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Ivanishvili Says Wants to Meet Clinton

Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of opposition coalition, Georgian Dream, said on Monday that he would try to arrange a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she visits Georgia on June 5.

“We are trying to hold the meeting [with the U.S. Secretary of State] if possible; I know that she is arriving for a brief visit and I do not know exactly whether it will be possible or not to arrange [the meeting with her], but we will try,” Ivanishvili told journalists on May 28.

During her visit Clinton will open the U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission plenary session in Georgia’s Black Sea resort Batumi, meet President Saakashvili and also “hold discussions with a broad range of political actors and civil society representatives,” according to the Department of State.

In March, 2012 Ivanishvili snubbed an invitation to meet visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle jointly with a representative from Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM), which Ivanishvili describes as “pseudo opposition” party.

Asked about it, Ivanishvili said in an interview with Spiegel Online in March: “To be honest, he [the German Foreign Minister] actually offended me a little. He invited me to the same meeting as the members of the pseudo-opposition who are in Saakashvili’s pocket. Perhaps he was misinformed. But in the end it sent a fatal message, namely that the West doesn’t care about our coalition.”

The U.S. Secretary of State will visit Georgia as part of her week-long trip to seven countries in Europe also including visits to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey from May 31 to June 7. She will arrive in Georgia from Armenia and will then travel to Azerbaijan on June 6 and to Turkey on June 7 where she will co-chair the Global Counterterrorism Forum Ministerial in Istanbul.

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