- Title: GERMANY-GEORGIA/DEFENCE Georgia confirms NATO aspirations
- Date: 30th October 2014
- Summary: VARIOUS GEORGIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM BEING PLAYED / ALASANIA AND VON DER LEYEN LISTENING SOLDIERS SALUTING VARIOUS ALASANIA AND VON DER LEYEN OBSERVING MILITARY PARADE
- Embargoed: 14th November 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAKNO5Z6VHAB1KJIZ48UAZ0X1H
- Story Text: Georgia's Defence Minister said on Thursday (October 30) his country will continue on its path towards NATO membership despite Russian opposition.
Irakli Alasania said he was grateful for the terms offered to Georgia during a recent NATO summit in Wales and appreciated German involvement to integrate Georgia into the alliance.
"One more very important issue that we discussed of course was the Georgia's integration to NATO. And the substantial package that was offered to Georgia on the Welsh summit. And we discussed this issue and I mentioned gratefully that this is the idea of German side and we're going to start implementing with the other NATO nations the package that will make Georgia more interoperable with NATO and will pave the way of Georgia to the NATO membership," Alasania said.
Georgia signed an association agreement with the EU in June that deepens trade and political ties and is pressing on with efforts to join NATO despite failing this year to be granted a Membership Action Plan, a formal step towards accession.
The South Caucasus country of 4.5 million, crossed by pipelines that carry Caspian oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, went to war with Russia in 2008 and remains wary of antagonizing Moscow as it tries to move further out of its orbit.
Georgia has watched closely as the conflict unfolded in eastern Ukraine, where Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in February and pro-Russian separatists rose up in mid-April against Ukrainian government forces.
The 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi was fought over breakaway moves by the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which are now under Russian control.
Russia has said it would regard NATO membership by Ukraine as a security threat and has increasingly raised reservations about Kiev's hopes of joining the European Union. It has also imposed trade embargos in Georgia as it charted a pro-Western course.
Georgia has enjoyed a strong relationship with the United States since securing independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and showed its support for NATO by sending troops to fight in Afghanistan.
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