NATO Sec Gen Representative: Madrid Summit “good opportunity” to reaffirm support for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic path
Colomina said in an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster the “open door policy” of NATO toward potential new memberships would be continued. Photo: 1tv.ge
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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.
Colomina said in an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster the “open door policy” of NATO toward potential new memberships would be continued.
The Madrid Summit will be a particularly important and good opportunity to reaffirm support for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic path and NATO's decision in 2008,” he noted in reference to the decision of the alliance at that year’s Bucharest Summit that Georgia would become a member in the future.
The open door policy is NATO’s strong policy that will continue as a successful policy, and we will continue to work for Georgia to receive assistance from the alliance,” Colomina also said.
He noted the upcoming Summit would increase the level of “practical cooperation and political involvement” with Georgia, pointing out the gathering would once again confirm Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations and would be an “opportunity” to increase practical cooperation and political dialogue.
Georgia has carried out ‘impressive reforms’ while enhancing its defence capabilities through the substantial NATO-Georgia package, Head of NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer stated yesterday following two-day meetings of the Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session (MCCS).
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that NATO allies have called on Russia to withdraw forces from Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council held earlier today.
The NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina has expressed NATO’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, calling Georgia a “very valued partner."
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.
The Georgian leadership will be invited to the NATO Summit that will be held in Madrid at the end of June, Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană said in a doorstep statement earlier today, ahead of an informal meeting of NATO ministers of foreign affairs in Berlin.
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.
The Georgian Government being represented at the NATO Summit in Madrid is a “very good message,” Latvian President Egils Levits told Georgian TV channel Imedi on Monday.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said Russia’s attack on Ukraine showed a “pattern over many years” that saw Moscow using military force to achieve its political aims, including in Georgia in 2008.
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.
Alexander Vinnikov, the Head of the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia, on Tuesday said that the decisions made at the Madrid Summit attended by the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili were an expression of NATO’s “strong political support” for Georgia.