Georgian Defense Minister, Tina Khidasheli, and NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, at NATO-Georgia Commission Meeting, Brussels, October 8, 2015. Photo: NATO
Georgia is on a right track and making progress on its path of NATO integration, but more needs to be done, especially in respect of independence of the judiciary, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
He made the remarks at a press conference after a meeting of the Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli with her counterparts from the Alliance member states held in frames of the NATO-Georgia Commission in Brussels on October 8.
“Georgia is one of NATO’s closest partners. And we are moving steadily closer together,” said the NATO Secretary General, who visited Tbilisi in late August for the inauguration of the joint NATO-Georgia training and evaluation center outside the Georgian capital.
“Our relationship is on the right track. And Georgia is on the right track. And today we welcomed the progress we have made,” he said.
“But there is still more to do. We need to see more progress in key areas of reform, especially in the rule of law and in the need for independence of the judiciary,” Stoltenberg added.
He said that NATO foreign ministers “will find ways of recognizing” Georgia’s progress and contribution to “shared security”, including in Afghanistan, when they meet in December.
“Georgia is really making progress – it is modernizing its armed forces; it is reforming the state institutions; it is creating independent judiciary, and it is very much reforming the whole society, including the rule of law,” he said. “Both NATO and Georgia have homework to do.”
The NATO Secretary General reiterated support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and said that “Russia still violates Georgia’s borders.”
“NATO calls on Russia to reverse its recognition of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions of Georgia as independent states,” he said. “Russia cannot change the reality of international law. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia.”
At the next year’s summit, Tbilisi wants from NATO to either grant Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP) or declare that MAP is no longer a precursor to eventual membership.
At the summit in Bucharest in 2008 NATO leaders decided that Georgia will become a member of the alliance, but MAP should be the next stage on country’s path towards eventual membership. Georgia has been denied MAP since then.
On October 7 NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg met Georgian Defense Minister Khidasheli and Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who is also visiting Brussels.
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