Foreign Minister: We Hope Georgia Will Become Full-fledged Member of NATO

Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze said that Georgia has all practical tools for NATO membership on Sunday when speaking at the Political Committee during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Tbilisi. 

“We are determined to continue our path towards NATO membership[…]We will continue moving on this road with the same vigor in order to accomplish the quest of the Georgian people and become a fully-fledged member of the Alliance,” he said.

Janelidze noted that since the day of regaining independence 26 years ago, Georgia has aspired to join the European family.

He said that in recent years the government has carried out a number of impressive reforms towards improving the rule of law, open governance, media pluralism, the economy and the investment environment, by which Georgia has improved its scores in all international rankings and has come closer to its goal of European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

The minister said that Georgia has been actively contributing to the world security through its sustained engagement in the Afghanistan. Georgia has also been actively involved in a number of EU-led crises management missions.

Moreover, Janelidze emphasized that as an aspirant country and a reliable partner, Georgia supports NATO’s enhanced tailored presence in the Black Sea region and is ready to contribute to the efforts of the Alliance in this regard.

Georgia supports NATO’s views on the security challenges, inc in t/Black Sea&is ready to contribute to t/efforts of t/Alliance in/t regard. pic.twitter.com/AyZD9YM9mC

— Mikheil Janelidze (@JanelidzeMkh) May 28, 2017

“I would like to emphasize the critical importance of the continuation of NATO open door policy and Georgia’s NATO membership process would be the right step in this direction, which would send a strong signal that reemergence of the spheres of influence and attempts to limit the foreign policy choice of sovereign states are unacceptable and indeed impossible in the 21st century,” he stressed.

Georgia is the fifth non-member state of alliance, hosting the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Session.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly began on May 26 and will be concluded today.

The session gathered around 600 guests, including over 300 MPs from NATO member and partner states.

By Thea Morrison