Stoltenberg: Warsaw Summit will decide on ways to help Georgia

Members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) have urged leaders to reaffirm Georgia’s prospects of joining the Alliance one day.

Yesterday NATO lawmakers gathered for the PA’s spring session and adopted a declaration about the North Atlantic organisation’s agenda for the upcoming Warsaw Summit on July 8 and 9.

The document said the Assembly "urges” the heads of state and government of the member states of the North Atlantic Alliance at their Summit meeting in Warsaw:

• to reaffirm all the elements of the 2008 Bucharest Summit decision that Georgia will become a member of NATO with a Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process;
• to reaffirm that the Black Sea remains an important component of Euro-Atlantic security, to continue monitoring and assessing the Black Sea security situation, and to strengthen cooperation with Georgia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova on this issue.
• to continue to denounce Russia’s ongoing occupation of Georgian and Ukrainian territories, and assist both countries with much-needed domestic reforms.

Meanwhile yesterday NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Warsaw Summit would also decide on ways of helping build stability in partner nations like Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova and Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia.

Stoltenberg made this statement as he met Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw to discuss preparations for the Summit.

Speaking at a joint press conference with the Polish President, Stoltenberg said the Warsaw Summit, which will take place in five weeks time, "comes at a crucial time, when we face the most serious security challenges in a generation”.

"[At the Summit] we will also expand our efforts to project stability beyond our borders; by supporting partners like Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in the east and Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia in the south,” Stoltenberg said.

"We are helping them build stronger defence institutions and train capable forces to secure their own countries.”