Azerbaijan, Baku, July 21 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
US Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Georgia will not facilitate the process of Georgia joining NATO but may be useful in establishing a dialogue between the opposition and the President, experts said.
"I can not imagine that the vice presidential visit will have a serious
impact one way or the other on Georgia's chances of getting into NATO," Columbia University professor Lincoln Mitchell told Trend via E-mail.
"Hopes of Georgia joining NATO are 'almost dead'. It's tragic," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in his interview with The Wall Street Journal Europe, published on June 20 .
He expressed these comments on the eve of U.S Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Tbilisi.
"The US President Barack Obama made it clear that the reboot of our relations with the Russian Federation will not be made by prejudicing relations with other countries. We continue to consider that independent nations must have right to make decisions," National Security Advisor to the Vice President, Tony Blinken, said during a phone press-conference dedicated to Biden's upcoming trip, RIA Novosti said.
Russia protests Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO. Answering a question concerning the possible future in Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO, Blinken spoke about the US supporting the hopes of these nations.
"NATO doors are open for both nations. But there is responsibility after acquiring membership. We are ready to assist these countries in joining the organization," Blinken said.
But according to experts, Biden's visit is unlikely to affect Georgia's joining NATO.
"I don't think that Biden's visit will make Georgia joining NATO more likely since several West European governments are unlikely to approve this, leading U.S. politician Mark Katz said.
"If anything, Biden is likely to advise the Georgian government not to do anything to provoke Russia," George Mason University Professor of Government and Politics
Department of Public and International Affairs, Katz, told Trend vi E-mail.
The NATO countries' position on Ukraine and Georgia joining has not changed in the last few months. NATO standards remain the same but these nations have not reached them yet, NATO official representative James Appathurai said, Prime-TASS reports.
NATO participant-countries considered Tbilisi as not prepared to receive the status of candidate for NATO member during a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on December 2-3. They postponed the submission of the plan of action on membership to the alliance for an indefinite term. Georgia's first bid to receive the plan of action for membership were rejected at a NATO summit in Bucharest in April 2008. It was stipulated that Georgia will be member of the bloc in the future.
Georgian expert Soso Tsiskarishvili said that Georgia will not be closer to NATO as a result of Biden's visit to Tbilisi. "Visits from high-ranking officials from the West and the USA do not promote joining NATO. But it is real actions by our government in this direction which promote joining NATO," he told Trend .
The expert said that Biden's visit is concrete support of Georgia in a general context. "But even if Biden was to come to Tbilisi weekly, it will not make us closer to NATO. Unfortunately, we do not see any government will too join NATO as Georgia has not fulfilled court reforms. It is not even worth mentioning the level of democracy in Georgia amid the violation of human rights," Tsiskarishvili said. He said that Georgia is unlikely to be NATO member in these terms.
Supervisors also reined in expectations concerning the normalization of relations between the President and the opposition after Biden's visit.
Mitchell said that Biden's visit may be useful. But it is not clear whether internal policy will be discussed during his visit.
The other US expert, Katz, said that Biden will strive to improve relations between the President and opposition in Georgia. "It is not clear, though, if he can succeed in this," he said.
Another Georgian politician, Tsiskarishvili, said that he does not believe in slackening the internal political situation in Georgia due to Biden's visit. "I do not believe that promises can remove internal political tension in Georgia which has lasted several months," he said.
N. Kirtskhalia (Tbilisi) took part in preparing the material.
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