Defence Minister begins 10-day European tour to gain support for MAP

The Georgian Government and the Ministry of Defence are actively preparing for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) upcoming summit in Warsaw by embarking on a tour of Europe and explaining why Georgia deserves to advance its Alliance membership efforts.

Earlier today Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli departed for a 10-day working tour of Europe, where she will meet with top EU officials in a bid to gain support for Georgia as it works through the process of obtaining a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP).

Over the next 10 days Khidasheli is scheduled to hold official meetings in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. She will also meet with representatives of foreign research companies and media, the Defence Ministry press service announced. 

The crowning moment of her visit will be attending meetings in the United Kingdom.  

All the meetings are of high-level. There will be several public speeches as well. The topics are clear – we will touch upon bilateral relations and prospects and discuss Georgia’s perspective in the [July 2016] NATO Warsaw Summit and the foreign support in this regard,” Khidasheli stated. 

The next NATO Summit is due to take place in Warsaw, Poland in July 2016. 

Meanwhile yesterday Khidasheli attended a graduation ceremony of Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University students, where she stated that the Defence Ministry intended to announce vacancies for 400 different positions next week, and offered university leavers to apply for the vacant seats.