At a meeting with Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili on the sideline of the Munich security conference on February 8, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Georgia “to keep its focus on democratic reforms,” the White House said.

It also said that the U.S. Vice President “discussed the implications of the current conflict in eastern Ukraine for European security” and “stressed U.S. support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

After the meeting, PM Garibashvili told journalists in Munich that bilateral cooperation, including security and energy issues, as well as developments in Ukraine were discussed.

“The U.S. clearly sees the progress that we have achieved in recent years,” PM Garibashvili said. “Of course problems still remain in Georgia, economic problems and others, but – and we also spoke about it – we have concert plans and vision how to overcome these problems. Of course we always have a hope for support from the United States and we stated that we expect support from the U.S., including towards our Euro-Atlantic choice.”

“We also touched upon situation in the region and discussed crisis in Ukraine. We also spoke about number of scenarios of developments in respect of Georgia and we also spoke about threats and challenges that our country faces, but in general the Vice President himself noted that we are on the right track and that we are developing in the right direction and it needs consistency and we hope for the U.S. support,” the Georgian PM said.