Washington: The US and Georgia Friday signed a strategic partnership pact here, vowing to deepen cooperation in the defence and security sectors.

"Georgia is a very important partner of the US, a valued partner," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, adding that, the US-Georgia relationship rests "on shared values of democracy, security and economic prosperity".

Rice and her Georgian counterpart, Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, signed the Charter on Strategic Partnership, which is similar to an agreement Washington had signed with Ukraine last month.

"This Charter underscores our relationship and our cooperation in defence, trade, energy security, strengthening democratic institutions, people-to-people contacts, and cultural exchanges," Rice said.

"The US supports and will always support Georgia's sovereignty and its territorial integrity, as well as its Euro-Atlantic aspirations and its integration into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic," she added.

 

Source : IANS