NATO Deputy Sec-Gen: we’re determined to continue cooperation with Georgia on maritime security
NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller visited Batumi port with Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri. Photo: NATO press office.
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NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, who chairs the NATO delegation to Georgia, says that the alliance “is determined” to continue close cooperation with Georgia on maritime security.
Gottemoeller made the statement while visiting Georgian coast guard vessels in the city of Batumi earlier today, on the last day of the visit.
I am glad to see the great enthusiasm. I must say it is a great honour and pleasure for me to be here as well and to see the development of the Georgian coast guard,” she stated.
Gottemoeller said that she had the opportunity to talk to the boarding team that is being trained along with NATO.
It’s a great honour & pleasure to visit the port of Batumi and meet with the ???????? coast guard officers.
— Rose Gottemoeller (@Gottemoeller) October 4, 2019
Very proud to have the opportunity to help develop the capability of the Georgian coast guard to maintain security and safety in the #BlackSea. pic.twitter.com/LBeiGVEk3z
We are very proud to have the opportunity to develop the capability of the Georgian coast guard to help maintain security and safety in the Black Sea.Thus it is a huge honour for me to be here today. It is a great pleasure as well. I am enjoying this beautiful Batumi sunshine, after grey days in Brussels already this autumn,” she said.
On the second day of the visit Gottemoeller has already met with Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani.
Talakvadze said that Georgians are proud to be one of the top contributors to NATO peace mission.
He said despite challenges “Russia will never define our future.”
Zalkaliani and Gottemoeller discussed Georgia-NATO cooperation and the situation in the two Russian occupied regions of Georgia Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.
Gottemoeller met with Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia yesterday and participated in the NATO-Georgia commission meeting which adopted a joint statement later the same day.
The United States Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison spoke with Georgian reporters today about the key role that the partnership between Georgia and NATO plays in maintaining regional security.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller says that Russia is against Georgian membership in NATO, but the attitude has nothing to do with the position of the alliance. Gottemoeller made the statement during a press conference with Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia, on the sidelines of the 5th North Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting in Batumi earlier today.
Georgian Prime Minister, Giorgi Gakharia, who has opened the fifth North Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting in Georgia’s western coastal city of Batumi earlier today, told NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller and the audience that the meeting venue is symbolic because of the importance of Black Sea security.
The North Atlantic Council (NAC), which is the principal political decision-making body of NATO, is scheduled to hold its fifth meeting in Georgia on October 3-4 in Georgia's coastal city of Batumi.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has awarded NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller with the order of the Golden Fleece for her “particular merit” to Georgia, stating that the “award is symbolic that NATO-Georgia cooperation will continue, strengthen further and lead to the final goal.”
NATO former Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller says that NATO is devoted to the decision made in 2008 in Bucharest and Georgia will definitely become a member of the alliance. She made the statement in a live address from Bucharest for Georgia Defence and Security Conference being held in Batumi.