President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili

Mr. Secretary General, I will start, with your permission.

First of all, let me tell you how honoured we are to host you here in my country. I mean, it has been a very productive meeting. It has been a very constructive and friendly ambiance in that spirit there.

I think we had a very good bilateral discussion. I think we've been hearing very well what NATO representatives were telling us. We also heard their praise for our reforms, but also we know that we have to do homework and proceed with further changes.

Certainly you already had the opportunity to interact with local and international press. I think we'll have this chance again.

You know, this is an important stage forward. We all the time hope that with NATO we can have further and further steps, further and further movements, deeper and deeper integration.

The last time around when your predecessor came here before, it was 2007, I think, and I wear a tie that he brought me, a NATO tie. I'm wearing it now. I was hoping you would bring me at least a jacket, NATO jacket, we would not stay out in the cold without NATO jacket. We are still not asking for NATO umbrella, though, but jacket would do this time.

But in all seriousness, we really are excited that there is some progress, and I think you have very good representative for the region, James Appathurai, he's doing a magnificent job. We are very grateful to him for that, and you have the floor.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Thank you very much, Mr. President, for these kind words. It is, indeed, a great pleasure to visit Georgia again. This time with the NATO Council. I have visited Georgia on several occasions, but this is my first visit to Batumi and we enjoy very much to be here and this afternoon we have had a very fruitful exchange of views.

It is almost eight years since the Rose Revolution. In that time a new and better Georgia has taken root, one built on freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. You have made impressive progress in areas such as freedom of speech, democratic development, and fighting corruption.

Those are achievements you are justly proud of. In those eight years Georgia has also become a valuable contributor to peace and stability beyond its borders. In Afghanistan you are already the second largest non-NATO contributor to our ISAF mission. By this time next year you will be the largest.

Your commitment is without caveats and without constraints, making the Georgian presence even more valuable for our commanders. You are a model member of ISAF and I thank you for it.

I also welcome your pledge not to use force in the dispute over the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. NATO's position is firm and clear. Those areas are part of Georgia and they remain part of Georgia. But we also see that the only way to resolve this conflict is through dialogue, not confrontation.

Georgia has come a long way in the past eight years, but there is still some way to go. In particular, to perfect your electoral reforms. That means having an electoral code which guarantees fair treatment for all candidates and all voters. It means creating a political culture of which respects and tolerates minority views, and it means guaranteeing freedom of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of the judiciary.

At our Bucharest Summit in 2008 we said that Georgia will become a member of NATO. I supported that decision then, and I support it now. That decision stands.

And as you progress on reforms you also progress on your path to NATO membership. And you have progressed significantly since NATO in 2008 decided that Georgia will become a member of this Alliance. You are closer than three years ago thanks to these reforms.

But we all know that to walk on the road to membership it takes commitment and it takes determination to press on with the reforms, but the road is worth taking. And every step of the way NATO is there to support you.

Questions

Eka Soselia, journalist, Imedi channel: Despite the fact that the North Atlantic Council is visiting Georgia and has held a session in Tbilisi, there is still speculation that Russia, which is not a member of NATO, is basically using their veto power. When and how do you think this blockade can be dismantled?

Mikheil Saakashvili: I think that the Secretary General clearly answered this question yesterday and I am not going to add too much to it. He said in detail that no non-member country has veto power regarding the membership into the alliance. The people that have no political platform are trying to challenge us; the people who tell us that nothing has a point; no changes, no reforms, no developments, no advancement and in the end there will be no results. But it is not so, never in its history has Georgia been so close to accomplishing its dreams. This means returning to our European home. Entering a stronger family and uniting our values, our culture, and our civilization with the historical community instead of becoming a dependent element or branch of someone else. In these terms, the closer we get to the goal the more attempts will be made to give up and say that nothing has a point and our destiny will be decided by someone somewhere else; especially by the people that want nothing good for us. But I think this is what NATO principals stand on. Every democratic European state has the right to choose its future and Georgia has great successes on the democratic road as the Secretary General stated. Our people have already made a decision. This decision will not change because of the weather in Batumi today or the price of gas. The most important thing is the will of our people and that will is firm and relentless.

Nino Gomarteli; The Public Broadcaster of Georgia: We would like to listen to positions of both sides on this question. However, first of all, I am addressing the Secretary General. Regarding the integration of Georgia into the North Atlantic Alliance… How are the positions of the member states distributed?

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: The position is very clear. It was stated already in 2008 at the NATO Summit in Bucharest. And as you will recall we decided three years ago in Bucharest that Georgia will become a member of NATO.

On top of that we have established a special commission, a NATO-Georgia Commission, which serves as a framework for political consultation and practical cooperation. And our visit to Georgia is an example of high level political consultations within the framework of a NATO-Georgia Commission.

Each and every year Georgia produces an annual national program. It's assessed by NATO, the NATO Council, every year, and that annual program creates a framework for the reform process in Georgia.

So our position remains the same. Our door remains open. The Bucharest decision stands. Georgia will become a member of NATO.

Nata Makhviladze; Rustavi 2: As far as I know an agreement crafted by the Swiss side regarding the membership in WTO has been signed. The information that you spoke about with Joe Biden was also published on you website.  The media is interested in more details on this phone conversation and the agreement signed.

Mikheil Saakasvhili: I think the White House has already published details regarding the phone conversation with the Vice President, but the agreement that we have signed carries more importance than many occurrences recently. Why is this occurrence so special in terms of diplomacy? Because this problem emerged at the beginning of the 90-s, after the conflicts began as a result of our independence. There were forces that did not want the independence of Georgia and did not want the international monitoring of cargo on Georgian borders. Yesterday, the Secretary General defined it exactly “Georgia’s internationally recognized borders”. And this is of course a diplomatic victory for Georgia. This is clear proof of the fact that unlike others predicted, we will have a firm position. Not only in Moscow, but even in the international community there were talks that Georgia would quickly except any kind of conditions offered, because the membership of Russia into the WTO is in the interests of everybody including Georgia, but let’s first of all explain it and then talk about it. Our position was clear at the beginning. We understand our friends very well and their pragmatic interests, but this is a very fundamental principle of international law for Georgia as well as an existential issue for us. Our borders are sacred and inviolable and that is why we held very tough negotiations. Our diplomats worked with the other side, who are thousand times more experienced in all of the international tactics, but we did not compromise for one second. Compromise is good in diplomacy, but there are things, which cannot be negotiated, ever. Despite the calls to be hasty, we were not in a hurry until our main principle was recognized. These are our borders and a common standard should be maintained which will be implemented by international observers. These people, this company consists of foreign citizens that have no relation with Russia. This will be controlled by the Swiss side with an international agreement. Therefore, this is an international legal action and international law is the main protection for a small country. A very important thing happened during the last negotiations, something that was not discussed before. During the last several months none of the representatives of Russia (some of these representatives may get offended but I would like to give them cold water to drink) have remembered South Ossetia and Abkhazia – the so-called independent states recognized by them. Russia recognized the independence of these territories and then forgot about them. Russia's political positions are often firm but Russia is willing to compromise and participate in negotiations when it is in its best interest or when the position of the international community is consolidated against the Russian position. The Georgian side knew about this. That is why we planned not to compromise from the beginning. There was pressure from many sides to rush things, but we did not compromise before we got what we desired. Of course, the World trade Organization cannot solve our political and territorial issues because its format only envisions establishing technical trade regimes, but in the sense of its format we received everything we could. Now we will move to another format, in which we will also receive everything and we will continue as the Secretary General noted, until our people go back home and our customs officers stand a little north from here, at Psou and the Roki tunnel. This is our final goal and we are not hiding it. When all the responsible players in the world will recognize that we have a right to do this, we will take this to the end peacefully. Of course, I repeat that this requires a very tough process and very serious efforts.

Anastasia Khaliakina: PIK: I am interested weather the issue of Georgia will be brought up at the 2012 Chicago summit?

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: Yes, we have discussed the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago. You can also see our visit to Georgia as part of the preparations for the Chicago Summit.

We have not finalized preparations. There's still six months to go. Many things can happen. We have not finalized the program, so no decision has been made yet, but as usual NATO allies will address Georgia at the Summit. The question is how, and we have discussed this today. We will continue our dialogue in the run-up to the Summit in Chicago.

I hope to see language, texts from the Chicago Summit that reflects the progress we have seen in reforms in Georgia, the progress we have seen in our relationship since we last met, in Lisbon a year ago. So the answer is, yes, we have discussed it, and we will continue our dialogue until May when the next Summit will be held in Chicago.

Mikheil Saakashvili:: Thank you. Thank you so much.