Joint press point
by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili of Georgia
Prime Minister, I am pleased to welcome you to NATO Headquarters.
Georgia is one of our most committed partners. And Georgia plays an outstanding role in our operations.
The Wales Summit marked an important milestone in our relations. We agreed a Substantial package of measures that will strengthen your country’s defence capabilities, and help Georgia move closer to membership. We also invited Georgia to join our initiative to enhance interoperability with partners who make significant contributions to the Alliance.
Today we discussed how to translate these initiatives in actions. NATO will support defence capacity building in Georgia through embedded trainers. And we are pleased that Georgia will host a new NATO-Georgia Training Centre. The centre will help Georgian forces maintain their ability to work with NATO. And it will prepare Georgia and other partners for future contributions to the NATO Response Force.
Prime Minister, Georgia has made great progress in recent years. And we will support you as you continue to take forward democratic reforms. That includes further strengthening the rule of law, including the independence of the judiciary.
The Georgian people has made clear it clear that they want Euro-Atlantic integration. And Georgia has moved closer to NATO in recent years.
We stand by the decision we took at the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008.
Georgia will be a member of NATO, provided it fulfils the necessary criteria. And we will continue to assist you in on this path.