Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania is holding bilateral meetings with foreign colleagues within the ministerial council at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. He has already met with Portugal's Defense Minister Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco.

According to the Georgian Defense Ministry, the sides discussed prospects of military cooperation between the two countries. Alasania suggested to his Portuguese counterpart cooperation in military education. In turn, Aguiar-Branco was interested in military-technical cooperation.

The ministers of the two countries paid special attention to the upcoming summits in London and Vilnius.

"We discussed the prospects for Georgia's accession to NATO," Alasania said. He noted that Portugal supports Georgia's policy of Euro-Atlantic integration.

"Upcoming summit on the results of today's meeting will be productive for Georgia, and another step on the way to our integration into NATO will be made," Alasania said. He added that also discussed were future operations in Afghanistan and cooperation expected in this format with NATO member countries.

Earlier, Alasania held a meeting with his Greek counterpart Dimitrios Avramopoulos. Alasania expressed gratitude for the support in the process of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration. During the meeting Alasania also proposed to use the Sachkher mountain training base for the conduct of summer and winter courses by the Greek military.

Alasania also will take part in the Council of the countries which are not NATO members but contribute to the ISAF peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. As part of the ministerial, Alasania will meet with the head of the alliance's military committee, General Knut Barthel and NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai.

Alasania is also due to met with the defense ministers of Albania and other countries in the region at the NATO headquarters.