NATO-Georgia Commission
The NATO-Georgia Commission (NGC) was established in September 2008 to serve as a forum for both political consultation and practical cooperation to help Georgia achieve its goal of membership in NATO.
A Framework Document establishing the new body was signed by NATO’s Secretary General and the Georgian Prime Minister on 15 September 2008 in Tbilisi. The inaugural session took place immediately afterwards, during the visit of the North Atlantic Council to Georgia.
The NGC aims to deepen political dialogue and cooperation between NATO and Georgia at all appropriate levels.
It also supervises the process set in hand at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, when the Allies agreed that Georgia will become a NATO member. To this end, the NATO-Georgia Commission seeks to underpin the country’s efforts to take forward its political, economic and defence-related reforms pertaining to its Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO, with a focus on key democratic and institutional goals.
The NGC was also established to coordinate Alliance efforts to assist Georgia in recovering from the August 2008 conflict with Russia, and continues today to provide a platform where Allies and Georgia discuss conflict resolution.
Participation
All NATO member states and Georgia are represented in the NGC, which meets regularly at the level of ambassadors and military representatives, as well as periodically at the ministerial and chief of staff level.
Senior-level meetings of the NGC are prepared by the Political Committee in NGC format Meetings in this format also serve as the site for ongoing exchanges on political and security issues of common interest, and the preparation and assessment of Georgia’s programmes of cooperation with NATO.
The work of the NATO-Georgia Commission
The NGC provides a forum for consultation between the Allies and Georgia on the process of reforms in Georgia, NATO’s assistance to that process, and on regional security issues of common concern.
In December 2008, NATO foreign ministers decided to further enhance work under the NGC through the development of an Annual National Programme (ANP). The ANP, which was finalised in spring 2009, replaced the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which guided NATO-Georgia cooperation since 2004.
The NATO-Georgia Commission also keeps under review cooperative activities developed in the framework of Georgia’s participation in the Partnership for Peace, as well as in the military-to-military sphere.