George1 Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:06 pm
Georgia Moving Closer to NATO Membership – Foreign Minister
The visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Georgia demonstrates the alliance’s growing support for the country, Georgian Foreign Minister Tamara Beruchashvili said.
TBILISI (Sputnik) – Stoltenberg came to Georgia on Wednesday and plans to hold meetings with the country’s leadership and to attend the opening of a NATO training center in Georgia on Thursday.
"This visit is a clear demonstration of NATO’s support for Georgia and a continuation of a high-level dialogue," Beruchashvili told reporters on Wednesday, adding that Georgia plans to discuss the prospects of its NATO integration as well as Russia-Georgia relations with Stoltenberg.
Later on Wednesday, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili met with the NATO Secretary General discussing issues of regional security as well as the importance of Georgian servicemen’s participation in NATO’s mission in Afghanistan, according to the president’s office.
The Thursday opening of the NATO training center in Georgia is planned as one of the measures to encourage Georgia in its efforts to join the alliance, which were approved at a NATO summit in Wales in September 2014.
Institutional cooperation between Georgia and NATO began in 1994, when Georgia became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program. The country's cooperation with the organization intensified in 2004 after the Rose Revolution which led to President Eduard Shevardnadze’s forced resignation.
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