NATO Deputy Secretary General set to visit Georgia

NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow will visit Georgia in three weeks, Georgia’s State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration announced.

Vershbow will arrive in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in three weeks' time, and while here, will meet Georgian high officials and discuss Georgia's implementation of the Substantial Package NATO offered to Georgia by the Alliance at the NATO Summit in Wales in September 2014.

The upcoming visit was announced when Georgia’s State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Davit Bakradze met Vershbow at the NATO-Georgian Commission (NGC) meeting, held at the NATO headquarters in Brussels yesterday.

Georgia's State Minister responded to Vershbow’s statement on his Twitter account and emphasized that NATO supported Georgia’s future membership in the Alliance.

"NATO Deputy Secretary General is set to visit Georgia in three weeks and we will continue our consultation on implementation of the Substantial Package. NATO-Georgian Commission, Annual National Programme and Substantial Package are those three tools sufficient move forward to NATO membership,” Bakradze said.

Furthermore, Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili described a statement from the NATO Deputy Secretary General as "a very significant victory for the Georgian Government".

"NATO Deputy Secretary General’s statement emphasized that NATO has committed Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as well as its reforms. I believed that the reforms implemented by our authorities brought us a great victory,” Beruchashvili said.