The Chairman of the State Agency for Religious Issues, Zaza Vashakmadze, met with the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussain, at the US Department of State.

At the meeting, the parties talked about the Georgian-American strategic cooperation in the direction of human rights. The chairman of the Agency emphasized the religious and ethnic discrimination in the occupied part of Georgia and the facts of violation of the freedom of religion.

The interest of the American side was aroused by the legal reforms in the field of religion in Georgia. One of the topics of the dialogue was the information about Georgia reflected in the annual reports on International Religious Freedom published by the US  Office for International Religious Freedom and the strengthening of mutual cooperation in this regard. Also, at the meeting they discussed common and different legal regulations in the two countries regarding the registration of religious organizations, status, relations with the state, inter-religious dialogue, construction of religious buildings, financial support of religious associations and other issues.

At the meeting, the history of cooperation between the Agency and the US Office for International Religious Freedom, which dates back to the creation of the Agency in 2014, and the importance of its continuation were outlined and future cooperation was planned. The chairman of the Agency invited Rashad Hussain to Georgia.

The meeting was attended by: the Deputy Ambassador-at-Large, representative of the Office of International Religious Freedom, Carson Relitz Rocker, Foreign Affairs Officer, representative of the Office for International Religious Freedom, Robin Shulman, desk officer for Georgia, Suzanne Wood - from the US Department of State; Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Jonathan Smith, Senior Counselor, Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Robert Weiner, Intern, Helen Hung - from the US Department of Justice; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the United States of America, Davit Zalkaliani, Counselor Sofia Balanchivadze, and Head of the Legal Maintenance Office of the Agency, Davit Davitashvili.