A senior U.S. diplomat will arrive in Georgia late Thursday to speak with local officials in preparation for newly elected Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili's visit to the U.S. later this month.
Philip Gordon, U.S. deputy secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, will meet with the speaker of the Georgian parliament, David Usupashvili, parliamentary minority leader David Bakradze and Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze, Interfax reported, citing the U.S. Embassy in Georgia.
According to a statement on the U.S. State Department's official website, Gordon will later travel to Berlin, Germany, on Nov. 18 and then head to Austria and Belgium.
Ivanishvili's U.S. visit is scheduled for late November, days before a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels. During his first official visit to the Belgian capital this week, Ivanishvili reaffirmed Tbilisi's commitment to joining NATO.
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