Khutsishvili was commenting on the statement of Ned Price, the US state department spokesperson, who on Monday said the United States had “voiced our concern about some of the Georgian governments’ actions” and urged it to “demonstrate its commitment to EU integration by adopting reforms necessary to move forward on that path”.

In his remarks over the matter, Khutsishvili noted the government had created working groups for the implementation of EU recommendations for granting the country the membership candidate status, with the process ongoing at a pace ”necessary for implementing specific conditions”.

He also pointed out a reduction of domestic political polarisation required not only government efforts but also involvement of the opposition, but added “[a]ll points [of the EU conditions] will be completed in time”.

On June 24, the European Council granted the membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and said it would be ready to grant the same status to Georgia once the outstanding priorities outlined by the European Commission are addressed by the Georgian government.