Javier Colomina: It is a historical moment for Georgia and 2024 will be critically important - we expect Georgia to complete 9 steps

It is a historic moment for Georgia, the year 2024 will be as critically important as the decision to grant candidate status. The Special Representative of the Secretary General of NATO in the Caucasus and Central Asia, Javier Colomina, stated at a briefing held in Tbilisi.

"This is my sixth visit to the region, and my second visit to Georgia in 2023. It is a very happy visit now, because I was very happy. During the meetings I had, I congratulated the Georgian people and Georgian officials on the decision to grant candidate status by the European Union.

I think this is very good news, a historical moment for Georgia, but it is also good news for the international community. I think this opens up a moment that we should continue to take advantage of in 2024. 2024 will be as critically important as this decision was. We expect Georgia to complete 9 steps, reforms that must be carried out within the framework of these 9 steps, in order to meet the requirements that NATO also has.

I have already had meetings with the Prime Minister, the President, the Minister of Defense, and I will also meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I also met the Speaker of the Parliament. All in all it was a good meeting. We talked about the bilateral cooperation, which is still very good, we talked about the opportunities that this decision of the European Union opens, and also about the ways of supporting the process of Euro-Atlantic integration," said Colomina.

*The quotes in the article have been double-translated from Georgian and wordings may be inaccurate.

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