Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

The presence of separatist regions impedes Georgia`s NATO accession, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili told journalists before the opening of the 83rd Rose Roth Seminar organized with the support of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Tbilisi on Monday.

"NATO member countries express absolute readiness with regard to Georgia's NATO membership. There are some obstacles, including the occupied part of our territory, but I think Georgia will join NATO in the near future due to our activity and strategy," interpressnews.ge website quoted Ivanishvili as saying.

Ivanishvili stressed that Georgia has done a lot to materialize its NATO aspirations.

"The third visit of the North Atlantic Council scheduled for June 2013 is a proof of a special relationship between Georgia and NATO," Ivanishvili said.

Ivanishvili further noted that the people would never forget the support of the North Atlantic Alliance after the August War with Russia.

Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia after their August 2008 war over the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia lost one-fifth of its territory after the two republics broke away. Tbilisi announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.

According to Ivanishvili, 2008 was the toughest year when 20 percent of the country's territory was invaded by Russia.

"The dialogue between Tbilisi and Moscow should not lead to an impression that Georgia is regulating relations with Russia independently and does not need support from partners," Ivanishvili said.

Ivanishvili also said the new government brought a new component into Georgia's foreign policy and expressed its readiness to launch a dialogue with Russia.

"We expressed readiness to forge a dialogue with Russia. We were able to take certain pragmatic steps in trade, economic and cultural relations by appointing Zurab Abashidze as my Special Representative for relations with Russia. However, I want to emphasize that the Geneva talks are the only format for negotiations with Russia on conflict issues," Ivanishvili said.

According to Ivanishvili, the government believes the European and Euro-Atlantic integration will provide greater opportunities to Georgia to build democratic institutions, to ensure freedom and security, and to occupy its own place in the European family.

"This will be useful not only for Georgia but for the whole region," Ivanishvili added.

The NATO seminar, which ends on May 1, will focus on the Georgian-Russian relations, integration of the South Caucasus countries into Euro-Atlantic entities, as well as a program of the outlined reforms and regional issues in Georgia.

Georgia as a significant contributor to Euro-Atlantic security is closely involved in NATO-led operations and has a significant contribution to the NATO-led ISAF operation in Afghanistan. Currently, Georgia is the second largest troop contributor to Afghanistan among the non-NATO states.