James Appathurai, NATO Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, met Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani.

James Appathurai said following the meeting that the sides discussed the foreign policy and ways to keep Georgia moving towards NATO membership. Appathurai noted that Georgia made huge progress over the past ten years, and the NATO Summit had recently recognized that progress.

The NATO’s Special Representative stressed the alliance was impressed with Georgia’s role in the region and its assistance to Azerbaijan and Armenia in overcoming hostilities and starting communication. “This is a unique role that only Georgia can play,” he claimed.

James Appathurai said he and Georgian FM also focused on the security in the Black Sea region, emerging security challenges, like cybersecurity, and cooperation.

NATO Secretary-General’s Special Representative also appraised the current political situation in Georgia.

“We have seen a lot of polarization in Georgia. We are very pleased to see that thanks to the EU’s support, the Georgian parliament has managed to pass the necessary amendments to start functioning again and make important reforms. I know that there are ongoing reforms, for example, with regards to the judiciary reform. The US government has been very active on this. It is moving in the right direction, and we are pleased about that. The Georgian people need the reforms to happen. That means that the parliament has to function, and that will also bring Georgia closer to NATO,” James Appathurai claimed.