Georgia edges closer to NATO

By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch 

Georgian Foreign Minister Dr Maya Panjikidze told journalists on 11 November that the country's integration into NATO is developing dynamically, following several NATO-Georgia Commission meetings in the last 6 months and a visit from the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on 26-27 June. She hoped that this progress will result in the implementation of the decision taken at NATO’s Bucharest Summit in 2008.
 
Panjikidze was appointed as Georgia’s Foreign Minister in October 2012 after a career as an academic and a diplomat. She said that her country continues to deepen strategic relations with the United States and has been actively working with Congress. She noted the past four months have been quite fruitful in terms of relations with European countries as well, bringing support for the territorial integrity of Georgia and the process of European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
 
Georgia's new President Georgy Margvelashvili said on 28 October, the day after he was elected, that he would press ahead with efforts to deepen the former Soviet republic's ties with the West despite Russian concerns. He said: "We have outlined the right moves in relations with Russia. We will try to reduce tension in bilateral relations and to move discussion of issues to European forums.”
 
Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has been the driving force behind attempts to build stronger ties with Russia while at the same time also deepening integration with the West. He told Reuters that: "We can't change Russia. It would be better for us to change and work more on ourselves. We have to try to work with Russia, our neighbour, as it is.”
 
On 2 November Ivanishvili announced that Irakli Garibashvili, Interior Minister since October 2012 would replace him as Prime Minister when he formally steps down on 24 November. Garibashvili, a graduate in international relations from the Sorbonne University in Paris, will oversee Georgia's transition to a parliamentary republic. George Mchedlishvili, a Caucasus expert at Chatham House, believes that: "The new leadership has to learn how to behave independently, and it will take them time and effort to move out of Ivanishvili’s shadow." Thomas de Waal, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace suggests that Ivanishvili may struggle to control Georgia's notoriously volatile political system. However, Ivanishvili has pledged the next government will press on with plans to join the EU and NATO.
 
During a Press Conference at the NATO Defence Ministers meeting on 23 October, Radio Free Europe asked Secretary General Rasmussen to comment about being quoted in the Russian media that Georgia and Ukraine would not be joining NATO. He replied that:
 
 
It's not an accurate quote of what I have actually said, because let me stress there is no change whatsoever in our position when it comes to Georgia and Ukraine. And let me remind you that already in 2008 we decided that Georgia and Ukraine will become members of NATO. We decided that in 2008 and that decision still stands.