PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
09 January 2009
U.S., Georgia Sign Blueprint for Military, Economic Cooperation
Charter calls for Georgian political reforms
Washington — The United States and Georgia have expanded their cooperation in defense, trade, energy security, democratic institutions and cultural exchanges.
“Georgia is a very important partner of the United States, a valued partner. Our relationships rest, of course, on shared values of democracy, on security, on economic prosperity,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
Rice and Georgian Foreign Affairs Minister Grigol Vashadze signed the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership in the State Department’s ornate Treaty Room on January 9.
Georgia pledged in the partnership agreement to strengthen political reforms. And the United States pledged to support Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, including eventual membership in NATO.
The NATO-Georgia Commission was established September 16, 2008, to help Georgia align its defense efforts with standards required by NATO for membership.
“The pace of Georgia’s integration with NATO should depend on the desires of Georgians themselves and on Georgia’s ability to meet NATO standards,” Rice said.
Vashadze said the charter strengthens the close strategic partnership between Georgia and the United States. “This is something [the] Georgian nation has been aspiring to, and this is the stepping stone which will bring Georgia to Euro-Atlantic structures, to membership within NATO, and to return to [the] family of Western and civilized nations,” he said.
Georgia and Russia fought a brief conflict in August 2008 over Georgia’s breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
“We understand that this document and our strategic partnership brings not only rights, but also obligations to Georgia to be [a] responsible ally, to be democratic, open and [a] liberal society,” Vashadze said. “And I think together with American help and American advice, we will reach that goal.”
