Stoltenberg: We will discuss how to intensify Alliance’s support to Georgia
By Messenger Staff
Thursday, February 11
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, has stated that the NATO-Georgia Commission meeting will be held on February 11, addressing Georgian-Alliance relations and future prospects.
“Georgia is one of NATO’s closest partners.
“It is pursuing domestic political and security reforms, which are bringing Georgia closer to NATO,” Stoltenberg said in Brussels, Belgium.
The NATO top official stressed that at the Wales Summit in 2014, the organisation agreed to hand a substantial package of support to Georgia, in areas such as planning, air defence, maritime security and cyber defence.
“We will discuss the progress we have made, and how we can further intensify our support to Georgia,” Stoltenberg underscored.
He added that Georgia’s domestic political and security reforms, which are bringing the country closer to NATO, will also be high on the agenda on the Commission meeting.
Georgia’s Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli, who is currently in Brussels, stated that Georgia should play a crucial and a full-scale role in the Black Sea security format established by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in the future.
“At the moment, one of the top issues for the Alliance is the security of the Black Sea, which emerged on NATO’s agenda since the occupation of the Crimea (by Russia).
“When you (NATO) have two member and three partner states in the Black Sea area, it is impossible to speak about the production of a new system or a format without the participation of the member and partner nations.”
The Minister also commented on the Georgia-NATO Commission meeting and stated that the empowering of Georgia’s self-defence capacities would be high on the agenda.
“Our major aim at the NATO Warsaw Summit will be obtaining such guarantees of self-defence that will be felt by each Georgian citizen,” Khidasheli said.
