From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  Georgia has expressed its desire for membership of NATO. And NATO has reiterated that its door remains open to any European state that can contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area and further the principles upon which we have built our Alliance. At our summit in 2008, in Bucharest, NATO decided that Georgia will become a member of the Alliance

I was Prime Minister of Denmark at that time. I attended the Bucharest summit and I supported wholeheartedly that decision. And let me reassure you that the Bucharest decision remains firm and still stands.

Let me also stress that NATO’s open door policy is not directed against anyone. Our open door policy is based on the fundamental principle that a sovereign state has the right to make its own choices about its alliances.

I look forward to seeing Georgia in NATO – as soon as it is fully able to meet the obligations and responsibilities of membership.

Georgia has already made an impressive start. You are on the right track. And it is now up to you to carry on with that work. And to focus on continued reform. Because that is the only true path to NATO membership.

And it’s the only true ticket to a secure and stable future for all of you. Built on the firmest of foundations – freedom and democracy.  

Excerpt from speech by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the State University of Tbilisi.  (photo: Getty)

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