NATO-Georgia relations
How does cooperation work in practice?
Georgia sets out its reform plans and timelines in its IPAP, which is agreed for a two-year period. Key areas include political, military and security-sector reforms. NATO agrees to support Georgia in these reforms by providing focused, country-specific advice tailored towards its reform goals. Current priorities for Georgia include transforming its public and private sectors in order to promote democracy, good governance, the rule of law and sustainable social and economic development, as well as reforming the security sector, in particular implementation of Strategic Defence Review.
Beyond supporting reform, another key objective of NATO’s cooperation with Georgia is to develop the ability of the country’s forces to work together with forces from NATO countries in peacekeeping and crisis-management operations. Georgia has been contributing to the Kosovo Force (KFOR) since 1999 and also provided support for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in 2004. Further contributions to ISAF are currently being considered.
Georgia also cooperates with NATO and other Partner countries in a wide range of other areas through the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC).
Georgia tailors its participation in the PfP programme through an annual Individual Partnership Programme, selecting those activities that will help achieve the goals it has set in the IPAP.
Key areas of NATO-Georgia cooperation are highlighted below.
Security cooperation
Thanks to regular participation in PfP training and exercises, Georgia has been able to contribute actively to Euro-Atlantic security by supporting NATO-led peace-support operations. Georgian troops have worked alongside NATO troops in the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo since 1999 and continue to provide a company-sized unit as part of the German brigade there and an infantry platoon within a Turkish battalion task force.
A platoon-sized unit served alongside a British battalion in ISAF, helping to secure the environment to allow the conduct of the presidential elections in Afghanistan in 2004. Georgia continues to provide important support in allowing supplies needed for the ISAF troops in Afghanistan to transit though its territory, under an agreement signed with NATO in March 2005. Discussions on the deployment of Georgian military personnel to Afghanistan are ongoing.
Georgia has declared one light infantry battalion available, on case by case basis, for PfP operations. It has also made logistics facilities and a mountain training site available for PfP activities.
Georgia contributes to the fight against terrorism through its participation in the Partnership Action Plan on Terrorism (PAP-T). This includes sharing intelligence and analysis with NATO, enhancing national counter-terrorist capabilities and improving border security.
Concerning the frozen conflicts with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is leading the conflict-resolution process and NATO has no direct role in this process. However, the peaceful resolution of conflicts is a core value of NATO and is also one of the core commitments that Georgia signed up to by joining the Partnership for Peace and Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).
Defence and security sector reform
NATO is supportive of the wide-ranging democratic and institutional reform process underway in Georgia, which is outlined in its IPAP. Specifically in the area of defence and security sector reform, NATO and individual Allies have considerable expertise that Georgia can draw upon.
A key priority for Georgia is to ensure democratic control of the armed forces. A civilian defence minister has been appointed, who is now served by a civilian-staffed defence ministry. In addition, the parliament’s Defence and Security Committee also plays a role in monitoring defence activities. Georgia’s subscription to the objectives of the Partnership Action Plan on Defence Institution Building (PAP-DIB) is reinforcing these efforts, such as by promoting effective judicial oversight and appropriate defence command and control arrangements through a range of measurable objectives within IPAP.
Georgia’s participation in the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) since 1999 has helped develop the ability of its forces to work with NATO and is also providing planning targets that are key to defence reform objectives in several areas. NATO support has, for example, helped Georgia build deployable units according to NATO standards and interoperable with Allied forces. Georgia’s defence reform objectives within the PARP have facilitated improved financial management in the Ministry of Defence, assisted in reforming the intelligence structure of the armed forces and ensured that a credible Strategic Defence Review was conducted.
NATO and Georgia cooperate on the conversion and management of military sites and other areas. Moreover, through a NATO/PfP Trust Fund amounting to €1 million, individual Allies and Partners have supported a project in Georgia aimed at demilitarizing over 500 ground-to-air defence and other missiles.
Civil emergency planning
Georgia is enhancing its national civil emergency and disaster-management capabilities in cooperation with NATO and through participation in activities organised by the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC).
The EADRCC also coordinated assistance to Georgia in 2005, when the country experienced some of the worst flooding in its history, and in 2006, when forest fires broke out in southern Georgia.
Science and environment
Under the Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme, Georgia has received grant awards for over 40 projects for scientific and environmental collaboration. Many activities are aimed at aiding Georgia’s reform and interoperability efforts, such as research and technology in air defence systems and data standardisation, and reducing the environmental impact of military activities and munitions disposal.
Other projects include collaboration on improving trans-boundary water quality and a range of security-related studies including effective counter-terrorism and maritime security and network technology. Georgia also participates in the Virtual Silk Highway project, which aims to improve internet access through a satellite-based network.
Public information
Increasing the public awareness of NATO and its relations with Georgia is also a key area of cooperation. Since 2002, in cooperation with local non-governmental organisations and state authorities, NATO has been organising numerous activities to this end, including seminars, conferences and workshops. “NATO Weeks” and summer schools are organised on an annual basis to reach out to youth audiences.
Groups of opinion leaders from Georgia are regularly invited to visit NATO Headquarters and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) for briefings about the Alliance, and NATO officials regularly travel to Georgia to speak at public events.
NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division has also supported the creation of a National Information Centre on NATO, which has become the focal point for dissemination of information.
