NATO Secretary General Plans First Visit to Georgia

The top NATO official is deciding on a date to come to Georgia in the near future. NATO’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai, said the Alliance’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, was planning his first official visit to Georgia.

“The Secretary General is looking, I can tell you that. The visit to Georgia will take place as soon as possible and that’s not just a diplomatic phrase; he is looking at the calendar and narrowing down some dates, so I think sooner rather than later that should happen” said Appathurai.

He went on to give an account of the recent visit of Georgia’s Defence Minister Tina Khidasheli to NATO headquarters and mentioned that she did an excellent job during her visit to NATO and that they were looking forward to meeting her within the NATO Defence Ministrial.

Later, Public Defender of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili met with NATO’s Appathurai in the framework of his official visit to Brussels. At the meeting at NATO headquarters they discussed the situation regarding human rights. Appathurai gave a positive assessment of Georgia’s progress with respect to the improvement of the human rights situation, though he highlighted a number of challenges that should be expected on the way.

“The Public Defender of Georgia presented a reform plan, the realization of which will be valuable for Georgia as it will bring the country closer to European Standards,” Appathurai said after his meeting with Ucha Nanuashvili.

Nino Melikishvili