“Nothing will change Georgia’s determination” to pursue EU, NATO membership - President
The Georgian President also spoke about the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, praising her Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “extraordinary” effort in the information front of the war. Photo: AFP
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Nothing will change Georgia’s determination to pursue its path toward the European Union and NATO membership, President Salome Zourabichvili said on Thursday in an interview with the French magazine Marie Claire.
Zourabichvili underlined the “fragility” of Georgia and Moldova in not being protected by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty as non-members in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pointed to the historical context of Georgia’s experience of four Russian invasions over the past two centuries.
Nothing will change our determination to pursue our path towards the European Union and NATO. The fragility of Georgia and Moldova, countries on the periphery of Russia, is not being protected by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty,” she said.
The Georgian President also spoke about the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, praising her Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “extraordinary” effort in the information front of the war.
While his soldiers were at war, he campaigned on screens providing real-time information. I have rarely seen such a strategy and the support he receives today from the United States is the result of this campaign. And with this support, one can reasonably be optimistic,” Zourabichvili noted.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, on Thursday featured in the high-level International Donors’ Conference for Ukraine that was attended by leaders of a number of countries to pledge “continued support” for Ukraine, the Government Administration said.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday said the country’s Government was being “realistic” about what it could do for Ukraine at this stage of the war in the latter, in comments on recent controversial statements by some Ukrainian authorities.
President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili on Tuesday said her country would “join the European family” in comments that followed the delivery of the first completed part of Georgia’s European Union membership questionnaire this week.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Monday marked the delivery of the first completed part of the country’s European Union membership questionnaire as a “big step”.
Georgia's bid for European Union membership and the expectations of the upcoming NATO Summit were discussed on Friday in a meeting between a delegation of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations led by Chair Nikoloz Samkharadze, and Bertel Haarder, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament.
Javier Colomina, the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, on Friday said the upcoming Madrid Summit would be a “good opportunity” for the alliance to reaffirm its support for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic path.
Priorities and future prospects of the NATO-Georgia military cooperation were discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between Major General Giorgi Matiashvili, the Chief of the Georgian Defence Forces, and Admiral Rob Bauer, the Chair of the NATO Military Committee.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Monday said it was “important to show the world” that the country’s “European choice” was “unshakable,” and stressed “all political forces” in the country must be “united under this goal”.
Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, strengthening NATO and adapting it to the growing threats were discussed in a Parliamentary Assembly of the alliance in Vilnius between Friday and Monday, with the Permanent Delegation of the Parliament of Georgia involved.
President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili will visit Italy for meetings with officials today, the Presidential Administration has announced.
The West made its first “mistake” back in 2008 in not outlining a “clear path” to NATO for Georgia and Ukraine, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Secretary-General of the Alliance, has said in an interview with the Foreign Policy magazine.
Edgars Rinkevics, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, on Sunday said his country supported granting Georgia a Membership Action Plan for joining NATO.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Monday stressed that the Georgian authorities saw the guarantee of the country’s security under the NATO “umbrella”.
Georgian defence minister Juansher Burchuladze is featuring in a meeting of NATO ministers of defence in Brussels, the Georgian ministry said on Wednesday.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili congratulated the Georgian people on New Year, wishing them happiness, health, and success and to meet the new 2023 with “unity and solidarity”.