NATO summit communique: NATO door remains open for Georgia, we’re ready for stronger support
NATO says it is ready to boost support for Georgia, including in building resilience against hybrid threats, in training and exercises, and in secure communications. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The NATO Brussels summit communique has reiterated the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Georgia will become a member of the alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process and said that the alliance ‘stands ready’ to boost its support for Georgia.
We reaffirm all elements of that decision, as well as subsequent decisions, including that each partner will be judged on its own merits. We stand firm in our support for Georgia’s right to decide its own future and foreign policy course free from outside interference,” said the communique.
The alliance commended the ‘significant progress on reforms which Georgia has made and must continue to make’, and which have helped Georgia strengthen its defence capabilities and interoperability with NATO.
Georgia’s relationship with the alliance contains all the practical tools to prepare for eventual membership. We are working closely with Georgia on security in the Black Sea region, in response to Russia’s increasingly destabilising activities, and welcome the steps taken to implement the refreshed Substantial NATO-Georgia Package. We stand ready to enhance our support to Georgia, including in building resilience against hybrid threats, in training and exercises, and in secure communications. We look forward to the next NATO-Georgia exercise in 2022,” said the communique.
NATO praised Georgian reforms and the country's commitment to international peace and security. Photo: dead district/Twitter.
The alliance praised ‘Georgia’s substantial contributions’ to NATO operations, ‘which demonstrate its commitment and capability to contribute to Euro-Atlantic security’.
It has welcomed the recent EU-mediated agreement between Georgian political parties and encouraged its full implementation by all sides.
This agreement paves the way for the important reforms which will help Georgia, an aspirant country, progress in its preparations towards membership. We remain committed to making full use of the NATO-Georgia Commission and the Annual National Programme in deepening political dialogue and cooperation,” said the communique.
NATO called upon Russia to leave the Georgian territory. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
NATO has reiterated its support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, Georgia, and the Republic of Moldova within their internationally recognised borders and called on Russia to withdraw the forces it has stationed in all three countries ‘without their consent’.
NATO further called on Russia to reverse its recognition of Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as independent states; implement the EU-mediated 2008 ceasefire agreement and end its militarisation of these regions and attempts to 'forcibly separate them from the rest of Georgia through the continued construction of border-like obstacles'.
The alliance called on Russia to cease the human rights violations, arbitrary detentions, and harassments of Georgian citizens.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that not only Georgia but regional countries have been subjected to emerging security threats and urged for joint efforts against the challenge.“We are looking into ways to protect ourselves,” Garibashvili said as a keynote speaker at the Brussels forum today which is being held during the June 14-18 NATO summit and comprises several thematic panels, including the Investing in Resilience panel where Garibashvili was invited to deliver his speech.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has been invited to participate and deliver a speech at Brussels Forum which will take place in parallel with the NATO June 14 summit, the Georgian Foreign Ministry says. The ministry states that the NATO secretary general, German chancellor, Canadian PM and other top foreign officials will also participate in the forum.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said ahead of the upcoming NATO summit that the progress that Georgia has achieved on its path to NATO integration will be adequately assessed and respected.
US Senator Rob Portman, who has recently visited Georgia, stated that the US government should urge NATO ahead of the June 14 summit to provide a membership action plan (MAP) for Georgia and Ukraine.In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Portman said that getting both countries on the path to NATO membership would help protect them against Russian aggression.
The United States and the EU say in a joint statement released following the June 14 NATO summit that they will support the reform path of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. “We resolve to work towards long-term peace, resilience and stability in the South Caucasus,” said the statement which is composed of 36 notes, with two notes about Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. The statement has condemned ‘Russia's continued actions to undermine Ukraine’s and Georgia's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence’.
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen says that the US and NATO need to seriously consider NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, or at least provide a clear path for entry.
Two Georgian parliamentary factions, Lelo-Partnership for Georgia and Charles Michel’s Reforms Group have signed a memorandum earlier today which aims to push Georgia’s and Ukraine’s NATO membership.
A joint landmark declaration on foreign and security policy cooperation between the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and the full implementation of the 2008 ceasefire agreement.
Russian interference further deteriorated the human rights situation in occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), ‘with reports from local media of torture and ethnic discrimination,’ the report on Human Rights and Democracy 2020 of the United Kingdom (UK) says.
Spanish diplomat Javier Colomina has taken the office of the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia today. He will also serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Five vessels of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) were welcomed into Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi earlier today, with the interior ministry's coast guard department hosting the group for joint drills. Involving ships from Bulgarian, Italian, Romanian, Turkish and Spanish navies, the immediate reaction force fleet was welcomed by local authorities in Batumi before the Georgian coast guard and the NATO group embark on manoeuvres.
Georgia will this week host the NATO Military Committee for the fourth time, with the highest military body of the Alliance set to discuss regional challenges and transformation of the Georgian Defence Forces with the hosts.
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.’
The United States continues to support NATO’s decision of the 2008 Bucharest Summit Declaration that Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members. A day before the NATO foreign ministerial in Riga the Department of State also underscored that ‘these countries’ Annual National Programs (ANP) detail their path to membership’.
Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze on Wednesday met Admiral Rob Bauer, the visiting Chair of the NATO Military Committee, to discuss “main directions” of cooperation with the alliance and prospects of further strengthening ties, the Ministry of Defence said.