Georgia, Tbilisi, May 22 / Trend, N.Kirtskhalia /
NATO recognizes Georgia's successes in the sphere of reforms, evidenced by a Georgian delegation's participation in all meetings of the Alliance's Chicago Dummit, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a joint press conference with Georgian President upon completion of the summit in Chicago.
"Georgia has achieved substantial progress in building democratic state, and we call on the Georgian authorities to continue reforms in this direction," Rasmussen said.
He said Georgia makes a major contribution to global security by participating in NATO operations in Afghanistan.
NATO Secretary General stressed that no third country is able to prevent any country's entry into the Alliance and the "open door" policy continues.
"NATO recognizes Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty and calls on Russia to fulfill the agreement on a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops from the Georgian territory," he said.
In turn, Mikheil Saakashvili said that "NATO is not only security motivator, but also motivator for reforms in the country".
"We are certainly pleased with the recognition of our progress by the Alliance and participation in all formats of meetings at the summit, but our hopes for the future become more real as we joined the club of NATO postgraduates, and the next summit in 2014 may be declared the summit of expansion and we will be first candidates for this," he stressed.
Saakashvili said that aspiration for NATO membership is the desire of Georgian people, and this is evidenced by many surveys, which expresses population's desire to see their country in the Alliance.