Opening remarks

So good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

It’s great to see you all here.

And welcome to this meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission.  This is the fourth visit of the North Atlantic Council to Georgia. And I want to thank Prime Minister Kvirikashvili and the people of Georgia for your wonderful hospitality.

It’s great to be here and it’s great to meet with you and all of the representatives of the government of Georgia. I would like to thank you for hosting our meetings here in Tbilisi. 

I’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate your country on 25 years of independence. And celebrate your many achievements over the past quarter century.

We also value and honour the extraordinary sacrifices made by Georgian men and women while contributing to our shared security.

The NATO-Georgia Commission was established in 2008. Its purpose is to provide an ongoing forum for political dialogue and cooperation between NATO and Georgia. At today’s meeting, the Commission will discuss a broad range of different issues. Including Black Sea security and recent developments regarding Euro-Atlantic security.

We will also discuss the progress being made in implementing the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package. An initiative that was originally launched in 2014 at the NATO Summit in Wales. And then strengthened at our Summit in Warsaw this past July.

Allies are determined to increase and intensify our level of support for Georgia. So we approved a number of additional measures to deepen our already strong cooperation. As an aspirant country, Georgia has all the practical tools to prepare for NATO membership.  And NATO is committed to helping Georgia on this path.

Now I would like to invite Prime Minister Kvirikashvili to present his opening comments. So please Prime Minister, you have the floor.

[AFTER THE PRIME MINISTER’S COMMENTS]

Thank you so much Prime Minister and this concludes the public part of the meeting, so we will continue in a short moment.