Defence Minister’s official visit to Brussels ends
Friday, June 17
The Minister of Defence of Georgia, Tinatin Khidasheli, met with the Deputy General Secretary of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Alexander Vershbow in NATO's headquarters on June 16.
The official meeting was held in Brussels. The key themes of the meeting were NATO-Georgian relations, the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw, and plans of future collaboration.
According to Tinatin Khidasheli, Georgia is going to implement many projects after the Summit and these issues were discussed during the meeting.
“The main task we have set is to achieve important progress in terms of strengthening the defence potential of the country,” said Tinatin Khidasheli.
Within the frames of the visit, on June 15 Khidasheli attended a Security Ministerial where she met her Polish, Turkish, Croatian and Ukrainian colleagues.
The main issue during the meeting with her Croatian colleague Josip Buljevic was the enhancement of cooperation between the two countries.
“We do not have a military cooperation agreement but agreed today that it is possible to make a decision and reach an agreement in order to form specific ties between our two countries,” said Georgia’s Defence Minister.
Tinatin Khidasheli also met with the Minister of National Defence of Poland, Antoni Macierewicz. They discussed issues concerning Polish support to Georgia during the upcoming Summit in Warsaw.
“Poland is an active participant of the NATO-Georgia package. We are constantly renewing our information and discussing plans. Polish support for Georgia is even more important because they happen to be the host country of the Summit in Warsaw,” stated Khidasheli.
Tinatin Khidasheli invited her Turkish colleague to Georgia, where a three-sided Ministerial will be held. “We suppose that the three-sided Ministerial will be held either in Batumi or Tbilisi, where we will sign a memorandum of understanding, which will allow Georgia-Turkey-Azerbaijan relations to move to a higher level;” Said Tinatin Khidasheli.
Tinatin Khidasheli and the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Stepan Poltorak, talked about joint activities and opportunities.
Tinatin Khidasheli’s visit to Brussels lasted for two days, between June 15-16.
