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MODERATOR: Ladies andgentlemen, the Secretary General and the Foreign Minister will eachmake brief opening statements, and then all three ministers and theSecretary General will be available for your questions.

Secretary General.

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (Secretary General of NATO): Goodafternoon. It was a great pleasure... it is a great pleasure and aprivilege to see three Georgian ministers coming to NATO to discusswith NATO the present state of play in the Georgia-NATO relationship,and more specifically in the way Georgia is implementing the so-calledIndividual Partnership Action Plan.

We have met very committed ministers—we knew that before—verycommitted to show that there is this real ambition for Euro-AtlanticIntegration. And we have seen that a lot of progress has been made inthe framework of IPAP. There is a very solid structure. Implementation,of course, is not always easy. Progress has been made. A lot still hasto be done. But it is important to have these regular discussions withour Georgian friends.

Of course, IPAP was discussed, the Individual Partnership ActionPlan. We also discussed the general political situation. It is crystalclear—let me repeat that—that also NATO respects the territorialintegrity of Georgia; that we haven't change our opinion as far as theRussian bases in Georgia are concerned, on which negotiations aretaking place; that we hope that peaceful, but quick solutions can befound for the problems in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In other words, it was an interesting stock-taking of where we are.It is clear that that implementation of the Individual PartnershipAction Plan is what matters. But I'm convinced, I say again, about thecommitment of our Georgian friends in doing this and NATO is ready,wherever, to assist and to help.

Let me leave it here, and ask Minister Zourabichvili to say a few words.

SALOME ZOURABICHVILI (Georgian Foreign Minister):Thank you very much, Secretary General. For us too, I think that thisday was very important and the signal of our determination and theimportance we give to the implementation of our IPAP is the presencetoday of us three ministers together to meet with the North AtlanticCouncil, and that was a very important meeting.

We are encouraged by the support that we have received from all themember states in this road of IPAP which we take very seriously. Weknow that it will take some more efforts, and we are ready for that,but we are, again, encouraged by the fact that we have support andproposals for direct assistance in the different fields of IPAP.

And we are also, all of us, very encouraged by the support we gotin our negotiations for the withdrawal of the military bases, becausetime has really come for the withdrawal of those military bases and weare also very grateful for the support, for the peaceful initiativethat we have taken and the peaceful resolution of our conflicts.

So thank you, again, Mr. Secretary General.

Q: (Speaking in native language)...

And second question for General Secretary, about NATO's position ofRussian military bases withdrawal from Georgia, and after that, what doyou think, will we have a more chance to stay NATO's member?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Could you explain in English what the first one was? My Georgian is not what it used to be.

Q: Yes. (Laughs) Yes, is about, exactly a question about the...

UNIDENTIFIED: (inaudible)...

ZOURABICHVILI: (inaudible)...is the procedure.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Oh, thank you.

Q: Implementation.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: No, you. Guest first.

ZOURABICHVILI: (Interpretation)...

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Let me answeryou that the NATO position on the Russian bases has not changed, andwill not change. You know that on the basis of the Istanbul commitmentsentered into in 1999 these bases should go. Of course, it's a matter,as I said in my introductory statement, for talks between the Georgiangovernment and the government of the Russian Federation. But it isclear that the end state, as soon as possible, can be no other thanthat the bases go.

And on the second part of your question, I said, I see a committedgovernment in Tbilisi in Georgia. We are focusing... they are focusing,we are focusing on a solid and good implementation of the IPAP. Youknow the whole process is performance-based. It is not a matter of daysor weeks or month or year. It's performance-based, and I think theministers of Georgia got a lot of encouragement from the NATOambassadors a minute ago in going on and following the path they haveentered. And I say again, a lot of support for the ambition of Georgiafor Euro-Atlantic Integration. That's crystal clear.

Q: Excuse me, the question to theMinister of Foreign Affairs is from ITAR-TASS News Agency. Do you... doyou agree with a compromise proposal... Russian compromise proposal topull out in four years? Is it acceptable basis for resolution of thisproblem? And when do you expect an agreement which could give theRussian military a legal basis to get money from budget for thispull-out?

ZOURABICHVILI: I do not agreewith qualification of Russian compromise proposal, because in thisnegotiation both sides, and in particular the Georgian side, has madequite a number of compromises, because we... and that the only way youget to the end of negotiations we consider that it's in the mutualinterest to get a result on those negotiations and to get thewithdrawal of the military bases.

The question of the dates, I won't go into, as I've been sayingpermanently(?) because that's one of the main issues and it's notresolved. If it was resolved we would already have probably anagreement. We have a meeting that is planned in Tbilisi on Monday andwe are determined to do our best and to get to the end of thisnegotiation. That's all I would be commenting now.

MODERATOR: Okay, the last question...

Q: To Mr. Secretary General, TVMze Georgia. Is NATO going to help Georgia to control our air space inthe nearest future? Like in Baltic countries?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, that is,of course, related to NATO airspace. Air policing is something which isdone in NATO airspace, and it will be limited to NATO airspace. Sothere's not... there's not a plan for a project. NATO air polices NATOairspace, and I've said many times before, when the new nations enteredthe Washington Treaty last year it was logical that there was NATO airpolicing in what is called the NATO airspace. But it's limited to theNATO airspace.

MODERATOR: I'm afraid that's all we have time for.