Stoltenberg to Georgian students:
"NATO allies are extremely impressed with the strides Georgia has made"

The history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the alliance’s mission and growing relations with Georgia were some of the things discussed today when NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met Georgian students in capital Tbilisi.

About 50 students from tertiary learning institutions from all over the country had the opportunity to meet Stoltenberg at Georgia’s National Parliamentary Library earlier today and ask direct questions to the NATO top official. 

In his opening remarks Stoltenberg said he first visited Georgia in 1985 in a very difficult time "when Europe was divided by armies, by walls and by values”. 

Jens Stoltenberg arrived in the library early today. Photo by nato.int. 

Since then he stressed "so much has changed” and now Georgia was irreversibly progressing towards the Euro-Atlantic space and now shared common values like democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of the media, independence of the judiciary and protection of minorities with other western nations. 

NATO Allies have been extremely impressed with the strides Georgia has made.We encourage Georgia to continue on the path toward economic, defence and democratic reforms," underlined NATO top official.

The NATO Secretary General also spoke about the alliance and said since its founding in 1949, the union has changed its focus depending on the global circumstances.

About 50 Georgian students had an opportunity to address the NATO Secretary General. Photo by the National Parliamentary Library. 

For our first 40 years NATO was focused on collective defence,” he said, then through the Cold War and after it ended, NATO found a new direction.

Our mission evolved from pure collective defence to include what we call crisis management. For the first time NATO sought to manage conflicts beyond our territory,” he said. 

Now we are in a third important phase of NATO’s evolution, which in some ways began to take shape when Russia used military force here in Georgia in 2008. Since then Russia has kept unwanted troops in the Republic of Moldova [and] illegally annexed Crimea,” the NATO leader stressed. 

Stoltenberg told the students NATO was not interested in getting involved in cold wars or conflicts, but instead the alliance searched for peaceful ways to regulate and resolve unrest, and this included Russia’s ongoing provocation of Georgia in other countries.

He stressed NATO was taking significant steps to increase stability in the region "because if our neighbours are more stable, we are more secure. In the East we have reaffirmed our commitment to Ukraine, to the Republic of Moldova and to Georgia”.

He was acutely aware Georgia was waiting for NATO membership and had implemented many reforms and changes in this direction. 

We always advise aspiring members that the process of joining NATO takes time and patience. NATO has been working very closely with Georgia to assist your country on the path to eventual membership,” he said. 

On a final note Stoltenberg stressed NATO was looking forward to the October 8 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia and said he believed the elections would be meet "the highest democratic standards”.