Georgia remains open to restoring strategic ties with the US despite being omitted from the Vice President’s regional tour, signalling a prolonged diplomatic chill.
TBILISI: Georgia said it is waiting “patiently” for a reset in relations with the United States.
The statement came as US Vice President JD Vance visited neighbouring Armenia and Azerbaijan but skipped Tbilisi, once Washington’s closest regional ally.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Tbilisi remained open to restoring the relationship.
When asked about Vance’s apparent snub, Kobakhidze said Georgia would wait “for as long as it takes, patiently” for the US to change its position.
Pressed on when that patience might run out, he replied: “Never.”
Kobakhidze said Georgia had already taken its “main step” by openly expressing readiness to renew the partnership with Washington “from a new page”.
He added that Georgia was prepared to “discuss all issues without any preconditions and to rebuild strategic ties based on a concrete roadmap”.
Relations have sharply deteriorated over the past two years.
US officials accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party’s government of democratic backsliding and drifting closer to Russia.
Washington has suspended a strategic partnership agreement with Tbilisi and imposed sanctions on senior officials linked to the ruling party.
Georgia was long seen as one of the most pro-Western states in the former Soviet Union.
Successive governments pursued NATO and EU integration and hosted US military cooperation programmes.
But relations have soured amid mass protests over controversial laws stifling political dissent, media, and civil society.
Anti-Western rhetoric by Georgian Dream leaders has also drawn criticism from Washington and Brussels.
Vance’s trip to Yerevan and Baku seeks to advance US-backed regional connectivity and peace efforts.
The trip highlights a trade route bypassing Georgia and underscores Tbilisi’s growing diplomatic isolation from its traditional Western partners.
