Tinatin Khidasheli: “U.S.-Georgia Partnership Brings More Real and Effective Results”
Friday, December 11
On the second day of her visit to the Unites State of America, the Defence Minister met with a significant number of U.S. Congressmen: Mike Conaway, Mac Thornberry, Adam Smith, Jeff Miller, and senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue. On the next day Tinatin Khidasheli met with U.S. Senators Ron Johnson and Bob Corker, as well as U.S. Congresmen Mark Meadows, Steve Chabot, David Cicilline, Duncan Hunter, Reid Ribble and John Shimkus. Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. Congress confirmed their steady support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. They thanked the Georgian Defence Minister for Georgia’s contribution to international security.
Members of the U.S. Congress expressed their interest in the current political situation in the region and also in Georgia’s NATO integration prospects. All of them expressed a common view with regards to Russian policy, countries in the region and especially towards Georgia.
The U.S. Senators and Congressmen expressed readiness to initiate the Legislative Acts supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and NATO integration. Concrete plans were also elaborated for this purpose.
The Minister of Defence of Georgia summarized the meetings and underscored their importance: “I have already met more than 20 Senators and Congress Members. We had the opportunity to talk about the challenges Georgia faces. Our main goal is to get supporting resolutions from the U.S. Congress in a short period of time and to get their support on any Legislative Act initiated in Congress related to our region and security, to ensure that on these important issues Georgia’s context should be considered along with other countries. We have many friends in the U.S. Congress, in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now it is very important to show the world with a common voice and joint efforts that a strong partnership exists between Georgia and the United States, which brings realistic and effective results. Successful projects are implemented every day and we can build our country’s success on them,” Tinatin Khidasheli said.
