FM Paet: NATO Must Encourage Georgia

06.03.2008

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet participated in a meeting of the New Group of Georgia’s Friends in Brussels on the evening of Wednesday, 5 March.

At the meeting, Georgia’s reforms to join NATO and its NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) perspective were discussed.

Foreign Minister Paet believes that the MAP is a good opportunity to support new democracies that share the same values as us. “For this reason, we think it is essential to encourage Georgia and Ukraine and to give them action plans during this year,” said the foreign minister.

Paet also called attention to Georgia’s active involvement in NATO missions and its citizens’ great support for NATO membership. “An important development is the survey regarding NATO membership that was done by the Georgian government alongside the presidential elections in January. The survey results indicated that 72.5% of residents support joining NATO. These results send a clear signal about the expectations of the Georgian people and the aspirations of the Georgian government,” said Paet.

The goal of the New Group of Georgia’s Friends, which was formed in 2004, is to help Georgia with its endeavours to move towards NATO and the European Union. The other members of the group are Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Sweden.

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