Estonian minister: NATO must encourage Georgia

06.03.2008

TALLINN, Mar 06, BNS - Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said at a meeting of the New Group of Friends of Georgia in Brussels on Wednesday that NATO should encourage Georgia and hand out a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia and Ukraine already this year.

Paet said Estonia believes that the MAP is a good opportunity to support new democracies that share the same values with us.

"For this reason, we think it is essential to encourage Georgia and Ukraine and to give them action plans during this year," he was quoted by spokespeople for the Estonian Foreign Ministry as saying.

Paet also called attention to Georgia's active involvement in NATO missions and its citizens' great support for NATO membership.

"An important development is the survey regarding NATO membership that was done by the Georgian government alongside the presidential elections in January. The survey results indicated that 72.5 percent of residents support joining NATO. These results send a clear signal about the expectations of the Georgian people and the aspirations of the Georgian government," said Paet.

The goal of the New Group of Friends of Georgia, which was formed in 2004, is to help Georgia with its endeavors to move towards NATO and the European Union.

The other members of the group are Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Sweden.

On Thursday, Paet will attend a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels that will deal with preparations for the alliance's summit in Bucharest from April 2-4. Enlargement of the defense alliance will be the summit's main topic.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8861, sise@bns.ee