Georgia receives updated substantial package with NATO
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaiani stated that NATO foreign ministerial has ended with important results for Georgia. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Substantial NATO-Georgia Package (SNGP) has been updated following the NATO foreign ministerial yesterday, and NATO experts have called for strengthening partnership with ‘valued partners - Georgia and Ukraine’, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani stated earlier today.
Zalkaliani said that three programmes have been added to the initial 14 programmes of the SNGP which means increased defense capabilities and bringing Georgia closer to NATO membership.
The ministerial ended with important results for Georgia. All foreign ministers attending the online ministerial admitted Georgia’s important progress on its Euro-Atlantic path,” Zalkaliani said.
Glad 2 participate in #NATO Foreign Minister’s meeting!???????? received refreshed SNGP 2 increase defense capabilities & bring????????closer 2 membership! We discussed issues of BlackSea security.????????&????????participation in NATO high level fomats has a great importance @DmytroKuleba @RauZbigniew pic.twitter.com/q9DMbTEhKN
— David Zalkaliani (@DZalkaliani) December 2, 2020
Zalkaliani stated that Georgia’s invitation to the NATO foreign ministerial ‘also indicates Georgia's importance for the alliance.’
He stated that the report by NATO experts ‘is significant’ in terms of Georgia’s prospects for NATO membership.
A group of experts appointed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in their report released on December 1 that the alliance “should expand and strengthen partnerships with Ukraine and Georgia as the vulnerable democracies that seek membership and are under constant external and internal pressure from Russia”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg considers Georgia and Ukraine “two close partners” of the alliance in the Black Sea region. Stoltenberg made the remarks at a news briefing with Prime Minister of Romania Ludovic Orban on January 9.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, who is paying a working visit to Poland, met with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau in Warsaw earlier today. Meanwhile, David Zalkaliani is taking part in the virtual NATO ministerial together with Zbigniew Rau from Poland.
A group of experts appointed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg say in their recently released report that the alliance ‘should expand and strengthen partnerships with Ukraine and Georgia as the vulnerable democracies that seek membership and are under constant external and internal pressure from Russia’.
NATO online foreign ministerial will kick off today with a focus on Black Sea security and ways to support NATO allies Georgia and Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with Georgian President Salome Zurabishvil in Brussels on January 22, the NATO press office has reported. Previously Stoltenberg and Zurabishvili met in January 2019. Stoltenberg met with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia also at NATO headquarters back in September 2020.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has met with Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili in Brussels earlier today where he said that the recent judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Russia-Georgia 2008 war case ‘confirms that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) regions, and that Russia actually exercises control there’.
Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze said Georgia has all the practical tools that are necessary to become a member of NATO.
Chief of Georgian Defence Forces Major General Giorgi Matiashvili discussed the country's joint projects with NATO at the alliance's headquarters on Tuesday, with defence chiefs meeting in person in Brussels.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is concerned over grave human rights violations and ethnic discrimination against Georgians in the country’s occupied territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), the resolution adopted on October 11 says. The document also stresses the ‘necessity of the implementation of the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement’ by the Russian Federation and underscores the right of internally displaced people (IDP) and refugees ‘to return to their homes.’
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met with head of NATO Liaison Office in Georgia Rosaria Puglisi earlier today and stated that the 2022 NATO summit is an opportunity to recognise the country’s progress on its path to the alliance.