Interfax
Jan 14 2005

Tbilisi ready to welcome NATO special envoy

Tbilisi. (Interfax-AVN) – A group of NATO experts has arrived in
Tbilisi to prepare the official opening of an office of the NATO
Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia,
Nikolai Laliashvili, chief of the defense policy and European
integration department in the Georgian Defense Ministry, told
Interfax- Military News Agency Friday.
According to him, the office will open in Tbilisi in February.

“It will be in Tbilisi, but will deal with Azerbaijan and Armenia,
rather than Georgia only,” he added.

He emphasized that the NATO special representative’s appointment is
an extremely important event for his country in terms of stepping up
the interaction with the Alliance, especially in light of the
organization’s approving of the program of cooperation with Georgia
in 2004.

The decision to send liaison officers and a special representative of
NATO to Transcaucasia and Central Asia was made at the NATO 2004
summit in Istanbul.

U.S. citizen Robert Simmons, NATO Deputy Secretary General, was
appointed the Alliance’s Special Representative for the South
Caucasus and Central Asia, who is expected to visit the countries in
the region from time to time. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer introduced Simmons to leaders of the countries in question
during his November visit to the South Caucasus.

The Tbilisi office will also include Romualds Razhuks, the 49-year
old advisor to the Latvian defense minister and the former vice
speaker of the Latvian Seimas, who will be the liaison officer
coordinating the activities with Simmons.

Georgia voiced its intent to join NATO during the Prague summit in
2002.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress