Azernews.Az

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Georgian and NATO special envoys met in Brussels on December 2 to discuss the Substantial Packages for Georgia's defensibility and the so-called Russia-Abkhazia treaty.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili visited Belgium to take part in the NATO member-states foreign ministers meeting. She met NATO envoys, briefing about some challenges facing the region and possible benefits of the NATO support package for Georgia.

Beruchashvili also sat with the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai, talking on the NATO-offered Substantial Packages.

She said Georgia was fully ready to implement the package in a timely and effective way.

Georgia’s regional security environment and the current developments between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, including the so-called treaty on "Alliance and Strategic Partnership", were also highlighted at the meeting.

Appathurai once again condemned the Russia-Abkhazia deal and said it would negatively influence the stability and security in the region.

Appathurai and Beruchashvili also shook hands for Georgia’s participation in the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan in 2015.

Addressing the foreign ministers meeting, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said the so-called treaty would not support resolution of the conflict in the region.

"Russia has been implementing the same scenario in Abkhazia as it did in Crimea. The annexation of Abkhazia will impede Georgia’s integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures,” he noted.

He believed that the NATO-offered Substantial Package will strengthen Georgia’s defensibility and interoperability capabilities with the alliance.

Earlier in September 2014, NATO offered Georgia a Substantial Package, aiming to develop Georgia’s defensive capacity, hold joint training and exercises, provide intensive liaison and improved interoperability opportunities.

Georgia earlier revealed its willingness to join the post-2014 follow-on Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan to train, advise and assist the local Afghan National Security Forces after termination of the ISAF mission.

NATO support is what Georgia needs amid the recent tense political relations with Russia following the treaty between Russia and its separatist Abkhazia region. Georgian authorities announced the country's Euro-Atlantic integration irreversible, as the western forces promise sustainable and impartial backing to the South Caucasus nation.