Opening remarks

by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the signing ceremony of the Framework Document on the establishment of the NATO-Georgia Commission
and its inaugural meeting

Monday, 15 September 2008, Tbilisi

Mr.  Prime Minister, Excellencies, welcome.  Before opening the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission, I would like to invite you, Prime Minister Gurgenidze, to join me in signing the Framework Document on the establishment of the NATO-Georgia Commission, agreed by Georgia and NATO Allies.

[SIGNING CEREMONY]

Mr.  Prime Minister, Excellencies, welcome again.  Today is indeed a milestone in the history of NATO-Georgia relations.  We have just signed the Framework Document of the NATO-Georgia Commission, which gives us access to new tools for further deepening the NATO-Georgia relationship.

Building on the success we have had in the Individual Partnership Action Plan and the Intensified Dialogue, the NATO-Georgia Commission allows us to meet in new formats and tackle new issues related to the NATO-Georgia relationship and the process of reform in Georgia.  These reforms, as Georgia has clearly stated, and NATO Heads of State and Government have affirmed, are aimed at fulfilling Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. 

In this meeting, we look forward to hearing from our Georgian interlocutors regarding the status of ongoing reforms, and plans for the future to ensure those reforms become irreversible.

Let me now give the floor to Prime Minister Gurgenidze for some introductory remarks. Mr Prime Minister, you have the floor.