Sec-Gen: NATO is united in support of Georgia’s security
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze to NATO Headquarters today reiterating the alliance’s support for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations at a joint briefing.
"At the summit last week, all 29 allies reaffirmed that Georgia will become a member of NATO. This is in line with the decision we made at our Bucharest Summit in 2008,” Stoltenberg said, underlining that NATO will continue to help Georgia prepare for membership and welcomed the country’s reform progress.
Stoltenberg noted that the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package is bolstering Georgia’s defence reforms, including with the NATO-Georgia Joint Training Centre.
"I also expect broad allied participation in next year’s NATO-Georgia exercise,” he added.
The parties have also touched on the security situation in and around the Black Sea region as well as Russia’s substantial military build-up in the region.
"NATO is united in our support for Georgia’s security and its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. This includes the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and we call on Russia to withdraw its forces from your country,” Stoltenberg said.
The Government of Georgia is fully committed to achieve NATO membership, Mamuka Bakhtadze said at the briefing.
"We all agree that the reforms successfully implemented by Georgia together with the assistance provided by NATO will contribute to our ultimate goal to become a full member of NATO,” he added.
Bakhtadze and Stoltenberg were asked by media representatives at the briefing to assess Vladimir Putin’s recent statement that Russia will react ‘extremely negatively’ to Georgian membership in NATO.
"Russia has not the right to decide on behalf of its neighbors. Russia has no right to decide what its neighbors can do because Georgia is a sovereign, independent nation and has the right to decide its own path including what kind of security arrangements Georgia wants to be part of...The reality is that it is only the 29 members of NATO and Georgia, an aspirant country, that can decide when Georgia is going to become a member...Russia has no say in that process,” Stoltenberg answered.
In order to become a member of NATO Georgia has to continue implementing reforms, modernise its defence and security sector, continue training and increasing the quality of standards of the country’s armed forces, according to Stoltenberg.
He also said NATO is helping Georgia in addressing all the challenges and the country is making ‘real and significant’ progress.
Bakhtadze is scheduled to hold his first meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today, after which Bakhtadze and Stoltenberg will make statements for the media.
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