Page 7 - GEORptMay19.pdf

2.4 Russia cannot prevent Georgia joining Nato says Stoltenberg
Georgia has made a lot of progress with important reforms and will eventually join Nato “despite the Kremlin's fierce opposition”, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference held together with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, as quoted by InterPressNews.
“I encourage you to continue making full use of all the opportunities for coming closer to the alliance”, Stoltenberg reportedly said, adding: “We do not accept that Russia or any other power can decide what members can do.”
Bakhtadze said that “Nato membership is the choice of the Georgian people.”
Despite Stoltenberg’s words, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Georgia during her trip across the South Caucasus last year she left audiences in no doubt that given Russian sensitivities Berlin in no way saw the time as ripe for advancing the Nato membership ambitions of Georgia.
At a 2008 summit in Bucharest, Nato agreed that Georgia would eventually become a member of the defence bloc, but no firm date has ever been set even though the membership objective for the country has been reconfirmed at every summit since.
2.5 Georgia, Azerbaijan still to settle 34% of border
Georgia and Azerbaijan remain in dispute over 34% of their state border, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has told InterPressNews.
The rest of the border has already been agreed at the level of state delimitation commissions and negotiations continued regarding remaining segments, the ministry confirmed.
The delimitation of the Georgia-Azerbaijan border has been high on the agenda since a meeting of the presidents of Georgia and Azerbaijan in February. On that occasion, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said it was time to resolve the issue.
Border delimitation and demarcation commissions were currently undergoing relevant updates and recompositions with the process to be completed in the near future, the news agency reported.
The state border delimitation works have been in process since 1995.
2.6 Georgia “faces democratic backsliding, making it vulnerable to high-level corruption”: TI
Georgia “faces democratic backsliding, making it both vulnerable to high-level corruption and a country to watch moving forward,” Transparency International (TI) said on January 29 after releasing the 2018 edition of its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
7 GEORGIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com