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Updated: 20-May-2005 NATO Update

18 May 2005
Senior Georgian officials visit NATO
News
17/05/2005 - NATO
Visit to NATO
by the Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defence, and the State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration
Background
Individual Partnership Action Plans
Opinions
18/05/2005 - NATO
Transcript of press point
Multimedia
18/05/2005 - NATO
18/05/2005 - NATO
Audio from press point with the three Ministers and the NATO Secretary General (.MP3/3143Kb)

The Georgian Foreign and Defence Ministers and the State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration visited NATO Headquarters on 18 May to discuss the way ahead for co-operation between Georgia and the Alliance.

Mrs. Salome Zourabichvili, Mr. Irakli Okruashvili and Mr. Giori Baramidze met for talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and exchanged views with the North Atlantic Council.

A deepening partnership

The talks focused on the state of play of cooperation between NATO and Georgia and the way ahead.

In November 2004, Georgia became the first NATO partner country to sign an Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with NATO.

Developed on a two-year basis, such a plan is designed to bring together all the various cooperation mechanisms through which a partner country interacts with the Alliance, sharpening the focus of activities to better support their domestic reform efforts.

Speaking at a joint press point with the three ministers, Mr. De Hoop Scheffer said Georgia had made a lot of progress in its cooperation with NATO.

He also reiterated the Alliance’s support for the country’s territorial integrity and said that NATO’s position regarding the need for Russia to withdraw its troops from the country had not changed.