PM Kvirikashvili Wraps Up U.S. Visit, Calls It ‘Extremely Important’

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said wrapping up his three-day visit to the United States on May 23 that “the U.S. is indeed Georgia’s closest strategic partner and supporter.”

“It was an extremely important visit, where we had a very open, substantial discussions with our American friends and colleagues over practically every aspect of our bilateral strategic partnership agenda,” PM Kvirikashvili told reporters yesterday, shortly after his meeting with Vice President Mike Pence.

“Georgia is the closest partner of the United States in the region, and we heard very clear messages of support from the Vice President, which is crucially important for Georgia,” he noted.

The Prime Minister spoke on the U.S.-Georgian relations and the country’s foreign policy priorities in his opening remarks at the Second Annual Strategic Partnership Conference held at the United States Institute of Peace yesterday.

“Our culture is European with strong American accents, our outlook is western and Trans-Atlantic, as are our values and politics,” he stressed in his remarks, adding that “Georgia has had no greater friend than the United States” since it declared independence in 1991.

“The significance of Georgia’s unique position, and therefore, of the importance of its strategic partnership with the United States can only grow. Now is the time to pursue a bilateral trade agreement that will bring economic and security benefits to both of our nations,” he added.

PM Kvirikashvili touched upon the benefits of a free trade agreement in an op-ed for Fox News, where he underlined that the agreement would “advance America’s strategic and economic interests, while helping Georgia to sink ever deeper roots in the West’s free market economy and security architecture.”

During his visit on May 21-23, PM Kvirikashvili met with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell, as well as Congressmen Ed Royce (Rep.), Eliot Engel (Dem.), Peter Roskam (Rep.) and David Price (Dem.), and Senators Lindsey Graham (Rep.), Ron Johnson (Rep.), and Chris Murphy (Dem.).

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)