NATO offers Intensified Dialogue to Georgia
At the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in New York, 21 September, the NATO Secretary General announced the decision to offer Intensified Dialogue to Georgia.
In the context of Intensified Dialogue, Georgia will have access to a more intense political exchange with NATO Allies on its membership aspirations and relevant reforms, without prejudice to any eventual Alliance decision on a further membership process.
Such consultations take place at different levels, from staff talks between the NATO Secretariat and Georgian authorities to high-level political consultations between Georgia and the North Atlantic Council.
Georgia will continue to implement its Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO. This Plan will remain the key programme of defence and institutional reform in Georgia. NATO countries will continue to assess Georgia’s progress in the implementation of the objectives set out in that document.
Full range of issues
The formula of ‘Intensified Dialogue’ has its roots in the 1997 Madrid Summit, at which NATO Heads of State and Government decided “to continue the Alliance’s intensified dialogues with those nations that aspire to NATO membership or that otherwise with to pursue a dialogue with NATO on membership questions.”These dialogues “cover the full range of political, military, financial and security issues relating to possible NATO membership, without prejudice to any eventual Alliance decision.”
NATO is also engaged in an Intensified Dialogue with Ukraine.