On December 5, Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, met Joshua Huck, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department, the Press Office of the Georgian government reported.

The meeting held within the Government Administration was focused on discussing the strategic partnership agenda between Georgia and the United States of America, along with a review of steps to solidify and deepen the current cooperation in various areas. Irakli Garibashvili and Joshua Huck discussed the progress achieved by Georgia towards EU integration. The visiting dignitary congratulated the Head of Government of Georgia on the positive decision of the European Commission recommending the status to the country. As the Prime Minister of Georgia noted, the ultimate positive decision is now expected from the European Council on granting the actual status of the EU Candidate Country to Georgia. According to him, EU integration is one of the key foreign policy priorities pursued by the Georgian government.

Regional security issues were among the topics of discussion. Irakli Garibashvili and Joshua Huck exchanged ideas towards this end. The Prime Minister of Georgia highlighted the significance of peaceful conflict resolution and common efforts against the background of global challenges. At the meeting, attention was paid to the current security and humanitarian stance in the occupied territories of Georgia.

The Prime Minister conveyed his gratitude to Joshua Huck for the open support of the US towards the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and EU integration of Georgia.

Notably, Joshua Huck also met the representatives of the Georgia political opposition. Zurab Japaridze, the leader of "Girchi - More Freedom," noted after the meeting that most of the time was devoted to discussing the pre-election period. According to him, the members of the US delegation are interested in the extent to which the opposition can cooperate since the image of the opposition may not leave a good impression on the US delegation.

Japaridze said that during the meetings, they "talked about the challenges facing the country, both from the foreign and regional point of view, as well as the problems inside the country, related to the democratic development of this country. The main time was devoted to talking about the pre-election period, the elections, and the challenges related to the elections, particularly what problems we see and how we intend to deal with these problems. Also, there was talk about the future coalition government, to what extent and how we look at this situation. They wonder how much we can cooperate, if they look at it from the side, the image of the opposition may not leave a good impression".