Ministry of Defence of Georgia
November 8, 2014
Defence Minister met U.S. Ambassador
Minister of Defence of Georgia Mindia Janelidze held an introductory meeting with Ambassador of the United States to Georgia Richard Norland. Defence Attache Colonel Mathew Dimmick and Political Officer Eric Han also attended the meeting.
The issues of bilateral cooperation between the US and Georgia were discussed during the meeting. The sides focused on partnership in military-political and military-technical fields and agreed upon to further enhance relationship in security and military spheres. As Minister outlined, the U.S is a strategic partner of the United States and the political course of Georgia`s Euro-Atlantic integration is irreversible. “The meeting with the US Ambassador was fruitful. We have discussed a previous cooperation in military-political and military-technical areas between Georgia and the United States. I`d like to emphasize the position of our government and Ministry that we intend to continue an intensive cooperation with our U.S. and NATO partners in the all the formats and platforms. It will become more active and vigorous. I have talked about it with the US Ambassador. Mr. Richard Norland also expressed willingness of cooperation with Georgia. Thus, we plan to present new initiatives before our partners”-stated Minister of Defence Mindia Janelidze.
The US Ambassador Richard Norland positively appreciated the meeting with new Minister and stated that an active bilateral cooperation in military and security areas will continue in future too. “First, I want to express my appreciation for the previous Minister Irakli Alasania’s close cooperation with United States during his tenure as Minister. We very much appreciate the new Minister Mindia Janelidze’s invitation to come and meet this morning. He said that given the fact that the United States is Georgia’s primary strategic partner, symbolically, he felt it was important to have the American Ambassador be his first visitor. We see this as the sign of continuity in our relationship on the military front and in bilateral security cooperation. Minister made very clear that there is no shift in Georgia’s strategic direction, that Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations remain strong as ever. This was very important message for us to hear. We appreciate it. We both agreed that this meeting will be a very good basis to move forward in continuing very important and very close partnership between the United States and Georgia in the security and defence sphere.”