Gov’t welcomes UK’s stance to increase Georgia’s defensive capabilities

Georgia is working hard to strengthen its defensive capabilities although more could still be done to ensure regional security, says the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister Maia Panjikidze.

Her thoughts echoed a statement by United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, who last weekend asked NATO to support global military development and used Georgia as an example where this could happen.

On Saturday Cameron penned an open letter to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and country leaders of the remaining 27 NATO member states.

In the letter, Cameron urged NATO to encourage non-member countries to strengthen their own security and called on the alliance at the September NATO Summit to agree on new defence capacity building missions in non-member states, such as Georgia or the Middle East.

Today, Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said she welcomed all of Cameron’s statements that served to strengthen the capacity of Georgia’s defence.

"This may be due to the current political crisis, which is now in Ukraine but for us [strengthening our defensive capabilities] is not a spontaneous idea. We have been thinking about this issue for a long time and we are planning relevant meetings to move this issue ahead,” Panjikidze said.

There is less than six weeks until the NATO Summit will be held in Wales. On September 4 and 5, all 28 NATO member states and four aspirant countries, including Georgia, will participate in the event.

NATO earlier said Georgia would not be offered a Membership Action Plan (MAP) but would be offered an "unprecedented package” that would offer the country greater support.