U.S. Ambassador on Priorities of Ties with Georgia

U.S. ambassador in Tbilisi, Ian Kelly, said that given all the developments in the region, the stakes for the United States in the success of Georgia are growing ever higher.
 
Speaking about U.S.-Georgia relations at the international conference in Tbilisi on Europe’s Changing Geostrategic Landscape after the Warsaw NATO Summit, the U.S. diplomat said that ensuring Georgia’s sovereignty and independence, supporting Georgia’s NATO aspirations and helping Georgia become resilient and prosperous democratic state are United States’ main priorities vis-à-vis Georgia.

On NATO aspiration, the U.S. diplomat said that one of the main outcomes of the Warsaw summit of Alliance’s leaders in July was to reaffirm open door policy and to reiterate that Georgia has all the practical tools to join the NATO.

“Of course no one can say when Georgia will be able to join NATO, but it is our [U.S.] task, our priority that Georgia keeps moving closer and closer to NATO and… ongoing military exercises, Agile Spirit, that we have here and the visit of the Secretary General and NAC is the best evidence of this,” the U.S. Ambassador said.

“No one can say when Georgia will join the NATO, but we want to ensure that Georgia is able to become more resilient state in a security sense,” he added.

Kelly said that a memorandum on deepening the defense and security partnership, which was signed when Secretary of State John Kerry visited Tbilisi in July, lays out “our willingness to expand our bilateral cooperation in the areas of defense capacity building, military cooperation and also information sharing.”

“This is to ensure that Georgia is able to protect itself and it’s our investment in Georgia not just because Georgia is such a fantastic security partner for us in this region and beyond, but also because we want Georgia to succeed,” the U.S. ambassador said.

“Given all of the events in this region, I think the stakes for us in the success are growing ever higher as we see some of the developments all around Georgia,” he added.

He said that the memorandum is a framework to ensure strengthening of Georgia’s self-defense capabilities and “raising Georgia’s ability to deter aggressors.”

“We are working with the Georgian government to come up with a strategic plan, which will be followed by implementation plan and of course will be taken into the next administration in terms of actually allocating resources,” the U.S. diplomat said.

He said that Georgia should continue “to grow as a democracy”, adding that the country “really is a leader in democratic reform” and given everything that is going on in the region, it is very important that Georgia be a model for others.

“We have our eyes very firmly focused on the [parliamentary] elections in October,” Kelly said. “These elections are absolutely critical to lock in the gains that Georgia has achieved in the area of democratic development.”

Asked about prospects for a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Georgia, Kelly responded that this issue and a very low level of bilateral trade in general was among his personal “frustrations” as an ambassador.

He said that all of the time and energy of Office of the U.S. Trade Representative was taken by “two gigantic negotiations” on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“I think this [potential free trade agreement with Georgia] is going to be a decision for the next [U.S.] administration. I think one of the real recommendations for the next administration is to put a real focus on free trade agreements with countries that are doing the right things in terms of democratic and economic development,” Ambassador Kelly said.

Asked by a moderator of the panel discussion what will happen if the U.S. elects a president, who does not have a focus on the region, the Ambassador responded: “I think Georgia has made a real strategic and a very positive decision to [be] a real contributor to the international stability and that has highlighted, especially to security professionals, how important Georgia is as a platform for us.”

“There is a tremendous bipartisan support for everything Georgia represents,” he added. “I am optimistic that this will continue after January next year no matter who wins [in the U.S. presidential election].”

Responding to the same question, Georgia’s Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze, who was a speaker at the same panel discussion, said that he is “sure that the U.S. policy will stay the same” when it comes to international affairs and democratic development in the world.