The FINANCIAL – Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia has positively assessed her first working visit to Brussels and the meetings held in the European Union and NATO as part of the visit.
As part of her first working visit to Brussels, President Salome Zourabichvili has attended NATO-Georgia Commission sitting, involving permanent representatives of NATO member states.
“I have seen a very positive attitude towards Georgia at the sitting. As highlighted, Georgia is an extraordinary ally for NATO. We very much appreciate all these. Readiness was expressed to further develop our cooperation on the Black Sea that is crucial for our security. Members of the NATO-Georgia Commission have shown unanimous support for Georgia’s territorial integrity. This is the support for Georgia and the Georgian people. We need to realize that we have supporters and very serious allies in Brussels, the EU and NATO,” President Zourabichvili said.
Extremely serious challenges are facing the Black Sea security, President Zourabichvili added, namely, recent developments in Ukraine and Russian actions. It is necessary, President Zourabichvili believes, to strengthen the security with the help of NATO in order the Black Sea to maintain and strengthen its role of being a bridge connecting Georgia to the EU.
“We have met with the EU high officials, who are directly related to cooperation with Georgia that is so significant for Georgia-EU relations. Everybody has a very friendly attitude toward Georgia. They have expressed readiness to take very specific steps to further deepen this cooperation in numerous directions,” President Zourabichvili said, highlighting the positive messages voiced on Georgia’s visa liberalization.
“We appreciate the fact that 300,000 Georgians took advantage of this regime and entered the European Union. This is very encouraging. At the same time, we know that there are problems, but emphasis was not made on these problems. I have not heard any warnings about discontinuation of this process; however, this does not mean that we should stop working. This means that the population should have a very responsible attitude toward this issue,” President Zourabichvili said.
As she further added, strong support was shown for Georgia’s policy at the meetings and as underscored, the country is taking the right steps.
“At the same time, we have heard concerns on closed checkpoints in Georgia. There is a readiness to voice this problem in the bilateral relations with Russia, in order these actions not to be accepted as a fact that we tolerate. They have all affirmed support for the non-recognition policy,” President Zourabichvili concluded.
