“We can be proud of our reforms,” Georgia’s Defence Minister stated in Washington
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, December 10
Georgia’s Minister of Defence, Tinatin Khidasheli, held official meetings in the United States.
The major aim of the high-level meetings was to raise international awareness over successful Georgian reforms, along with Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic ambitions and Russia’s aggressive actions on Georgian soil.
The Minister met with representatives of leading US Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and research centres, and she also delivered a speech at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
“We can be proud of the reforms we are implementing in Georgia and we want our foreign partners to be very aware of our successes,” Khidasheli said and stressed the importance of international discussions.
The Minister emphasised that she and other Georgian officials on foreign trips served the aim to inform the country’s foreign allies over Georgian developments for them to have grounded arguments to lobby Georgian interests in necessary situations.
“Our aim is to answer to all the questions the public is interested in and provide them with the information that will help them defending Georgia when facing opposing views,” the Minister added.
They attendees stressed that the Minister provided them with detailed information concerning Georgia’s relations with other countries of the region, Russia’s activities and intentions in Georgia, and the country’s accelerated pace towards the Euro-Atlantic space.
The Minister also met with representatives of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry, Former US State Secretary Madeleine Albright, President of the National Democratic Institute Kenneth Wollack, Head of the US Institute of Peace Stephen Hadley and the Institute’s President Nancy Lindborg.
The meetings were focused on regional security, Russia's policies in the occupied regions of Georgia, and Georgia’s prospects towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Georgia’s Ministry of Defence said.
