President Obama meets Georgian delegation
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The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, has met with the Georgian Prime Minister and praised him for advancing the country’s democratic direction, in a surprising and unexpected discussion between the two leaders.
The US President unexpectedly attended a meeting between the Georgian delegation and the US Vice President Joe Biden at the White House.
Following the surprise event, PM Garibashvili assessed the meeting on his Twitter account and said it was a pleasure to meet President Obama.
Was pleasure meeting president @BarackObama@WhiteHouse. US support is very important for #Georgia. pic.twitter.com/Dra8ygdrHV
— Irakli Garibashvili (@PrimeMinisterGE) February 24, 2014
A statement on behalf of the White House said: "The President and Vice President both congratulated the Prime Minister for Georgia’s success in completing the country’s first peaceful, democratic transition of power, and urged the Prime Minister to continue working with all of Georgia’s leaders and with civil society to advance the rule of law and to consolidate Georgia’s significant democratic achievements.”
President Obama also praised the Georgian contribution to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
"The President expressed the United States’ deep appreciation for Georgia’s significant contributions to the NATO mission in Afghanistan and honoured the sacrifices made by Georgian soldiers and their families.”
"The President and Vice President also reaffirmed the United States’ strong support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. They also assured the Prime Minister that the Georgian people had the United States’ unwavering support as they pursue their Euro-Atlantic aspirations and pledged continued U.S. assistance to help the new Georgian government as it pursues political, economic, and defense reforms,” the White House statement reads.
According to the official information, the leaders also discussed the future relationship between the countries, including opportunities for strengthening US-Georgia strategic cooperation, which involved increasing trade and investment ties between the two economies.
Garibashvili's video address was uploaded on his Facebook page where the Prime Minister said the Georgian Government was promised full scale support from the US President and the Vice President.
"I have also become a confirmation and readiness to deepen economic relations and intensify trade between Georgian and the US," Garibashvili stated.
In general, he assessed the meeting as "very positive and very fruitful”. He said Georgia was moving to a new level of relations with the US, who are a strategic partner of Georgia.
Garibashvili promised the Georgian Government would do its best to strengthen and deepen the strategic partnership with the United States.
Before leaving for the American visit, Georgia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Maia Panjikidze said a meeting with the US President was possible but it was not scheduled into to the official timetable.
A White House senior official said: "with respect to today’s meeting, the President (Obama) joined for about 20 minutes... and we don’t expect that the President (Obama) will drop in on the upcoming meeting with (Swiss) President Burkhalter or with (Moldavian) Prime Minister LeanÄa."
Agenda.ge asked how "unexpected" meeting was for Georgian delegation to Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaniani, who attended the surprising 20-minute meeting.
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