U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the US hails the April 19 Agreement that ended the political deadlock in the country.

“We applaud the April 19 Agreement, the agreement of the governing parties that ended the stalemate, the willingness of the majority and the opposition parties to work together to address the electoral reforms, the independence of the judiciary here, and other reforms important for the country,” Senator Shaheen said during the press conference in Tbilisi on Thursday.

“One of the things that we heard from everyone we met with and we agree with is that Georgia’s future lies in the West and your Atlantic integration with NATO and with the EU. We support further reform efforts, we know these are critical to the needs of the Georgian people and important as Georgia looks at its future in the West with the EU and NATO,” Senator underscored.

Jeanne Shaheen mentioned a visit earlier this morning in the villages of Zemo Nikozi and Ergneti, placed next to the Russian occupation line of Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.

“This morning we also went to the Administrative Boundary Line. We saw first-hand the challenges that Georgia is facing from Russian soldiers who are stationed there, the challenges facing the people of South Ossetia who are not able to cross over into Georgia for healthcare and education, for other needs they have,” Senator Shaheen stated.