Civil Georgia, Georgia
Nov. 4, 2004

Georgia Matters for NATO

Scheffer: “there is no doubt that Russia has
to fulfill fully its commitment” and pull out
its military bases from Georgia.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who paid one-day visit to
Georgia on November 4 as a part of his South Caucasus trip, made it
clear that `Georgia matters for NATO’ and recommended the Georgian
authorities to `get on work’ on implementing Georgia’s Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which has been endorsed by the North
Atlantic Alliance in late October.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer met with President Mikhail Saakashvili, Prime
Minister Zurab Zhvania, Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili, Defense
Minister Giorgi Baramidze, Ambassadors of the NATO member states
accredited in Georgia and representatives from the non-governmental
organizations in country.

At a joint new conference with President Saakashvili, the NATO
Secretary General said that endorsement of Georgia’s IPAP marked `a
very important moment in the relationship between Georgia and NATO.’

`As I have discussed it with the President it will be now a question of
doing homework [by the Georgian authorities]. And where NATO can assist
Georgia in this respect, NATO will assist Georgia… Let’s get on work on
IPAP,’ Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

President Saakashvili said that Georgia has become the first country
whose IPAP has been approved by the NATO. `This was recognition by NATO
those achievements, which Georgia has made in respect of reforms and
development in recent months,’ Mikheil Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili also said that Georgia is `getting close to NATO.’ `But do
not ask when we will become NATO members, for example in one year, two
or three. You won’t get my answer on this question. But it will happen
much sooner than many might suppose. And when it happens I might still
be in this office’ Mikheil Saakashvili said referring to his
presidential term.

The NATO Secretary General has also refrained from speaking about
dates. `I am not going to give the dates, because the dates will
deviate our attention from what we should do now – make IPAP into the
success and NATO will assist and we will help to make it work,’ Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer said.

`I am a realist and I am an optimist. I am realist because I know that
Georgia’s NATO membership will be a difficult, long and winding road.
But I am optimistic as well, because I see an enormous drive of the
Georgian government and the Georgian people to fulfill the ambitions
Georgia has vis-à-vis to Euro-Atlantic integration,’ he added.

The North Atlantic Council, which is the decision-making body of NATO,
approved the Individual Partnership Action Plan of Georgia (IPAP) on
October 29.

`The IPAP deals with implementing defense, political, economic reforms
and it also concern the human rights in the country. It is a two-year
program and by the end of each year there will be an assessment
conference to find out if there are any flaws or indicate on progress,’
Gela Bezhuashvili, the Secretary of the Georgian National Security
Council, told Civil Georgia on November 4.

At a news conference Jaap de Hoop Scheffer also reiterated NATO’s
support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and called for peaceful
solution of Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts.

The Georgian president said that Tbilisi is `ready for a compromise.
But not at the expanse of Georgia’s territorial integrity.’

`No one should expect that it will be possible to change our
fundamental foreign policy course by mounting pressure on us. But I
also want to say that good relations with Russia is also a part of our
fundamental foreign policy course,’ Mikheil Saakashvili added.

The NATO Secretary General has also called on Russia to follow its
commitment undertaken during the OSCE Istanbul Summit in 1999 and pull
out remaining military bases from Georgia.

`There is no doubt that Russia has to fulfill fully its commitments
Russia has entered in 1999 in Istanbul [OSCE Summit]. NATO has good
relationship with the Russian Federation and Russia is very well
informed about the NATO’s position I have just stated… let’s say that
fundamental opinion can not be any other that Russia has to fulfill the
Istanbul commitments fully,’ the NATO Secretary General said.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer also said that NATO is not competing with any of
the country in the region.

`Let me make it very clear, that I have not come here and the NATO has
not come here to compete with any other country or to compete with any
other organization. I’ve come here because the NATO has an open door
for any nation, including Georgia, who want to share and defense those
same values, which have always been in the core of the NATO,’ Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer said.

`No one should expect that it will be possible to change our
fundamental foreign policy course by mounting pressure on us. But I
also want to say that good relations with Russia is also a part of our
fundamental foreign policy course,’ Mikheil Saakashvili stated.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that his trip to the South Caucasus
countries is a part of implementation of decisions of the NATO Istanbul
Summit, which was held this June. The governments from the NATO states
decided at the summit to make a focus on Caucasus and Central Asia.

To implement this decision Robert Simmons, a special representative for
these two regions, has been appointed. Simmons is also NATO’s Deputy
Assistant Secretary General for Security Cooperation and Partnership.

In addition, two NATO liaison officers, who will be in close
cooperation with the NATO’s special envoy, will be permanently
stationed in each of the two regions. Robert Simmons said in September
that the NATO liaison officer in the Caucasus will be stationed in
Tbilisi and will work closely with the Georgian Defense Ministry.

`I am now in Georgia – focusing on IPAP, focusing on reforms. I’ll go
Armenia and Azerbaijan as well to see where they are in the
relationship with NATO, and whether they want to be in the relationship
with NATO. Do not forget every sovereign country is fully sovereign in
deciding itself where it wants to go vis-à-vis NATO. Some countries are
more ambitious than others. I want to focus on this region, like two
weeks ago I was in Central Asia. Because these regions matter, they are
of strategic importance. So Georgia matters for NATO,’ Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer said.