Georgia's Expectations for the July NATO Summit in Brussels

NATO will hold its next summit July 11-12, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium. In announcing the summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “In response to evolving threats, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense in a generation. Our multinational battlegroups in the east of the Alliance are now fully operational and we are strengthening our presence in the Black Sea region.”

In April, in an interview with the German Marshall Fund, assistant to the President of Georgia on national security issues and secretary of the National Security Council David Rakviashvili said “There are plenty of mutually beneficial perspectives in practical cooperation between NATO and Georgia especially in the areas such as the Black Sea security and strengthening resilience against common hybrid threats. Nonetheless, in light of the current strategic political and security environment in the Euro-Atlantic area, it is essential that Georgia–NATO relations are always discussed in the context of enlargement, which will ensure continuity of the integration agenda and demonstrate NATO’s credibility toward its own decisions.” At the 2008 Bucharest NATO summit, the alliance declared that Georgia will become member of NATO. During the 2016 Warsaw Summit, NATO once again reiterated that NATO–Georgia relations have all the practical tools needed to prepare for membership. Rakviashvili added, “Georgia is strongly committed to the use of those tools, as well as bilateral military cooperation with the key Allies, to build our defense capabilities and resilience in order to boost the readiness of Georgia Armed Forces to adequately respond to all threats and challenges to the Euro-Atlantic security.”

Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze emphasized today the importance of the summit, saying “Our expectation is that the NATO summit will make very clear messages about Georgia's future integration into the Alliance.” Kobakhidze continued, “In addition, to approve the specific initiatives that are related to NATO and Georgia in different directions, especially in the field of defense and security.”

Secretary General Stoltenberg has also commented on the upcoming summit in the context of Georgia, saying “I expect that the leaders, who meet in the NATO summit in July, will recognize the progress made by Georgia and will clearly indicate the intention to continue political and practical support for Georgia.”

Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Davit Zalkaliani, said that he expects “tangible results” at the summit after a Cabinet meeting today. Zalkaliani predicted that positive reforms will come from the summit “in the field of defense policy, development of the democratic institutions, economic direction, and the contribution provided by Georgia to the global security will be reflected in the context of open door policy.” He also expects that “Georgia will be properly represented in appropriate formats” and that Georgia remains “very actively engaged with our NATO partners in order to strengthen our co-operation and security in the context of the Black Sea Regional Security.”

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: NATO