Decisions made at the NATO Warsaw summit will help Georgia’s self-defense capabilities, including through “integrating” Georgia’s air defense system to the one of the Alliance, Georgia’s Defense Minister, Tina Khidasheli, said.
It was announced after the NATO-Georgia Commission meeting at the level of foreign ministers at the Warsaw summit on July 8, that “new steps” to strengthen Georgia’s defense capabilities were agreed.
Among the “new initiatives”, according to the NATO-Georgia Commission’s joint statement, is providing “support to the development of Georgia’s air defence and air surveillance.”
“As far as strengthening of Georgia’s defense capabilities is concerned, the first and key area is the air defense,” Defense Minister Khidasheli told Tbilisi-based Imedi TV from Warsaw on July 8.
“As you are aware we have an agreement with the French side based on which we have started development of this area of our Armed Forces, but we have been asking NATO for additional capabilities and, even more important, is integration into NATO’s system and that’s what we received here today. That implies that from the very day – January, 2017 – when we start implementation of active phase of the French agreement, our air defense systems will be fully integrated with NATO’s air defense system,” said Khidasheli, who met her French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris last month.
Late last year Georgia entered into a loan agreement with the French bank Société Générale for financing acquisition of air defense system from France. The loan is backed by the France’s export credit agency Coface.
EUR 52.65 million from the total loan amount is designed for purchasing unspecified equipment and services from ThalesRaytheonSystems, which produces ground-based surveillance radars and air defense command and control systems, and EUR 24.98 million is intended for acquisitions from missile manufacturer MBDA France.
NATO-Georgia Commission also said that members of the Alliance “bilaterally are implementing programmes to enhance Georgia’s self-defence and resilience.”
During his visit to Tbilisi on July 6, the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, signed a memorandum on “deepening the defense and security partnership” with Georgia, pledging U.S. support in areas ranging from defense acquisitions to enhanced border, maritime and airspace security and increased information sharing.
Khidasheli also pointed out the decision related to Black Sea security.
The NATO-Georgia Commission said after the meeting on July 8 that the Alliance will deepen its focus on security in the Black Sea region and “welcomed Georgia’s engagement in strategic discussion on Black Sea security.”
“If there is any decision on the Black Sea, Georgia should also be sitting at the table where action plans are drawn, where mechanisms are agreed, where discussions take place about strengthening security in the Black Sea region. Today NATO invited us into strategic discussions on the Black Sea security and this is one of the major achievements for us here,” she said.
Like in December 2015, NATO foreign ministers again reiterated that Georgia’s relationship with the Alliance “contains all the practical tools to prepare for eventual membership”, but also reaffirmed that before joining the Alliance the country should go through a Membership Action Plan (MAP) phase, which Georgia has been denied since 2008.
Granting MAP to Georgia at the Warsaw summit was not expected.
Georgian officials say that in the condition when Georgia in fact already has all the mechanisms, decision on MAP, when there is a consensus on it within the Alliance, will actually be a political one, which might be equivalent to invitation to join NATO.
“Nothing can replace NATO membership, but as the membership was not on the horizon at this stage, we set a goal to obtain all the mechanisms available on this path and to be the part of all these mechanisms and that’s why this summit is also historic for us too,” the Georgian Defense Minister said.
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