Georgian Defence Minister raises Black Sea regional challenges at Atlantic-Black Sea Security Forum

Georgia’s Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze on Tuesday raised the topic of the challenging security environment in the Black Sea region in his address to the virtual-format Atlantic-Black Sea Security Forum involving officials from Europe and the United States.

In his address to participants of the conference, the Georgian official noted the environment created as a result of Russia's war against Ukraine and emphasised the region’s role, as an “integral part” of NATO's eastern flank, in the Euro-Atlantic security. 

Burchuladze stressed European security architecture could “not be complete” without stability in the Black Sea region, noting the importance of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. He also expressed hope his country would soon become a fully-fledged member of the “European family”.

Burchuladze expressed his desire of further strengthening Georgia’s “practical military cooperation” with NATO, noting “significant reforms” had been implemented for transforming the Georgian Defence Forces. He also emphasised Georgia had made a “significant contribution” to ensuring international security with its participation in peacekeeping missions.

Photo: Defence Ministry.

Organised by the Aspen Institute of Romania and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the virtual-format Forum involved addresses by Victoria Nuland, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,  Vasile Dincu, the Minister of Defence of Romania, and Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine.