(23 Jul 2009)
1. Wide US Vice President Joe Biden and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili during welcome ceremony in compound of the Georgian presidential palace UPSOUND Georgian national anthem
2. Mid of Biden UPSOUND Georgian national anthem
3. Pan of orchestra playing UPSOUND Georgian national anthem
4. Mid of Biden and Saakashvili UPSOUND Georgian national anthem
5. Mid of US and Georgian flags
6. Various of Biden and Saakashvili walking along red carpet
7. Mid of the orchestra playing
8. Biden shaking hands with Georgian officials
9. Pull out to wide of ceremony in front of the presidential palace
10. Biden and Saakashvili walking towards entrance of presidential palace
11. Various of Biden and Saakashvili talking to each other while viewing Tbilisi from the dome of the presidential
12. Pan left of Biden and Saakahsvili entering meeting room
13. Mid of Biden and Saakashvili during meeting UPSOUND (English) Biden: "Issues we talked about regard security, economy, your democracy
and the steps you are taking to solidify that democracy. And they are all tied together. And we are confident about your future and you should be confident about our willingness to stand with you."
14. Wide of Biden and Saakashvili during meeting
STORYLINE:
Georgia's president was expected to ask US Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday for advanced US weaponry, military aid and unarmed observers to monitor a cease-fire along the boundaries of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions.
The White House refused to comment Thursday on Georgia's interest in US military assistance.
Russia, however, reiterated its warning that it would lower or halt military cooperation with any country supplying Russian arms to Georgia, an apparent threat to Ukraine.
President Mikhail Saakashvili said he and Biden had spoken informally Wednesday at a dinner in the 40 million US dollar presidential compound's glass-domed dining room ahead of talks Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after talks which followed a formal welcome ceremony, Biden expressed support for political reforms that Saakashvili announced earlier in the week to counter claims he has turned authoritarian.
"We're here to talk about your security, economy, your democracy and the steps you are taking for solidifying your democracy," he told Saakashvili.
Biden later spoke privately with major opposition leaders, including two of Saakashvili's chief rivals: Irakli Alasania, Georgia's former ambassador
to the United Nations, and Nino Burdzhanadze, former speaker of parliament.
The vice president also was to address parliament and meet with the current speaker, a longtime Saakashvili ally, before leaving Thursday evening.
The White House has avoided making any public commitment on aid, arms or observers, although it says it stands behind Georgia's application for NATO membership despite determined opposition from Russia.
The US gave Georgia 1 (b) billion US dollars in aid shortly after Russia defeated Georgia in a short war last August.
But Washington has so far not supplied the Georgian military with arms to replace those lost in the war, amid warnings from Moscow that such a step would raise the risk of another conflict.
A spokesman for the Georgian Defence Ministry said he could not say how much military aid was being sought because the information was classified but described the weapons as defensive.
In Moscow, the government said it would not stand by while Georgia was resupplied with weapons.
Ukraine supplied weapons to Georgia during last summer's conflict with Russia, and Belarus has expressed support for Georgia's claims to two
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