An inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Council will be held in Washington on June 22 based on the charter signed between the two countries in January, Philip H. Gordon, the U.S. assistant secretary of state, said.

The meeting will be chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze. Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili, is also expected to visit the United States.

In his prepared statement before the Subcommittee on Europe of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gordon said that the move “reaffirms our commitment to deepen cooperation with Georgia.”

“The United States strongly supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and its commitment to further democratic reform,” he said. “We will maintain solidarity with the international community in refusing to recognize the independence of these separatist regions [of Abkhazia and South Ossetia] of Georgia. We regret that Russia blocked the extension of the OSCE and UN missions in Georgia.”

Grigol Vashadze said last week that concrete measures for implementing the strategic partnership charter between to countries would top the agenda of his planned trip to the United States.