Embassy of Georgia to the United States of America Quarterly Report

(2017 January-March)

Georgia celebrates 25 years of diplomatic relations with USA anniversary starting from April 2017

1. US-Georgia Visits & Meetings

• US Senate bipartisan delegation with Sen. McCain, Sen. Graham and Sen. Klobuchar traveled to Georgia on Jan.1–3 and visited occupation line in v. Khurvaleti, east Georgia. See More
• Adviser in Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister of Georgia Tedo Japaridze visited US in January and held the meetings with the US legislators and policy makers. See More
• Georgian MPs — First Deputy Chairperson Tamar Chugoshvili and European Integration Committee Chair Tamar Khulordava visited US on Feb 6–8 meeting over twenty colleagues at Hill. See More
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Mikheil Janelidze met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on February 10 and discussed US-Georgia Strategic Partnership. See More
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Mikheil Janelidze met with National Security Adviser to President, General Mike Flynn to discussed US-Georgia Strategic Partnership. See More
• Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili met with US Vice President Mike Pence at the Munich Security Conference on Feb.18 reconfirming again US-Georgia strategic partnership. See More
• CODEL Roskam, comprised of Congressmen Peter Roskam, David Price, Gerry Connolly and Adrian Smith, visited Georgia as a part of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) on Feb 24–26. See More
• Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze participated in the conference of Global Coalition working to defeat ISIS, hosted by the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Mar 22. See More

2. Major Initiatives & Milestones

• Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ranking Commissioner Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) on 30st of March introduced a Senate resolution (S. Res. 106) supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia. See More
• Department of State Press Statement: United States Deeply Concerned by Closure of Crossing Points in Georgia’s Abkhazia Region
• “Index of Economic Freedom 2017” of Heritage Foundation ranks Georgia 13th in the world and 5th in the Europe Region with 68 points. See More
• World Bank’s “Doing Business 2017” report moved Georgia up by 8 place to 16th position. See More
• “Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2016” report of Transparency International ranked Georgia 44th among 176 countries with 57 score which makes it the least corrupt in Eastern Europe and Central Asian region. See More
• “Rule of Law Index 2016” of World Justice Project (WJP) ranked Georgia on 34th position out of 113 countries with 0.65 score in Order and Security, Open Governance and Protecting Fundamental Rights. Georgia is a leader in Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries. See more

3. Spotlight on Georgia among US policymakers

• Ambassador Bakradze addressed the roundtable strategy session with the invited foreign policy and security pundits hosted by the Atlantic Council Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center on Jan 31. See More
• ‘Georgia and Security Challenges’ round table was held by The Levan Mikeladze Foundation hosted by The Heritage Foundation on Feb 16. See More
• Ambassador Bakradze testified on ‘Russian Policies and Intentions Toward Specific European Countries’ before Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on March 7. See More
• Ambassador Bakradze participated in the 15th annual conference “Sovereign Challenge XV -Challenges to Westphalian Sovereignty: Irregular Warfare, Past, Present, and Future”, hosted by the United States Special Operations Command #SOCOM in Raleigh, NC on March 9. See More
• DCM Tsikolia participated in the House Democracy Partnership Briefing on Kosovo, Sri Lanka, and Georgia at Congress on Mar 21. See More
• Ambassador Bakradze and DCM Tsikolia visited Silicon Valley in Palo Alto together with 8 Georgian start-up companies to showcase their projects and Georgia’s investment climate before local venture investors. See More

4. Embassy Representational Major Events

• Ambassador of Georgia to the United States of America David Bakradze assumed his post on January 19, after being appointed in December 2016. See More
• Embassy of Georgia hosted a wine tasting for the U.S. Congress members and staff at the congressional Cannon HOB on Feb.6 greeting Georgian MPs and US Representatives. See More
• Embassy of Georgia hosted a five year anniversary party of the ‘Georgian Thursdays’ — monthly gatherings of the diaspora and friends of Georgia in Washington DC on Feb 23. See More
• Celebrating International Day of Women, Embassy of Georgia hosted an exhibition of the project “50 Women from Georgia” on Mar 10. See More
• Georgian Embassy, in the framework of Francophonie Festival, organized the movie show of “Corn Island” of Georgian filmmaker Giorgi Ovashvili at Alliance Française DC, on Mar 11. See More
• Embassy of Georgia hosted the tour of duty start welcoming reception for the Ambassador Bakradze on Mar 16. See More
• Embassy of Georgia, in partnership with the Georgian Center, hosted Georgian Culture Night on Mar 29. See More