The FINANCIAL — Vice President for Research at the Heritage Foundation Kim Holmes spoke before the Conference to mark the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Georgia and the U.S. He highlighted Georgia’s success over the past 25 years.
According to him, in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States of America was among the first to recognize Georgia’s independence in 1991 and a year after that an American embassy was opened in Tbilisi and “it was the beginning of what turned out to be a very strong, stable and enduring relationship” – Kim Holmes said.
Holmes praised Georgia as a beacon of democracy and economic freedom. According to him “for years the Georgian Government has pursued the agenda of liberalizing economy, fighting corruption and embracing democracy”.
Holmes highlighted Georgia’s performance in terms of the index of economic freedom over these 25 years. According to him, “In 1999 when economic freedom index was opened, Georgia ranked 123 which is not a very good score, today though, it ranks 13. It is the most remarkable improvement that any single country in the history of economic index improvement has achieved”.
Holmes also spoke about the security challenges facing Georgia. “Georgia has proved to be a staunch ally of the United States. Most people do not know that at the time of invasion in 2008 by Russia, Georgia had the second-largest troop presence in Iraq after the U.S. Georgia still has 70 soldiers in Afganistan. For these contributions and sacrifices Georgia has made in Afghanistan and elsewhere Americans are eternally grateful” -Vice President at the Heritage Foundation said.
The Conference to mark the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Georgia and the U.S. was held in Washington, under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation and the German Marshall Fund. Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze and senior officials of the U.S. legislative and executive branches of the government took part in the event, according to MFA of Georgia.
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