- Title: Georgia president sees strong US ties maintained under Trump
- Date: 30th November 2016
- Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (NOVEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GEORGIAN FLAG ON TOP OF PALACE DOME GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, TALKING TO REUTERS CORRESPONDENT PORTRAIT OF GEORGIAN WRITER, ILYA CHAVCHAVADZE, ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, SAYING: "Taking into consideration that our agenda is much beyond concrete day-to-day policies, but is going beyond and is targeted towards transcontinental cooperation, is targeted towards values that do not change overnight, I believe that our relations and communications with President Donald Trump as well as with our friends and allies on the Hill from the Republican or Democratic side will be maintained, because we are talking about interests and we are talking about the goals that are and have been shared for the last 25 years with much or less intensity, but that's how it is." GEORGIAN FLAG AND PRESIDENTIAL STANDARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, SAYING: "With President Trump our agenda remains the same and our persistency of bringing Georgia high on the DC's radar screens and trying to push for the major issues of our partnership and collaboration will be remaining the same active and aggressive." MARGVELASHVILI'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, SAYING: "We have been describing the process as a conservative phase in the development of the unions, be it NATO or be it the EU. It's a conservative phase, it means that the union is thinking or re-thinking or re-evaluating and preparing for the next move. And we think that this conservative phase at some point should end with more active and more enclosing and engaging agenda." GEORGIAN COAT OF ARMS ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, SAYING: "Our relationships with Russia are targeted on the policy of bringing the dialogue to rational discussion and the policy of maintaining peace and not letting any of the war parties engage Georgian side in any kind of provocation." GEORGIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI, SAYING: "We clearly state that we see Russia as potentially a good neighbour after and unless the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia are maintained. Russia's occupation of Georgia is historically unfair move towards Georgia, towards Russia's neighbour. This move will never be accepted by our society, will never be accepted by Georgian political leadership." PIN IN SHAPE OF GEORGIAN NATIONAL FLAG ON MARGVELASHVILI'S JACKET
- Embargoed: 15th December 2016 15:01
- Keywords: Georgy Margvelashvili Georgia Tbilisi Donald Trump U.S. Russia Vladimir Putin
- Location: TBILISI, GEORGIA
- City: TBILISI, GEORGIA
- Country: Ukraine
- Reuters ID: LVA0015AMYTKP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Georgia expects relations with the United States under Donald Trump to remain strong despite his calls for improved ties with Russia and Tbilisi will keep pressing for closer collaboration with NATO, the president of the ex-Soviet republic said in an interview with Reuters.
Trump stirred concerns in central and eastern Europe during the U.S. election campaign with his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and also his suggestion that the United States may not defend allies deemed to spend too little on defence.
Georgia wants to join NATO, though the Atlantic alliance has played down its chances and Russia, which fought a brief war with the south Caucasus nation in 2008, is firmly opposed.
Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday (November 29) that he was sanguine about the prospect of Trump taking power.
"Taking into consideration that our agenda is much beyond concrete day-to-day policies, but is going beyond and is targeted towards transcontinental cooperation, is targeted towards values that do not change overnight, I believe that our relations and communications with President Donald Trump as well as with our friends and allies on the Hill from the Republican or Democratic side will be maintained, because we are talking about interests and we are talking about goals that are and have been shared for the last 25 years with much or less intensity, but that's how it is," he said.
"With President Trump our agenda remains the same and our persistency of bringing Georgia high on the DC's radar screens and trying to push for the major issues of our partnership and collaboration will be remaining the same active and aggressive," he said.
Georgia spends around two percent of its national output on defence, the target recommended by NATO but still not met by a majority of Washington's European allies.
The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama provided extensive military aid to Georgia and spoke out against what they said was Russia's lack of respect for Georgia's borders after Moscow backed two breakaway Georgian regions in the 2008 war.
A fifth of Georgian territory remains under the control of pro-Russian separatists. The country is strategically important for the West because it is criss-crossed by pipelines carrying Caspian oil and gas to Europe.
Georgia has also pushed hard for greater political and economic integration with the European Union. It signed a free trade accord with the EU in June 2014 which it hoped would lead to visa-free travel in the bloc for Georgians.
Margvelashvili said he was disappointed that the visa issue was still "sitting in Brussels" even though Tbilisi now fulfilled all the necessary requirements.
"We have been describing the process as a conservative phase in the development of the unions, be it NATO or be it the EU. It is the conservative phase, it means that the union is thinking or re-thinking or re-evaluating and preparing for the next move. And we think that this conservative phase at some point should end with more active and more enclosing and engaging agenda," he said.
Margvelashvili, 47, a philosopher by training, said Russia, Georgia's Soviet-era overlord, remained a serious international player and that Tbilisi would pursue a constructive dialogue with Moscow despite tensions.
"Our relationships with Russia are targeted on the policy of bringing the dialogue to rational discussion and the policy of maintaining peace and not letting any of the war parties engage Georgian side into any kind of provocation."
But he said good relations with Russia were only possible if it respected Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"We clearly state that we see Russia as potentially a good neighbour after and unless the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia are maintained. Russia's occupation of Georgia is historically unfair move towards Georgia, towards Russia's neighbour. This move will never be accepted by our society, will never be accepted by Georgian political leadership," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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