Joint press point by NATO Deputy Secretary General Ms. Rose Gottemoeller and the Prime Minister of Georgia Mr. Giorgi Gakharia, during the North Atlantic Council visit to Georgia.

Transcript

Thank you.

Uh, greetings. The press conference of Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, and Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mrs. Rose Gottemoeller joint press conference will start. After the short statements the parties will switch to the Q and A.

So, greetings. Today Georgia is hosting the North Atlantic Council for the fifth time. It’s a symbolic point that this happened in Batumi, because between NATO and Georgia, the Black Sea safety contest collaboration becomes more and more significant. I would like to render my special thanks to Mrs. Rose Gottemoeller for her long standing support and backup of our country. This is very important that Georgia’s full integration in NATO. This is the choice of our populace, of our people. And we have to go to great lengths that by official collaboration to attain this goal. Well, today we have had an opportunity to conduct very discussions where we evaluated Georgia’s achievements, Georgia’s success, in terms of democratization and deepening of the defense capabilities. This was an (mumbles) permitted by our friends, and also from their side we received many recommendations which will be in force, until then will become our goal. So you are aware that our progress with NATO is more and more efficient over the last years. You know that in terms of the joint exercise in the current 2019 we have serious success and we will wait on the fact that this efficient collaboration, which is translated into the interoperability of the NATO forces. It will be rendered into real results. And we are holding out hope that what the Georgian citizens are voting for, our strategic partners will back up this too. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Prime Minister. And thank you for your very warm welcome today to Batumi. It’s a pleasure to be here with the North Atlantic Council, representing all 29 allied nations. This visit is a demonstration of NATO’s strong and growing partnership with Georgia. We have just finished a productive meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission. Georgia is among our closest partners, and we deeply appreciate your contributions to our shared security. You are one of the largest contributors to our training mission in Afghanistan, helping us to deny safe haven to terrorists and creating the conditions for peace in that country. Congratulations that Georgia is holding the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for our Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, the highest position ever held by a Georgian officer in a NATO-led mission, and we appreciate your leadership in that regard, and we welcome Brigadier General Janjgava to this vital role. You also provide troops to the NATO Response Force. And earlier this year, you hosted a joint NATO-Georgia exercise, which the Prime Minister just referred to a moment ago, even I could understand that Georgian. But it included the participation of 24 allies and partners. Congratulations on the success of what was a Georgia-planned and Georgia-led exercise, a very important step in your military development. Today, we celebrate five years of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package. This is the cornerstone of our support for Georgia’s defense and security. The package is bolstering your country’s defenses, including through a Joint Training and Evaluation Center, a Defense Institution Building school, and joint exercises. This afternoon, we agreed to refresh and improve the package. Allies committed to provide further resources, and welcomed Georgia’s significant progress on reforms. You have strengthened your defense institutions, modernized your armed forces, and made clear progress on defense spending. We encourage you to continue on this path, and to push ahead with necessary reforms beyond the area of defense. It is equally important to strengthen the rule of law and to implement further judiciary reform. We will continue to work with you on reforms that move Georgia closer to NATO. At the Brussels Summit in July 2018, allied leaders reaffirmed that NATO will accept Georgia as a member of the alliance. The NAC has done so again in our NGC statement just released. This is in line with our decision at the Bucharest Summit in 2008. NATO’s door remains open. Today, allies repeated and restated their full support for Georgia’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. We call on Russia to end its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and to withdraw its forces from these regions of Georgia. We are also concerned by Russia’s military build-up in the Black Sea region. That is why we are strengthening the cooperation between Georgia and NATO’s naval forces with training for Georgian Coast Guard boarding teams, more exercises and port calls, and cooperation between Georgia’s Joint Maritime Operations Center and NATO’s Maritime Command. Prime Minister, thank you once again for your hospitality. I look forward to continuing to work with you as Georgia moves closer to NATO. Thank you.

Thank you.