Two ministers are to leave for United States
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, June 9
The Georgian ambassador to the U.S.A Archil Gegeshidze feels positive about the Georgian-American relationship.
In his interview with Interpressnews, he said that the visits of the State Minister of Georgia for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Davit Bakradze and Defence minister Tina Khidasheli are scheduled in the U.S.A.
According to him, at the meeting the Georgian side will discuss the issue of NATO membership and will request the extension of the United States’ support in this field.
The Ambassador also mentioned that after the government change in Georgia, the relations between the two countries have been significantly improved.
“The main cause of the positive attitude from the US is the peaceful and democratic change of government in 2012 in Georgia. The responses of the US administration, Congress and non-governmental organizations are more positive today than in the previous years,” he stressed.
Gegeshidze denied that the interests of America towards Georgia have reduced and said that Georgia-US relations have retained their strategic character. Moreover, the ties between the societies have developed in the cultural, educational, economic and business fields.
According to him, today America treats Georgia as its reliable and valuable partner and the proof of this is the recent US-Georgia joint military drills, code-named Noble Partner and the implemented program of Hepatitis C elimination in Georgia, initiated by the US Center for Disease Control.
The Ambassador stressed that in the previous year, due to America, the investments in Georgia have reached 80 million Dollars, which made positive impacts on trade flows as well. In addition, the American side has increased the quota of Georgia by 30% in Future Exchange Leaders Program (FLEX).
Gegeshidze believes that US-Georgian relations will highly improve and develop in the near future and stays optimistic about Georgia’s integration in NATO.
“The development and unity of Georgia is the priority for the both countries, Georgia must survive the current regional crisis and after this the relations between America and Georgia will reach a new, higher level,” predicted the ambassador.
