Georgian FM Visits Brussels, Speaks of NATO Integration

Georgia has “everything that is needed” for the country to join NATO, but there has to be readiness within the Alliance itself to take decision in favor of Georgia’s accession, Foreign Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, said on Tuesday.

Kvirikashvili is in Brussels, where he participated in a meeting of Alliance members and partner nations, contributing to the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan to which Georgia is the second largest troop contributor. It was held on the sideline of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers held on December 1-2.

At the next year’s NATO summit in Warsaw, Tbilisi wants from the Alliance to either grant Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP) or declare that MAP is no longer a precursor on its path to eventual membership.

“Our goal is to become a NATO member and it is up to the Alliance to decide what kind of instruments it will provide for Georgia’s membership. As of today we possess all the necessary tools for that – including in terms of compatibility with NATO, which is so important,” Kvirikashvili told Georgian journalists at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

“We should all understand, that NATO membership is our goal and we should do everything on this direction and wait for the time when it becomes possible. NATO should be ready in order to make a decision on Georgia’s accession into the Alliance,” he said.

“I think that we have everything that is needed for Georgia’s NATO membership, but there should be readiness of all the members of NATO itself in order to take this decision [on Georgia’s membership],” Kvirikashvili said.

“Today we do not know what the decision of the Warsaw summit will be, but whatever the decision is, Georgia will continue moving consistently and firmly on this path towards NATO membership,” he added.

NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Tuesday that a final statement, which the Alliance foreign minister plan to adopt upon conclusion of the two-day meeting, will also address NATO’s open door policy, as well as Georgia and other applicant countries.

The Georgian Foreign Minister arrived in Brussels after meeting his British counterpart Philip Hammond in London on November 30, where he also met Minister of State for Europe David Lidington, and Minister of State for Trade and Investment Francis Maude.

In Brussels Kvirikashvili held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Iceland, Luxembourg and Italy on December 1. 

PM Irakli Garibashvili said on Monday that Georgia should avoid “creating over-expectations”.

“On our part we are doing everything that is required,” PM Garibashvili told journalists in Paris, where he address the climate summit on November 30.

“The rest depends on situation globally,” he said.

“Of course we cannot do what has to be done by the Alliance and its member states,” Garibashvili said and called against creating “false expectations”.

“Time will come when our state we will be ready to become a NATO member. It may happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or after that – today it is difficult to say,” the Georgian PM said.

Asked about Georgia’s NATO aspiration, U.S. State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said at a daily press briefing on November 30 that Georgia is an “important NATO partner” and a “valuable contributor” to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

“The U.S. remains committed to NATO’s open door policy. We continue to support Georgia’s aspirations for integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions, including NATO. And the bottom line is we believe that Georgia’s relationship with the alliance contains all the practical tools that will prepare it for eventual membership,” she said.