Madeleine Albright: NATO should open its door for new members including Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, March 13
Former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says NATO should open its door for new members, including Georgia.
Albright made the statement in Prague where she attended an activity dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the entry of Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary into the alliance.
According to her, Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members when the two countries are ready.
The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 12 of 1999, in the alliance’s first round of post-Cold War enlargement.
A security conference was held in Prague. President Milos Zeman said that the main benefit of NATO membership is the security guarantees it provides.
Speaking in an interview for the CTK news agency on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s entry to NATO, Zeman said the main threat facing the alliance today is international terrorism.
Around a week ago, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that Macedonia’s accession into NATO means that the alliance's door is open for the countries like Georgia, which adhere to the NATO values for democracy.
“And we are very encouraged by what we see in Georgia: the commitment to reforms, the commitment to strengthening defense and security institutions, transparency, judiciary reforms. And, therefore, we welcome also the very clear commitment by NATO leaders at the summit in July that Georgia will become a member of the Alliance,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said NATO is grateful for Georgia’s contribution to international security.
“NATO is actually stepping up its support and cooperation with Georgia. So we will continue to support Georgia as it moves towards NATO membership,” he added.
