For
immediate release
24
April 2007
PRESS
COMMUNIQUE - COMMUNIQUE PRESSE
GEORGIA MOVES CLOSER TO NATO MEMBERSHIP,
BUT REFORMS MUST
CONTINUE
NATO Parliamentarians, Georgian and
Alliance countries officials, and independent experts
attended the 65th Rose Roth Seminar in Tbilisi, Georgia from April 19-21. The seminar focused on a range of
issues shaping GeorgiaÂ’s aspirations and prospects for Euro-Atlantic
integration. It featured a number of prominent Georgian speakers, including
President Mikheil SAAKASHVILI, the Speaker of the Parliament
Nino Burjanadze; the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gela
Bezhuashvili; and the Minister of Economy Giorgi ARVELADZE. Senior officials from NATO, the European
Union, OSCE, the IMFincluding EU Special Representative Peter
Semneby, Latvian Foreign Minister Artis PABRIKS, and OSCE Ambassador
Roy REEVEas well as from the NGO and academic communities also
addressed the gathering.
GeorgiaÂ’s aspirations for NATO membership are realisable.
This was the clear message that emerged from the deliberations.
Three other related themes dominated the proceedings.
Firstly, the Georgian government and the Georgian people are very focused on
Euro-Atlantic integration.
President Saakashvili told participants that joining NATO is now the
governmentÂ’s and, indeed, the publicÂ’s highest foreign policy priority; even the
political opposition in parliament has endorsed this goal. Having nearly
completed the Individual Partnership Action Process (IPAP) and now engaged in
Intensified Dialogue (ID), Georgian officials are optimistic that the
Alliance will be prepared to initiate a Membership Action
Plan (MAP) at the next NATO summit. This would put
Georgia on the road toward NATO accession. For their part,
NATO officials stressed that membership of NATO is performance based. The determination by NATO members to
extend a MAP to Georgia will be based on a collective judgement that
Georgia has made sufficient progress in a broad range of
reforms.
Secondly, Georgia has made good progress in implementing a range of
economic, political and administrative reforms which have not only helped
reconstitute state authority since the Rose Revolution in 2003, but which have
also moved the country closer to the Euro-Atlantic Community. Last year, the World Bank rated
Georgia as the most successful reformer among the worldÂ’s
developing countries and it moved to number 35 in the world rankings of best
business climates. Government officials stressed that they are determined to
continue pushing radical liberal reforms and administrative modernization. To
achieve these ends, they are employing best practices learned from other
transition cases and, in particular, are drawing many lessons from the Baltic
States, which have strongly supported the Georgian reform process. Both NATO and the EU have also offered
very important support for the transition process.
Thirdly, although
GeorgiaÂ’s progress across the board is indeed impressive,
its transition is far from complete.
There are concerns about democratic and judicial practices that elicited
admonitions from several speakers. They reminded Georgian participants that
their government must adhere to best democratic practices not only to fulfill
their ambitions for Euro-Atlantic integration, but also to ensure the
sustainability of the political, administrative and economic reform process. The
message here was that concrete actions are needed to ensure that national
elections in two years are fully fair and transparent and that judicial reforms,
in particular, are implemented to ensure both the independence and
incorruptibility of GeorgiaÂ’s judges. Although the economic outlook is very
positive, there are still outstanding problems including price volatility, the
management of government surpluses and the current account
balance.
Finally, the Seminar also focused on the problem
posed by break-away regions in Georgia, the role of
Russia in these conflicts and the possible implications of
failing to advance the reconciliation process. Here too there was a sense that
more can be done on both sides of the divide to foster a climate of trust that
might advance reconciliation. At the same time, Allied countries will not accord
any country in the region a veto on GeorgiaÂ’s membership aspirations nor are they prepared to
allow intransigence on the part of the leaders of break-away regions, or their
sponsors, to become an excuse to thwart Georgian goals, particularly if
Georgia is acting in good faith to resolve the conflicts.
For
further information, please contact
e-mail: Press@nato-pa.int
NATO
Parliamentary Assembly
Place
du Petit Sablon 3, 1000 Brussels,
Belgium
Tél:
(32) 2 513 28 65 | Fax: (32) 2 514 18 47 |
website:
http:// www.nato-pa.int |
Background
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, founded
in 1955 with a Brussels-based secretariat,
brings
together 248 national parliamentarians from the 26 NATO countries.
In
addition, 15 associate delegations from Central and
Eastern
Europe,
Ukraine
and Russia;
4 Mediterranean
Associate delegations: Morocco,
Algeria,
Jordan,
Israel
and 7 Parliamentary Observer delegations participate in
Assembly activities and
meetings.