U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Visits Tbilisi

Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, arrived in Tbilisi on Monday evening

Vershbow leads an interagency U.S. government team to launch the first round of meetings of working group on security issues in frames of the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership on October 20.

The working group is one of those four bilateral groups, which will address priority areas identified by the Charter. Democracy, economic development and people-to-people relations are three other areas.

During the security working group meeting in Tbilisi, the sides will discuss Georgian defense reform, contributions to NATO operations in Afghanistan and regional security issues, according to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi.

Meetings with President Saakashvili; Defense Minister, Bacho Akhalaia and Secretary of National Security Council, Eka Tkeshelashvili, are also planned, according to the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

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