Saakashvili: ‘Broad Coalition’ for Georgia NATO Integration Needed

President Saakashvili said his visit to Poland was aimed at securing “a broad coalition” within NATO in support of Georgia’s Membership Action Plan (MAP), which is to be decided at the alliance’s summit in Bucharest this April.

“Poland is a leading member of this coalition,” he said after talks with his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, on March 3. “Poland is a leader among those countries, which support our integration into NATO.”

“In four weeks Bucharest will host what can become an historic NATO summit. The issue of irreversibility of Georgia’s and Ukraine’s integration into NATO may be solved in this capital of the Black Sea country. There is a chance that Ukraine and Georgia will become official candidates for NATO membership…. We have four weeks to convince everybody of the necessity to undertake that historical step. For Georgia, NATO means a return to a native land, integration into the most powerful military-political alliance, participation in the activities of this alliance and of course, the receipt of our share of security guarantees in our very difficult region.”

President Saakashvili will visit the United States where he will hold talks with President Bush on March 19.

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