New ambassador has full plate of Georgia-NATO issues
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The Georgian president appointed the country's new ambassador to NATO. Experienced diplomat Alexander Maisuradze will take on Georgia's responsibilities in view of fostering the mutual ties with NATO on May 1.
The 41-year-old diplomat will fill the shoes of former representative to the alliance Levan Dolidze.
The post of the Representative of Georgia to NATO has been vacant since January 26, 2015 when Dolidze stepped down after political party Free Democrats, which is headed by his brother Victor Dolidze, left the ruling coalition Georgian Dream.
With his previous experience with NATO in four-year capacity of deputy representative of Georgia from January 2008 until February 2012 Maisuradze is well familiar with the environment at the alliance.
Georgia-NATO relations
Building solid relations with NATO is of great significance for Georgia, the aspirant country that seeks a membership at the military bloc.
Few countries in the Euro-Atlantic region expressed as much enthusiasm for NATO as Georgia, despite its non-NATO status. Georgia has recently implemented major defense reforms to prove it can operate effectively alongside the military alliance's forces. NATO has repeatedly welcomed Georgia’s progress in defense transformation. The alliance called on Georgia to share its successful reforms with other nations, and the U.S. expressed its support for Georgia in this mission.
Georgia's rulers claim that the strong aspirations to join NATO is for ending the long-lasting dispute with Russia rather than gaining a major ally to further stand against the northern giant's policy in the region.
Russia has signed consecutive Alliance and Strategic Partnership deals with the separatist regimes in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, which Tbilisi called an intention to annex those regions.
NATO, in turn, attaches a special attention to Georgia viewing the country as one of its future members. Regular mutual visits at top official level serve NATO's interests to ensure a sustainable support to Georgia, to help the country develop its military infrastructure and skills.
Top NATO Commander, Philip Breedlove said it was essential for the United States to train, advise and equip the national security forces of Georgia, as the country and the region focus on maintaining regional stability and security.
He claimed that the post-Soviet nations, including Georgia, who aspire to join NATO must be allowed to continue and accelerate their transition from Soviet-era systems to modern NATO-interoperable systems and equipment.
Russia's official approach towards the Georgia-NATO approximation is quite negative as it views the military bloc's active involvement in the regional issues as a serious threat to the stability of the region.
In one of his interviews with Tass, a Russian media outlet, Grigori Karasin, Russian deputy foreign minister, called on Georgian authorities to take a careful stance on this issue, since it can upset the balances in the region leading to serious consequences for the regional stability.
Earlier this year, director of the International Centre for Defense and Security in Tallinn, Estonia, Matthew Bryza said there was no chance that Georgia will receive a membership at the NATO Summit later this year.
"Germany and France are simply unwilling to take any measures that might increase tension with Russia, whose troops continue to occupy a quarter of Georgia’s sovereign territory, while the United States has lost its focus on the South Caucasus," he said.
Meanwhile, Georgian Parliamentary Speaker, Davit Usupashvili warned that if NATO fails to grant Georgia a Membership Action Plan at its summit in Wales this September, NATO will “ruin and undermine” political stability in Georgia, potentially creating “momentum” for anti-NATO political forces to steer Georgia away from the West.
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