US-Georgia Relations
Since the restoration of Georgia’s independence, the US has actively supported Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, the strengthening of its democratic institutions, the development of its market economy, and the country’s full integration into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions. U.S.-Georgia relations continue to be close. Georgian leaders note that U.S. humanitarian assistance was critical to Georgia's recovery from civil war and economic difficulties following independence. Extensive U.S. assistance is currently targeted to support Georgia's economic and political reform programs, with an emphasis on institution building. The U.S. worked with the Georgian Parliament on draft laws and establishing procedures and standards consistent with the country's 1995 Constitution. The United States provided Georgia approximately $1.2 billion in assistance through 2001, averaging about $100 million annually.
The United States also provided Georgia with bilateral security assistance, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. Evolving U.S.-Georgia partnerships include the Georgia Train and Equip Program, intended to enhance Georgia's military capability and stimulate military reform, programs by the Georgia (U.S.) National Guard, visits by the Sixth Fleet and the Coast Guard to Georgia, and the Bilateral Working Group on Defense and Military Cooperation. The United States declared its intention to more closely scrutinize the efficacy of its assistance monies.
In September 2003, the United States completed an assistance review and announced cuts in two programs. The summer 2003 exit of the American firm AES, which had been engaged in the electricity distribution sector, was a major setback for the economy and investment in Georgia. On another front, in June 2003, Georgia was placed on Tier 3 status with regard to the Trafficking Victims' Protection Act, which could have led to a suspension of all non-trade, non-humanitarian related assistance. During a 90-day grace period the Georgian government took sufficient steps to warrant a reassessment, and subsequently was placed on Tier 2 and thus did not lose any assistance.
The strength of U.S.-Georgia relations is codified in the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, signed in January 2009. The first meeting of the Strategic Partnership Commission, held in Washington, DC, on June 22, 2009, launched four bilateral working groups on priority areas identified in the Charter: democracy; defense and security; economic, trade, and energy issues; and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. Senior-level U.S. and Georgian policymakers lead yearly meetings of each working group to review commitments, update activities, and establish future objectives. Since the signing of the Charter, the United States and Georgia have strengthened their mutual cooperation based on U.S. support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and its commitment to further democratic reform.
By 2011 the United States had provided over $3 billion in assistance to Georgia since its independence in 1991, including a $1 billion post-conflict assistance package in the aftermath of the 2008 conflict. Recent U.S. foreign assistance has been designed not only to address immediate recovery needs, both economic and humanitarian, arising from the 2008 conflict, but to consider longer-term development priorities that will assist Georgia in its ongoing transition to a free, prosperous, market-oriented democracy firmly anchored in the Euro-Atlantic community. The majority of the post-conflict pledge targeted immediate stabilization and reconstruction needs such as supporting reintegration of internally displaced persons and social recovery, and restoring peace and security through support for law enforcement and enhanced border security.
As part of the pledge, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation provided funds for new finance and insurance investments in Georgia’s housing, finance, and agribusiness sectors. The package also included $250 million in direct budget support to the Government of Georgia, and a $100 million increase to Georgia’s $295.3 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact to expand work on road infrastructure and enhance energy security. Georgia was one of the first countries to receive an MCC Compact and was one of the first countries selected as eligible for a second following the initial Compact’s completion in April 2011.
Ongoing U.S. support emphasizes multi-year media and civil society development programs targeting systemic weaknesses in Georgia’s democracy, as well as large-scale energy infrastructure projects, including rehabilitation of the East-West natural gas pipeline and reconstruction of the high-voltage Senaki power line, which will help to enhance Georgia’s energy security. U.S. programs continue to assist internally displaced persons through housing upgrades and by improving social services, and strengthen democracy and governance by enhancing institutional checks and balances and by increasing public participation in democratic processes. This includes assistance to strengthen the rule of law; increase government transparency, accountability, and responsiveness; promote political competition and democratic electoral processes; and strengthen independent media and civil society. U.S. programs also seek to increase the standard of living of Georgians through development and reform of the education and health sectors. U.S. assistance works to builds capacity in the security sector by enhancing the professionalism and capacity of the armed forces, furthering Georgia’s ability to secure its borders, improving law enforcement, and addressing cross-border challenges such as trafficking in persons and narcotics.
In consideration of the progress achieved in defence modernization, democratic and economic reforms, as well as contribution provided in the ISAF mission, Barack Obama, after meeting with the Georgian president in the beginning of 2012, publicly said that defence cooperation with Georgia moves to a new phase. Later on, at the meeting between the U.S. and Georgian defence ministers, basic trends of bilateral cooperation were determined. On June 5 of 2012, in the framework of the U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton`s visit to Georgia, at the mission of the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership the American side reaffirmed its support for the enhanced defence cooperation with Georgia. The spheres of cooperation were also specified by the sides. They are:
- Operational air surveillance/air defence training and education
- Defensive combat engineer training and education
- Utility helicopter aviation training support
- Coastal surveillance training and education
- Tactical level train-the trainer instruction for NCOs and junior officers
- Brigade command and staff training
The enhanced cooperation in the field of defence icludes modernization of Georgian military system and acceleration of defence reforms; increasing interoperability with NATO and improving defence capabilities.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said 01 May 2013 that Washington supported Georgia’s aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ambitions that Moscow has repeatedly warned will only inflame tensions in the South Caucasus. “We are very supportive of Georgia’s aspirations with respect to NATO and Europe,” Kerry said ahead of a meeting in Washington with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose decade in office has seen a severe deterioration in ties with Russia, culminating in the 2008 war over the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia.
Kerry also praised “the democratic transition that has been taking place” in Georgia, a reference to the bitterly fought parliamentary election last October that Saakashvili’s political party lost to that of his chief rival, billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s current prime minister.
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