Kiska: We Support Georgia's Bid to Acquire NATO Membership

Bratislava, May 15 (TASR) – Slovakia fully supports Georgia’s initiative to become a member of NATO, stated Slovak President Andrej Kiska after meeting his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margavelasvili in Bratislava on Monday.

The Georgian president is on a two-day visit to Slovakia.

Margavelasvili noted that relations between various countries are becoming more tense at the moment, and so he views his visit to Slovakia as very important in this regard. At the meeting he called on Kiska to support Georgia’s bid at the next NATO summit in Brussels scheduled for May 25.

“We discussed the upcoming NATO summit. Even though Georgia won’t be present as a full-fledged member state there, I believe that our delegation will be represented via our friends,” said Margavelasvili.

In respect to the results of a NATO summit in 2008, at which leaders agreed on joint support for Georgia and Ukraine regarding their future membership of the Alliance, Kiska at the meeting promised to back Georgia at the next NATO summit.

The two presidents discussed other topics as well. “We spoke a great deal about how to improve bilateral cooperation and what should be done in terms of bilateral relations in order to boost our economies even more. I’m glad that the volume of our cooperation has grown year-on-year,” said the Slovak president, with his Georgian counterpart confirming this. He added that the number of Slovak tourists visiting Georgia has gone up as well.

In relation to the EU, Kiska praised the fact that visa requirements for citizens of Georgia have been scrapped. This was preceded by the inking of an association agreement and a free trade accord. “It was neither a rapid, nor an easy process, but I’m glad that this signal … of sharing the same values and viewing Georgia in our democratic part of the world has been accomplished,” said the Slovak president.

The two presidents also discussed a global strategic vision.