Georgian Ministers Hail Talks at NATO Headquarters

Georgian Ministers said after talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels on April 13 that Georgia “is on the right path”, which should lead the country to a NATO Membership Action Plan by the end of this year.

Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili and State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration Issues Giorgi Baramidze also exchanged views with the North Atlantic Council about the implementation of Georgia’s Individual Partnership Action Plan (MAP) with NATO.

“Discussions have demonstrated that we are on the right path, meaning that we are achieving all the reform targets… So we hope to gain NATO MAP by the end of 2006 – plus or minus several months,” Giorgi Baramidze told Georgian reporters in Brussels after talks with NATO officials.

Before the talks Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili told reporters that the Georgian delegation is hopeful about the country’s NATO aspirations.

“If there are some artificial reasons, or complaints put forth [during the meeting with NATO officials] we will regard this as a negative attitude on the part of certain countries towards Georgia’s NATO integration,” Okruashvili said.

Meanwhile, RFE/RL quoted an unnamed NATO official on April 13 that “most allies, led by the United States, support closer cooperation with Georgia.”

The unnamed official also said that a NATO summit in Riga scheduled for this November could be a milestone in Georgia’s quest for a MAP.