Translated material
North Atlantic Liaison Office
NATO Secretary General will visit Georgia
The Georgian authorities expect to receive significant assurances of support for their plans for integration into NATO from the leader of the alliance. Today and tomorrow, 57-year-old NATO Secretary General Dane Anders Fogh Rasmussen will hold talks in Tbilisi with President Mikheil Saakashvili, other leaders of the country and, possibly, with the opposition. The guest will also open a “liaison office” in the capital, which will be responsible for contacts between Brussels and Tbilisi. Such a demonstration of NATO support for Tbilisi’s policies is very important for the Georgian leadership, because after the armed conflict in the Caucasus in 2008, enthusiasm for Georgia’s membership in the alliance began to fade in the West.The alliance made a diplomatic decision that Georgia would one day become a member of NATO at a summit in Bucharest in April 2008. Mikheil Saakashvili promised that he would achieve his cherished goal before the end of his term in 2013. However, after the conflict over South Ossetia, the Georgian authorities are more cautious in setting the time frame for integration into NATO.
The other day, the Georgian president said in a television interview that the country “has not changed its decision,” but also, based on the difficult geopolitical situation in the region, “is not fixated on only one goal” of membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. Among other priorities of equal importance, he named relations with the European Union, strategic cooperation with America, some former Soviet republics, and Turkey. The opposition characterizes the situation more harshly. Former permanent representative to the UN, leader of the opposition movement “Our Georgia - Free Democrats” Irakli Alasania said that the wrong policy of the authorities threw Georgia back from NATO membership “for 30-50 years.”
Georgia is actively trying to ensure that the world community does not recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Therefore, Tbilisi is pleased that NATO recognizes the territorial integrity of the country and regularly speaks of disagreement with Moscow’s policy towards Sukhumi and Tskhinvali. Georgia's Permanent Representative to NATO Grigol Mgaloblishvili told Vremya Novostey that Tbilisi is now discussing with Brussels mechanisms for implementing the Bucharest decision. At the same time, Georgia diligently implements annual reform programs according to NATO standards, which are drawn up by the alliance.
Georgian security expert Irakli Sesiashvili, in an interview with VN, suggested that in November the NATO summit in Lisbon could find a new, closer form of cooperation with Georgia, while avoiding a quarrel with Russia: “The alliance headquarters understands that the crisis between Moscow and Tbilisi - this will last for a long time. But if you push Georgia away after the decision taken in Bucharest, it will be a blow to the image of the alliance itself.” According to the expert, the next stage could be something similar to Georgia’s associated membership in the bloc.
Georgia recently suffered its first casualty in the NATO operation in Afghanistan, where First Lieutenant Mukhran Shukwani was killed. Three more Georgians were wounded. More than 900 Georgian troops are stationed in Kabul and Helmand province, and their contingent may be increased. Now Tbilisi expects gratitude from Secretary General Rasmussen and NATO for the sacrifices made.