Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asserted today ahead of the NATO Foreign Ministerial that “it’s better to support [valued partners like Georgia] sooner than later.”
Responding to reporters during his doorstep statement, NATO chief said a lesson to learn from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “is that it is important that all of those also believe in democracy, the rule of law need to provide support to close and highly valued partners like Georgia.”
“Therefore, one of the issues that will be discussed at the Foreign Ministerial meeting, today and tomorrow, is how can we step up support for other partners which are under Russian pressure and of course, Georgia is one of them.”
He stated “we will look into how we can provide more support both when it comes to everything from cyber to secure communications, capacity building, and other ways to strengthen Georgia in resisting the pressure from Russia.”
“NATO’s door remains open,” stressed Jens Stoltenberg, adding “the enlargement of NATO over several decades has been a great success, helped to spread democracy, the rule of law, stability, peace across Europe.”
“It is for the applicant country, the country aspiring for membership, and for the 30 allies, to decide on membership issues. Russia and no other country has any veto on that issue,” noted the NATO chief.
NATO invited Georgia along with several other partners to the April 6-7 foreign ministerial. Georgia’s freshly appointed top diplomat Ilia Darchiashvili has traveled to Brussels to attend the NATO session tomorrow.
Also Read:
- NATO Invites Georgia to Foreign Ministerial in April
- Stoltenberg Delivers Video Address to NATO-Georgia Exercise
- Georgian Leaders Address NATO-Georgia Exercise 2022
- Georgia in NATO SecGen’s 2021 Report
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