NATO Envoy Comments on Georgia

NATO still has not made ?a political decision? to grant Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP), Robert Simmons, the NATO Secretary General’s special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, said on October 23.

?Georgia has indicated its interest to become a member of the alliance,? he said in an interview with the Moscow-based Echo Moskvy radio station. ?It is NATO that will have to make a political decision to move the process forward and we have not made that decision.?

He said NATO had put Georgia on ?a first stage towards membership? which is Intensified Dialogue.

?In any case the next decision will only be to move on to the next stage which is Membership Action Plan and we do not know even if that decision will be taken,? Simmons said.

?We do not know when [this decision will be made]? There is no timetable,? he added.

President Saakashvili said on October 18 that his international efforts were focused on gaining support for Georgia?s NATO Membership Action Plan by April 2008, when the alliance holds a summit in Bucharest.

?If things come right, after April the issue of Georgia?s accession to NATO will become practically irreversible and it will be a real revolution in our geopolitical situation,? he said.

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