Moscow, Shawwal 01, 1437, July 06, 2016, SPA -- The United States strengthened its defence cooperation with the former Soviet republic of Georgia on Wednesday ahead of a major NATO summit this week, dpa reported. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and US Secretary of State John Kerry signed a defence cooperation memorandum during their meeting, Kerry wrote on Twitter. The "US firmly supports Georgia's security, prosperity and Euro-Atlantic aspirations," Kerry continued in another tweet. The US has contributed about 4.3 billion dollars to Georgia and is currently "working very hard on the strategic onus of the partnership, defense," Kerry told Kvirikashvili, according to a State Department transcript. Kerry is scheduled to travel to another former Soviet republic, Ukraine, on Thursday before joining US President Barack Obama at the NATO summit in Poland on Friday. Both Ukraine and Georgia have aspirations to join NATO, saying they need to protect their borders from their former Soviet ruler, Moscow. --SPA 22:44 LOCAL TIME 19:44 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w