NATO FMs joint statement reaffirms Bucharest Summit decision on welcoming Georgia’s, Ukraine’s membership aspirations
It was stressed that the alliance strengthened its “tailored” support to building its partners’ “integrity and resilience”, as well as “developing capabilities and upholding their political independence”. Photo: nato.int
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In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, NATO foreign ministers reaffirmed their 2008 Bucharest Summit and "all subsequent" decisions on welcoming Georgia's and Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
The statement read that the FMs “firmly” stood behind their commitment to the Alliance’s Open Door policy and welcomed meetings with their counterparts from NATO partner states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova.
It was stressed that the alliance strengthened its “tailored” support to building its partners’ “integrity and resilience”, as well as “developing capabilities and upholding their political independence”.
The Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili has been also participating in the ongoing meetings of NATO state and partner FMs in Bucharest.
The Black Sea region is of vital strategic importance for NATO and in this part, it has close partners such as Ukraine and Georgia, along with member state allies Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye, the United States secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday at a press conference.
Mircea Geoană, the deputy secretary general of NATO, on Tuesday said if both the bloc on the one side, and Ukraine and Georgia on the other, were “ready” for their membership of the alliance, the countries would be “by our side”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said the alliance would “step up” its support for Ukraine and other partners “facing Russian pressure”, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova.
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said Georgia was a “highly valued” partner of the alliance.
Romanian, Latvian and Slovenian foreign ministers pledged their support for Georgia’s NATO integration at the ongoing meeting of the alliance’s FMs in Bucharest on Tuesday.
Victor Dolidze, the head of the Georgian mission to NATO, on Wednesday said it was “symbolic” the alliance’s ministerial in Bucharest this week “once again” stressed Georgia and Ukraine would “definitely” join the bloc, 14 years after the pledge was first made at a NATO summit in the city.
Javier Colomina, the NATO secretary general's special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, on Wednesday said the ongoing meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Bucharest had discussed “tailored assistance” for Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Wednesday said NATO partners had “very clearly” stated their support for a progressive integration of Georgia into the alliance, adding the process would “definitely” continue.