Georgia's relations with NATO reach new levels - PM
TBILISI. March 1 (Interfax) - Georgia is a special and reliable partner of NATO, Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said on Friday.
According to the press service for the Georgian prime minister, Bakhtadze said in his speech at a joint session of the governmental commissions for integration to the European Union and NATO on Friday that the visits of the Alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, members of its Military Committee and the North Atlantic Council to Georgia are slated for this year.
"It reiterates that relations between Georgia and NATO have reached a new level," he said.
The annual national program, the document that covers the list of reforms, whose implementation should bring Georgia closer to the NATO standards, has been approved during the session, the press service said. Since 2009, this program replaced the individual partnership action plan, which had been guiding cooperation between Georgia and NATO since 2004.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week that the visit by the NATO secretary general and member of the Alliance's Military Committee to the country is scheduled for late March.
It was reported earlier that a joint command-staff exercise involving servicemen from about 20 countries that are members and partners of NATO will also take place in Georgia in late March.