NATO-Georgia Commission meeting held in Brussels

NATO-Georgia Commission meeting has been held in Brussels, within the alliance’s foreign ministerial, which was described as "very constructive” by NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg said that NATO is grateful for Georgia’s many contributions to Euro-Atlantic security, especially the service of the highly-skilled men and women of the Georgian military.

We discussed progress Georgia continues to make along the path of reform, including with its successful efforts to modernize its armed forces.

The Alliance is fully committed to providing Georgia with the advice and tools it needs to advance toward eventual NATO membership,” Stoltenberg said.

The secretary general stated that the implementation of the NATO-Georgia Substantial Package was marking "impressive progress.”

Our armed forces are increasingly capable of operating together and planning is already underway for the 2019 NATO-Georgia joint military exercise,” Stoltenberg said.

Our Joint Training and Evaluation Centre in Georgia is up and running, and the NATO-funded Defence Institution Building School in Georgia has already trained around a thousand soldiers,” he added.

NATO top figure gave high assessments to the meeting. Photo by Foreign Ministry press office. 

Stoltenberg said Georgia and NATO were also working on other issues such as energy security, explosive ordnance disposal, cyber defence, intelligence, secure communications, and promoting the role of women serving in the Georgian Armed Forces

In other words, NATO’s support to Georgia is concrete, and is making a real difference. It is about action, each and every day,” Stoltenberg said.

He also stated NATO continued to benefit from Georgia’s advice on security issues relating to the Black Sea.

 And we are engaged in increasingly close dialogue on the Black Sea region and the cooperation in the region,” Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg underscored NATO was concerned by the deepening of Russia’s relations with the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia and called on Russia to end its recognition of these regions and withdraw its forces from Georgian territory.