Georgia, Tbilisi, Feb. 6 /Trend N. Kirtzkhalia
U.S. President Barack Obama "in fact gave credence" to Georgia leader Mikheil Saakashvili, the ex-Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze said while assessing Saakashvili's visit to the USA.
"Obama only spoke about the success of reforms held in Georgia, which means about President Saakashvili's success, without giving any remarks," Shevardnadze said in his interview to the Asaval-Dasavali.
Shevardnadze assessed the visit as "extremely important". He noted that the visit in general was "successful" and proved once again that "Georgia is an important partner to the United States."
"Unfortunately, neither Obama nor Saakashvili said any word about prospects of restoring the integrity of Georgia," Shevardnadze said. "This is the most important issue and therefore cannot be ignored. If Obama decided to be silent, Saakashvili had to talk about it."
Despite this, the ex-president welcomes the intention to start talks on free trade and the transition to a new stage of cooperation in the military sphere. However, this cooperation should not be based only on sending Georgian troops to Afghanistan, he added.