Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

President Mikheil Saakashvili held talks with British Minister for Europe David Lidington in Tbilisi on Wednesday that focused on the elections in Georgia, the process of peaceful transfer of power, as well as the current political process, the Georgian presidential administration told Azerbaijan's Trend news agency.

President Saakashvili reiterated that the main priority for his country is the integration into European and Euro-Atlantic organizations, expressing his readiness to work closely with the new government in this area.

Georgia held parliamentary elections on October 1. Opposition coalition Georgian Dream of tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili won the election, after which a new government was formed. Ivanishvili serves as prime minister in the new cabinet.

Saakashvili once again thanked Britain for supporting the process of Georgia's integration into NATO.

In turn, Lidington praised democratic elections in Georgia, expressing his confidence that the current democratic processes will be appreciated at the NATO ministerial meeting in December.

"NATO makes decisions on the basis of consensus," Lidington said further. "I think that NATO ministers will take into account and respond publicly...to the fact that Georgia has demonstrated democratic progress since the latest meeting of NATO (the Chicago summit in May 2012). In my opinion, this feedback will be reflected in the results of the forthcoming ministerial."

Lidington said Georgia is considered to be an important ally of NATO and stressed its contribution to the peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan.

Lidington also reiterated full support for Georgia's territorial integrity.

The North Atlantic Alliance started its cooperation with Georgia in the format of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) in October 2004. In 2006, at an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers, the alliance decided to launch Intensified Dialogue (ID) on membership issues with Georgia.

On the basis of progress in the ID format at the Bucharest NATO summit in April 2008, it was confirmed that Georgia and Ukraine in the future can become members of the alliance, provided that the existing standards are observed. At the same summit, a statement on the Annual National Program (ANP) for Georgia outlined a detailed plan of action. The Bucharest summit decision regarding the integration of Georgia into NATO was confirmed at the Chicago summit this May.

In the final resolution, adopted by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Prague on November 12, the governments of the participating countries and NATO itself were called upon to consider implementation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Georgia.

Another NATO ministerial council will be held in Brussels in early December.

The British minister is paying a two-day visit to Georgia. The agenda of the second day of the official visit, Thursday, includes Lidington's meetings with new Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, Secretary of the National Security Council Giga Bokeria and other Georgian officials, and civil society representatives, as well as a visit to the office of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM).

Meanwhile, reports said Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania plans to pay his first visit to the facilities where the Georgian military contingent in Afghanistan is based on Thursday.

Some 1,571 Georgian servicemen are involved in Afghanistan in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), from November, Alasania told journalists in Brussels.

While in Brussels he attended a meeting of the NATO-Georgia commission together with Georgian European Integration Minister Alexy Petriashvili.

Georgia has lost 18 soldiers in Afghanistan after the country joined the NATO-led operation in 2009. Seven of them died this year.

Before his meeting with Saakashvili, Lidington discussed foreign policy priorities with Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze at a meeting held behind closed doors on Wednesday.

According to Panjikidze, the talks also included issues of integration into NATO and the EU, relations with Russia, and cooperation between Georgia and Britain. It was also stressed during the meeting that Georgia will continue to participate in the peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan.

Lidington, for his part, said Britain is keen on deepening its trade relations with Georgia, but there are many principles in connection with Georgia that will not change.