President Margvelashvili convenes National Security Council

President Giorgi Margvelashvili will convene his first session of the National Security Council (NSC) on Friday, August 1 since his inauguration on November 2013.

The discussed topic of the NSC will be Georgia’s preparation for the September NATO Summit in Wales where Georgia will be offered "a substantive package”. NATO earlier said the package would offer "more support to bring Georgia closer to NATO”.

On June 25, following a meeting with Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and 28 Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Alliance in Brussels, it was announced the NATO Summit in Wales "will not be about Membership Action Plan” (MAP) for Georgia.

The NATO Wales Summit will be held on September 4 and 5. All 28 member states and four aspirant countries including Georgia will participate in the event.

Georgia hoped to become a member of NATO and already contributed to NATO-led operations and cooperated with the Allies and other partner countries in many other areas.

Defence Minister Irakli Alasania, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze and Georgia's Ambassador to NATO Levan Dolidze will be present at the NSC session.

Secretary of NSC, Irina Imerlishvili who is also the President’s national security adviser, no longer had the authority to coordinate crisis management measures in situations that posed a threat to national security, according to legislative amendments that went into force following the inauguration of President Margvelashvili.

In October 2013, Parliament passed legislative amendments which cut the powers of the NSC secretary to ensure it was in line with the new constitution.