PM: bringing Georgia closer to NATO is in Alliance’s interests
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, February 18
Georgia’s Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said that bringing the country closer to NATO membership is in the interests of the alliance.
The PM made the statement at a round table devoted to alliance enlargement prospects hosted by the Munich Security Conference.
Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference; Rose Gottemoeller, Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO); Radmila Sekerinska, Minister of Defense of North Macedonia and leading experts of the world attended the meeting.
Bakhtadze thanked them for their support and friendship towards Georgia and noted that accession to NATO remains as a top priority of the foreign policy of the country.
“We are pleased to see that Open Door policy keeps working and brings tangible results to nations that aspire to join the alliance and spare no effort to achieve their goal," he noted.
PM congratulated the Republic of North Macedonia on a historic achievement manifested in the signing of the NATO Accession Protocol a week before and welcomed clear prospects of membership opening up for other nations.
“We hope that this process stimulates our NATO integration as well. NATO membership remains a top foreign policy priority for Georgia. Our choice is based on shared values and on a very high and consistent public support to Georgia's NATO membership. We see our future within Europe and NATO and my government does its best to further advance in this process,” he added.
Bakhtadze underlined that Georgia is a reliable partner with stable democracy with strong state institutions, vibrant civil society and free media.
“As an aspirant country and reliable partner of NATO, Georgia continues its contribution to shared Euro-Atlantic security. We do hope that our achievements will translate into tangible steps that bring Georgia even closer to NATO membership,” he said.
The PM said bringing Georgia even closer to NATO will help to improve significantly the overall security situation in the Euro-Atlantic area, which concerns both NATO members and partner countries.
“Further enlargement of NATO is the most viable option of enhanced peace and security in Europe. Georgia's excellent performance creates a very solid base for it. I am confident that together with the allies, partners and friends we will find the ways to overcome remaining challenges and take Georgia's membership process to a substantially higher level,” he added.
