Georgia not to attend next NATO Summit

Georgia will not attend the next NATO Summit, since it will be a relatively small-scale summit, a NATO-Trump introductory meeting – said Victor Dolidze, Georgian State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration.

As Dolidze told Ipress news agency, the work for inclusion of Georgia’s issue on NATO Summit agenda was underway.

‘It will be NATO’s internal summit. There will be some populist statements on part of opposition that we ‘’are not participating, that we have not been invited’ etc. Although we are unlikely to attend the summit, but have been active working to ensure that Georgia’s issue be one of the key themes on the Summit’ agenda,” said Dolidze.

Georgian Defense Minister, Levan Izoria, made similar statement a month ago. As he pointed out, due to formation of a new U.S. administration, the summit would be more ‘narrow and symbolic’ and it would be attended only by the NATO member-states.

Victor Dolidze’s statement caused sharp reaction in Georgian opposition. According to Giorgi Tughushi, a member of the opposition faction ‘European Georgia – for Better Future’, Georgian government has missed its chance of getting closer to the new U.S. administration.

“This proves that we have changed our approach towards NATO and integration into it and Georgian government officials’ continuous statements that Georgia should not be on the international agenda once again proves Georgian government’s chosen course,” said Tughushi.

The parliamentary majority group says, opposition’s accusations are groundless.

“Mr. Dolidze’s statement reflects the actual state of affairs with regard to the Summit. It’s not up to us to decide the summit agenda. The agenda is determined jointly with the participants, who are involved in this matter,” said Gia Zhorzholiani, the parliamentary majority group member.

As James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, told Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), the next NATO Summit will be attended only by NATO members and Georgia is not an exception.

“It will be a traditional summit. The 2017 Summit will be only for the NATO member-states rather than for partners. NATO partners’ summit will be held in 2018,” said James Appathurai.

The next NATO Summit will be held in 2017 in Brussels. Officials from 28 NATO member-states will attend the Summit.

As a reminder, membership in NATO has been Georgia’s declared objective. During the referendum in January 2008, 77% of Georgian citizens supported country’s integration into NATO. However, Georgia failed to get the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP)at the NATO Bucharest Summit in May 2008. Instead, it was pointed out in the Summit declaration that Georgia would become a member of the alliance, provided that it met the relevant criteria. Since 2008, Georgia has been cooperating with NATO in the Annual Action Plan format. In 2014, Georgia was granted the Substantial NATO-GeorgiaPackage (SNGP), which implies a new stage of cooperation for strengthening country’s defense capacity.The Joint Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC) was opened as part of the SNGP, in the vicinity of Tbilisi, in 2015.