EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, will visit Georgia on November 26 before traveling to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

In Georgia she will meet President Saakashvili and PM Ivanishvili.

Ahead of the visit Ashton said in an interview with RFE/RL that Georgia made “a big political decision, a democratic transition.”

“I will say to Prime Minister Ivanishvili that we welcome the fact that as prime minister he wants to devote his energy to the economic challenges of his country, that he needs to think about some of the foreign policy challenges of the country, and he needs to make sure that in everything he does – particularly in the world of justice – that it is done in an open and transparent way,” Ashton said.

“And I will say to President Saakashvili that he has his legacy already in Georgia in a sense, that it is important that he continue to work closely with the new government, important that he continue to push forward for Georgia on the things he believes in, especially, of course, the relationship with the European Union, which is, I think, of great significance for Georgia and of great importance to us,” she added.

Bidzina Ivanishvili paid his first official visit after taking PM’s office to Brussels on November 12-14.

He said on November 22, that he was initially planning to pay a visit to the United States by late November, but “upon my request, which was shared by the American side, arrangements for my visit to the United States will start next year in due course.” Ivanishvili cited “too much work” internally as a reason behind his decision to postpone the U.S. trip.

The PM also said on November 22 that he might pay a visit to Azerbaijan this year, adding that no exact date of this possible visit was yet set.