Kerry meets opposition
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Friday, July 8
Within the frames of his official visit to Georgia, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders of the parliamentary opposition, most notably with members of the United National Movement (UNM) and the Free Democrats (FD) parties on July 7. He also met with the Speaker of Parliament from the Republican Party, Davit Usupashvili.
According to Usupashvili, Kerry’s visit was very important before the upcoming Warsaw Summit.
"This is yet more emphasis on the fact that Georgia and the United States are deepening our strategic partnership,” he stated after the meeting, and noted that the main issues of the meeting were US support in various directions, such as economic revival, development of democracy, and deepening cooperation in defence field.
The head of the UNM opposition party Davit Bakradze stated that the signals from the American side are clear.
“There were two important topics on the meeting, and both of them are vitally important for our country. The first topic was about increasing Georgia’s self-defence capabilities, while the other concerned democratic issues in our country,” stated Bakradze.
According to the head of the Free Democrats Irakli Alasania, the development of democracy in Georgia was the main topic of meeting.
“We discussed issues such as development of democracy and the country’s defence abilities. The condition of media sources was also mentioned. We discussed the importance of the upcoming elections, which should be held in accordance with international standards,” said Alasainia.
Kerry left Georgia on July 7 for Kiev, Ukraine. He arrived in Georgia on July 6 and held meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also attended the meeting of the US-Georgia Strategic Charter.
