Ministry of Defence of Georgia
April 7, 2014
NATO Week opened in Georgia
NATO Week was officially opened in the Hotel “Courtyard Marriot” today. A solemn ceremony was dedicated to the last three phases of North-Atlantic Alliance enlargement process. Minister of Defence of Georgia Irakli Alasania attended an opening ceremony.
Following the ceremony an international conference was unveiled. State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia Alex Petriashvili and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic opened the conference titled as “The Way Towards NATO: Sharing Experience of Central and Eastern European Countries”.
Irakli Alasania delivered a speech in the second panel of the conference-“Georgia On the Way to NATO Integration; Preparation for the Upcoming 2014 NATO Summit“. Minister of Defence briefed the conference participants on the reforms recently implemented within the armed forces of Georgia.
The minister stressed importance of Georgia`s involvement in international peacekeeping missions. He also outlined significance of Georgia`s membership of NATO. As Minister emphasized, Georgia expects that a progress would be achieved towards Georgia at the Summit-“everybody recognizes that Georgia is in the position to be offered the new instruments of integration. Beside that multilateral military-diplomatic works are planned for the coming months, including in June, in order to achieve the goals a big part of our society expects from the NATO Summit. What is more important, certain trends have been defined over which we will have a dialogue with our partner countries as well as with NATO representatives. I also want to mention that final Defence Reforms Assessment Document is due to be published by June of current year which should become one of the basis for our advancement at the NATO Summit”.
It is natural that military component is also very crucial.”
The high-ranking officials of NATO members nations, as well as the representatives of executive and legislative authorities of Georgia, the members of Diplomatic Corps accredited to Georgia, NGOs and media outlets are taking part in the conference.
On the second day of NATO Week, the presentation of Brochure “Participation of Georgia in Peacekeeping Missions” will be held. In the National Library of Parliament of Georgia an exhibition on the Georgian Armed Forces development history will be also arranged. NATO Week is led in Georgia under the organizational support of Information Center on NATO and European Union. Furthermore, informative-educational meetings are scheduled in Tbilisi and in the region too. NATO Week will be over on 16th of April. –
