By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch
Speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi alongside Speaker of the Georgian Parliament David Usupashvili on 29 April, NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Hugh Bayley said:
Georgia is raising questions as to when its integration into NATO will occur. I do not have the exact answer. But on behalf of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I certify that NATO's doors are open for Georgia. Its accession to NATO depends on these qualifications and I would like to say that Georgia meets many requirements.
Usupashvili said that he hopes that the three-day NATO Parliamentary Assembly workshop ‘Rose Roth’, which will address political change in the South Caucasus and the process of integration into NATO, will be an important catalyst towards Georgia's integration into NATO, adding:
This workshop is one of the tools used for intensifying cooperation with NATO members and partners. Official government and non-governmental organizations alike had the opportunity to discuss the most important and urgent issues. We are delighted to host so many distinguished guests, MPs of NATO member-states and partners. I am glad that the guests are here at the Georgian parliament; this workshop will be an important step in Georgia's integration into NATO.
During a workshop session, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili explained how his country planned to establish good relations with Russia while pursuing Euro-Atlantic integration. He accepted that territorial integrity would not be restored soon, “but I assure you that it won’t take a few decades either”. He added that the population should be employed, refugees should return to their own homes and, at the right time, certain steps “will remove all the ambiguity on the way to NATO integration”. He drew attention to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s declaration in September 2012: that Georgia’s future home is in NATO.
Ivanishvili said that a dialogue between Tbilisi and Moscow shouldn’t create a sense that Georgia is independently solving relations with Russia and no longer needs the support of its partners. He appointed Zurab Abashidze as special representative for relations with Russia with a mandate to negotiate the reopening of economic and cultural connections between the two countries. He said his government believes that Euro and Euro-Atlantic integration will give Georgia more opportunities to build democratic institutions, provide freedom and security. Abashidze will meet Grigory Karasin, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia in Prague on 4-5 June.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili met US Vice President Joseph Biden in Washington on 27 April saying afterwards that they had “an in-depth conversation on matters relating to accelerate Georgia's integration into NATO and a free trade agreement with the US” stressing that Georgia had received such promises from President Obama last year.
Meanwhile, Georgia is working with Turkey and Azerbaijan to encourage NATO to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway “the shortest and cheapest way out of Afghanistan after 2014”, according to Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maia Panjikidze.