Georgian Parliament Speaker’s first visit to US
Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Dr. Irakli Kobakhidze held his first official visit to the United States on February 5–9, 2018. During his visit, Speaker of the Parliament discussed bilateral cooperation with number of representatives of the Senate and House, as well as Department of State and non-governmental organizations.
Georgia’s integration with NATO was one of the main issues discussed with Speaker’s American colleagues getting reassurance on U.S. strong support to Georgia. “We held very positive meetings during the visit, met with dozens of senators, congressmen and spoke about our strategic partnership. We also thanked our American friends for their support”, noted Dr. Kobakhidze.
While meeting think-tank community, Speaker Kobakhidze reviewed the democratic developments in Georgia and responded to the questions regarding the new amendments to the Georgian Constitution, which introduces proportional system of elections, thus providing a platform for multi-party representation and political pluralism at the legislative body.
Chairman of the Parliament discussed array of issues regarding democratic developments and strategic foreign policy goals at his public address at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), facilitated by Ambassador Andras Simonyi of the Center for Transatlantic Relations.
“Georgia is and will continue to be the strongest democratic country in its region”- Congressional Georgia Caucus Chairman, Rep. Ted Poe noted at the official reception in honor of the visiting Chairman of the Georgian Parliament. Stressing that Georgia and the US have a lot of values in common, Congressman Poe said that Russian President Putin still wishes to rebuild the Soviet Union, and this is why he first attacked Georgia — the strongest democratic country in the region.
Congressman Poe stressed that the US believes that Russia has illegally occupied the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as well as the regions of Ukraine: “US should be even more firm in its support of Georgia and Ukraine and help these countries preserve their freedom and independence in the difficult neighborhood.”
Speaker of the Parliament expressed his gratitude towards his American colleagues for their firm support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity: “Georgia has taken inspiration for strengthening democracy from the U.S. from the 1990s. We are grateful [to the U.S.] for supporting [our] statehood and supporting sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, security, which is so important for developing Georgian democracy and the economy.”