NATO EXPERTS PAYING ROUTINE VISIT TO GEORGIA

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
February 20, 2007 Tuesday

NATO experts are paying a routine visit to Georgia to assess the
progress of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), an alliance
representative told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

The delegation arrived in Tbilisi on Monday, and the visit will last
until February 24, he said.

Experts will assess the Georgian compliance with commitments and meet
with officials, who are in charge of the IPAP fulfillment.

Similar missions have visited Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Being a member of the NATO partnership program, Georgia is conducting
an active dialog with the alliance, another NATO representative told
Itar-Tass earlier. This is not a program of the accession to NATO, and
partners may eventually fail to enter the organization, he explained.

Meanwhile, the alliance has signed membership action plans with
Macedonia, Croatia and Albania, but these plans do not set an admission
deadline. The time of their accession to NATO will depend on the
success of reforms, the official said.