Ivanishvili: Georgia’s Accession to NATO Needs Speeding Up

TBILISI. Oct 18 (Interfax) – Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s likely next prime minister, insisted on Thursday that NATO speed up his country’s process of accession to the North Atlantic alliance now that the nation has carried out democratic parliamentary elections, a condition for joining the organization.

“NATO should now take practical steps to enable Georgia to join the alliance as soon as possible,” Ivanishvili, leader of the Georgian Dream coalition, told reporters after meeting with the NATO secretary general’s special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai.

Ivanishvili said he had assured Appathurai that Georgia would do its best to build truly democratic institutions.

“We will continue to participate in the peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan with NATO member countries. We will also do everything possible to simultaneously normalize our relations with our large neighbor Russia and restore our territorial integrity,” Ivanishvili said.