Margvelashvili: Georgia counts on Trump's support

Georgia expects relations with the United States under Donald Trump to remain strong, Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili told Reuters in an interview.

"Our relations and communication with President Donald Trump as well as with our friends and allies on the Hill (in Congress) from the Republican and Democratic sides will be maintained because we are talking about interests and goals that are and have been shared for the last 25 years," he said.   Georgia spends around 2% of its national output on defense, the target recommended by NATO but still not met by a majority of Washington's European allies.   Margvelashvili said he was disappointed that the visa issue was still "sitting in Brussels" even though Tbilisi now fulfilled all the necessary requirements.   "The EU as well as NATO are going through a conservative phase of re-evaluating challenges. We think that this conservative phase should end at some point with a more active and more engaging agenda," he noted.   Speaking about the relationship with Russia, Margvelashvili said that they are targeted on the policy of bringing the dialogue to rational discussion, "the policy of maintaining peace and not letting any of the war parties engage the Georgian side in any kind of provocation."