Embassy of the United States

2008 Embassy Events

A/S Fried meets leaders and promotes democratic reform

In between the Geneva summit to discuss a political settlement in Georgia, and the Brussels donor conference to raise support for Georgian reconstruction, Assistant Secretary for EUR Fried came to Tbilisi for three days to meet leaders, see the status of reconstruction, learn about the EU monitoring mission, and hear about the status of democratic reforms. He visited an IDP camp and heard about their experiences and saw war damage as well as the new housing being constructed for IDPs. PAS organized an off the record briefing by journalists on the state of the Georgian media as well as extensive press coverage of his travel to the "buffer zone" that was formerly occupied by Russian troops. Fried also observed the road to the village of Akhalgori, which is controlled by Russian and South Ossetian forces. In his final press conference A/S Fried spoke about what he had seen and answered wide ranging questions from the local and international press.