Addressing the NATO 2030 at Brussels Forum held against the backdrop of the 2021 Summit, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili discussed building resilience in NATO Allied and partner states against “emerging” hybrid threats, as well as Russian occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.
“We are witnessing an ongoing, systemic and value competition marked by the growing attacks of authoritarianism on democracy,” the Georgian PM stated, highlighting that “variations of hybrid warfare have become especially pertinent markers of the mentioned competition.”
Georgia experienced first-hand the “destructive nature” of such methods, “long before the hybrid threats featured prominently in the discourse of our partners and academics,” PM Garibashvili asserted. “From the day Georgia regained its independence, it has been subjected economic, energy and trade blockades, cyberattacks, informational warfare and other types of nonconventional as well as conventional warfare,” he added.
PM Garibashvili stressed that Russia uses occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia “as launchpad for its destructive policies … hostile actions [that] continue to this day.”
He asserted that Georgia has shown “remarkable” resilience in the face of external threats due to the strengthening of its democratic institutions, boosting economic development, and pursuing modernization. But, he noted that further concerted efforts and the support of “our partners” are needed against hybrid warfare.
In this context, the Georgian PM said, it is important for NATO 2021 Brussels Summit to focus on the 2030 agenda, “which will become a basis for the new strategic concept of the Alliance.”
Besides reinforcing collective defense and supporting the resilience of partners, PM Garibashvili noted the NATO 2030 report recommends “reinvigoration” of the Alliance’s Open Door Policy.” We hope for the effective continuation of the policy in the years to come, he concluded.
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