The President of Georgia is holding bilateral meetings within the scope of the NATO Summit in Chicago. Mikheil Saakashvili met with the US Senator Richard Durbin. The sides spoke about the reforms and changes which have successfully been implemented in Georgia. The Senator stressed that the country has reached great progress, which is extremely important on the road towards integration in the North Atlantic Alliance.

Richard Durbin also touched on the issue of Georgian participation in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and noted that the country is contributing tremendously in the peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan.

“The most important thing that the President of Georgia and I discussed today is the future role of Georgia in NATO. I consider the membership of Georgia in the alliance extremely important. This is a brilliant idea and we are doing everything to implement it. It is true that the expansion of the alliance is not discussed at the Chicago summit, but this summit is very important for Georgia. Mikheil Saakashvili is holding highest level meetings here, during which he stresses the ongoing processes in Georgia. Very important democratic reforms are being implemented in the country and economic progress is also noticeable. This plays positively for Georgia. This is one more proof that the country is advancing and its role in the independent world is completely different than in the soviet times” – stated Richard Durbin.

Later today, the President of Georgia held a meeting with another representative of the United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen. Georgia’s Euro Atlantic integration was the main topic of discussion. Mikheil Saakashvili focused attention on the democratic development of the country and also spoke about the planned elections. According to him, the fact that legitimate international observers are observing the pre-election process is very important. The activeness of every international organization is necessary for this, according to him.

“It is very important that Georgia is represented with a status of an aspirant country here. The involvement of aspirant countries in the NATO Summit is very important for their future. Georgia has contributed greatly in the NATO mission in Afghanistan and they want to tell Georgia: the country is on the right track in terms of integrating in NATO and it will definitely make a member of the alliance. Our discussion touched on the elections. I think it is imperative that the international observers arrive in Georgia, so that the international community knows what’s happening in the country” – stated Jeanne Shaheen.

During the meeting with the President of Georgia the Senators once again expressed firm support of Georgia in terms of NATO integration and noted that the door of the North Atlantic Alliance is still open for Georgia.