Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose six-party Georgian Dream coalition won elections, said on October 3 that after becoming PM he would pay his first foreign trip to the United States after the presidential elections there.

“My first visit [abroad] will be in Washington,” Ivanishvili said, adding that it would be “better and more effective” if this visit takes place after the presidential election in the United States in November.

He also said that he “received invitations from Europe too”, but would not travel “anywhere” before the visit to the U.S.

Ivanishvili said he had no contacts with the Russian leadership and had not yet received congratulations on election victory from Moscow.

Ivanishvili says that integration to NATO and the EU would be his government’s priorities; he also says that in parallel he will try to normalize relations with Russia and also will try to convince Moscow that Georgia’s NATO membership poses no threat to Russia.