U.S. Assistant State Secretary Visits Tbilisi

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried is in Tbilisi to meet with government officials, opposition leaders, and civil society groups.

To start out her visit, Assistant Secretary Donfried attended and gave opening remarks at the Tbilisi Women’s International Conference organized by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili.

Shen then went on to meet with key civil society and media representatives to discuss the challenges facing the country. Eka Gigauri, executive director of Transparency International Georgia, a local watchdog, told Mtavari Arkhi TV before the meeting that she would discuss “how to come up with a way to influence this government together because we can no longer carry on this way.”

During her meeting with Prime Minister Garibashvili and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili, Assistant Secretary Donfried spoke about the U.S. Government’s readiness to help Georgia implement recommended democratic reforms and continue on its Euro-Atlantic path, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi stated.

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The U.S. official also met with Georgia’s opposition leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities the country faces and how the U.S. can continue to support Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, per the U.S. Embassy.

In Tbilisi, Assistant Secretary Donfried arrived from Azerbaijan. From Georgia, she will travel to Yerevan, Armenia on June 18 where she will meet Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other government officials. The visit to the region is meant to “emphasize the U.S. commitment to peace, democracy, and prosperity in the South Caucasus region,” per the press release by the Department of State.

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