Georgia’s government is taking decisive steps to restore relations with the US and position itself as a strong European ally.
Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia, recently met with an American diplomatic delegation, led by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), to discuss avenues for expanded US-Georgia cooperation.
The meeting symbolizes the Georgian government’s recent efforts to align more closely with President Donald Trump and similar conservative administrations across Europe.
Prime Minister Kobakhidze hailed the meeting as “very productive,” highlighting the economic and strategic opportunities expanded US involvement in Georgia could bring.
“We discussed the strong partnership between Georgia and the U.S., our country’s vital role in ensuring peace and stability in the region, and the current political context in Georgia,” said Kobakhidze.
US-Georgia relations have ebbed and flowed as the Caucasus state has struggled with corruption, Russian influence, and government authority abuse.
Such issues remain and the US has actively cooperated with Georgian officials to preserve peace and stability.
In line with this approach, Senator Daines met with former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili during his trip to Georgia.
President Zourabichvili has long denounced the current Georgian administration as undemocratic and a farce.
Notwithstanding such worries, Georgia’s government has been warmly accepted into European conservative camps.
In the face of a recalcitrant European Union (EU), the Trump administration could soon turn to partners like Georgia to accomplish its European foreign policy agenda.
Indeed, relations between American conservative lawmakers and the EU are at a nadir, as the former have criticized the latter’s progressive policy initiatives.
Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), for example, recently criticized the EU’s open trade relationship with Cuba’s communist regime.
Similarly, Trump advisor Jason Miller warned of the EU’s abridgments of free speech during a conference in Budapest, Hungary.
Miller depicted the EU’s leadership as “overlords in Brussels” who are also the “most aggressive, anti-Trump trading partners,” adding that unelected EU bureaucrats are targeting free speech and Europeans’ privacy.
