State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili held a meeting with acting US Ambassador to Georgia Ross Wilson. As InterPressNews was informed by the Office of the State Minister of Georgia on Reconciliation and Civic Equality, the main topic of the meeting was the death of Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskelia in unclear circumstances in occupied Gali district.

Ketevan Tsikhelashvili assessed the meeting as a very important and said that the United States is a strategic partner of Georgia.

"We have discussed the current situation. Of course, we talked about the grave, tragic incident that is related to the death of Irakli Kvaratskhelia – according to our current information, suicide but now the examination is being carried out and we will have more information.

We also talked about the continuation of cooperation with the United States within the framework of the peace initiative "A Step to a Better Future". We talked about projects that are currently supported by the United States and the future plans,” Ketevan Tsikhelashvili said.

According to the State Minister, she once again heard from the Ambassador that the United States is very strong in its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty as well as for the peace process and believes that there is no other alternative to this process. “Obviously, the actions of Russia is totally unacceptable. This is reflected in the report of the US Department of State ", Ketevan Tsikhelashvili said.

On the other hand, the Ambassador of the United States positively assessed the meeting and said that he had been provided with information on all the issues on the agenda.

"We have talked about various initiatives, which are the part of "A Step to a Better Future" and deal with trade, healthcare, education and other areas,” the acting US Ambassador said.

Ambassador assessed Irakli Kvaratskhelia's detention and his death in unclear circumstances as terrible and said it was a “gross violation of human rights”.

"We will definitely reflect this fact in the next report on human rights," the Ambassador said adding that this fact ones again demonstrates the importance of the work of State Ministry on Reconciliation and Civic Equality.