Cheney Meets Saakashvili in Vilnius
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met in Vilnius, Lithuania on May 4 on the sidelines of a summit of leaders from the Baltic and Black Sea regions.
“The United States, obviously, has been very interested and strongly supportive of the democracy movement in Georgia. We recognize and are encouraged by all the reform movements that are underway and all the great work that’s been done in Georgia to transform these institutions. We also support their aspirations to become more fully integrated with the European community, and look forward to working with them, as well, in the years ahead on all these issues. We are also, obviously, supportive of Georgia’s territorial integrity, and I look forward to our conversation here today,” Dick Cheney said after talks with Saakashvili.
“You’ve been a great supporter of our course of freedom for all these years. As you know, for people in Georgia, America and freedom are synonymous,” President Saakashvili stated.
He said that the union which was initiated by Georgia and Ukraine last year – the Community of Democratic Choice – is now “really huge.”
“And your [referring to the U.S. Vice President] presence is putting the final stamp of support and approval on our initiative that started last year,” Saakashvili added.