Delegation of Georgian Church meets with reps of US Department of State
The Georgian Church believes that personal meetings with members of the Department of State are more productive as they allow the Church to speak without intermediaries.
On October 22, 2019, the delegation of the Georgian Orthodox Church held a number of meetings with representatives of the US Department of State, the Georgia Online website reports with a link to the Public Relations Service of the Georgian Patriarchate.
In particular, the members of the delegation of the Georgian Orthodox Church met with US Deputy Secretary of State for Caucasus and Eastern Europe, George Kent. In addition, a meeting was held with the United States Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback.
The statement of the Georgian Patriarchate said that "plans for the future and cooperation were discussed at the meetings."
The press service emphasized that "such direct relationships and personal meetings will yield much more productive and effective results, since the Church is given the opportunity to speak on its own behalf without the mediation of others and share information with stakeholders about the activities of the Church and current events."
At the end of the meeting Metropolitan Shio Mujiri, Locum Tenens of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, gifted the representatives of the US State Department with icons depicting St. George the Victorious. The publication notes that George Kent plans to visit Georgia in two weeks.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in the opinion of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavel Klimkin, the recognition of the OCU by Georgia is a matter of time.