Meeting with NATO Secretary General
Friday, October 9
The Defence Minister of Georgia attended the NATO Defence Ministerial in Brussels. Within the Ministerial, Tinatin Khidasheli held a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his deputy, Alexander Vershbow, at NATO HQ. The Foreign Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, attended the meeting as well.
The sides discussed Georgia’s integration process in the Alliance, possible decisions on the next NATO Summit and the commitment undertaken in Wales. The implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package was also reviewed. Secretary General Stoltenberg underlined that NATO is committed to its Bucharest decision - that Georgia will become a NATO member - and strongly supports the integration process.
Today, Defence Minister Khidasheli will meet with Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Petr Pavel to discuss the ongoing military cooperation with NATO and the implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package.
The upcoming NATO Foreign Ministerial in December was also a prominent topic of discussion at the meeting. As Tinatin Khidasheli outlined, the upcoming Ministerial may be step forward to NATO enlargement. “The fact that we have so intensive communication with NATO Secretary General, with the officials working on Georgia’s issue at NATO HQ is a big hope for us. This means that intensive dialogs are on the way here. In the upcoming Ministerial NATO once more confirms open door policy. This attitude gives great optimism to Georgia,” stated Defence Minister of Georgia.
At the meeting, Jens Stoltenberg expressed his gratitude to the Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers for Georgia’s contribution to the NATO-led international missions.
Following the meeting, Foreign Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili commented with the media representatives. He talked about the importance of the meeting and thanked NATO Secretary General for his support in the SNGP implementation process.
The Defence Minister of Georgia started her visit to NATO HQ with the meeting with Permanent Representatives of the member states of the Alliance. The meeting was organized by the Romanian Permanent Representative, H.E. Stoian Stelian. Georgia’s NATO membership progress, the current security environment and the existing challenges in the region was also discussed during the meeting. The discussions also touched upon the importance of the NATO Warsaw Summit of 2016 for Georgia.
