Georgia’s commitment praised ahead of NATO summit

Georgia is one of the most active partners of NATO, Rosaria Puglisi NATO Liaison Officer in Georgia told journalists today while attending a presentation of a policy paper about NATO-Georgia relations by the ISFED and EPC.

"One week remains before the NATO summit and Brussels is actively getting ready. There are lots of issues that are going to be discussed at the summit. Strengthening the defence capabilities of the alliance, boosting cooperation with the EU in defence and security, as well as reiterating the Alliance’s support of open door policy are among those issues. Georgia is one of the partners involved in the open door policy and NATO gives great importance to cooperation with Georgia which is one of the alliance’s most active partners. This positive experience that we already have in our relationship will be recognized at the summit,” she said.

The policy paper ‘10 years after Bucharest: Why NATO should double-down on Georgian membership’ has been prepared by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy and European Policy Center to review the achievements of NATO-Georgia cooperation over the past decade and the prospects of further deepening and expanding cooperation.

The report urges the alliance to reaffirm its membership commitment and reiterates that no third country has a veto on its enlargement. 

More concretely, major recommendations to NATO are:

• Dispense with the MAP process given that Georgia has already met all the requirements.
• Include Georgia in its new EU-NATO initiatives related to the Black Sea.
• Invite Georgia to join the multinational battalion based in Poland.
• Expand Georgia’s territorial defence capabilities.
• Establish in Georgia a ‘Black Sea NATO Centre of Excellence’ focused on improving cybersecurity resilience.

The authors of the policy paper believe that reaffirming NATO’s support would reassure Georgian society, boost reform efforts and move the country ever closer to the alliance.

The NATO summit will be held in Brussels on July 11-12 where Georgia anticipates its progress made so far to be properly recognised by alliance members.