NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg released his Annual Report for 2020 on Tuesday.

The report touched upon Georgia and stressed that NATO and Georgia worked together to refresh the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, turning it into a more ambitious, more coherent, more targeted package, which better reflects the priorities of both Georgia and the Alliance.

“Altogether, the refreshed package contains 16 initiatives, three more than in the previous one. New initiatives include military medical capacity development, English language capability development, and standardization and codification,” the report reads.

“Practical cooperation continued under the framework of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, designed to strengthen Georgia’s defence capacities and help Georgia prepare for eventual NATO membership. The refreshed package envisages enhanced assistance to Georgia, including developing a cyber lab, establish secure communications between Georgia and NATO, train military engineers, and improve maritime and airspace situational awareness. Some 35 resident and visiting experts, provided by Allies and partners, continued to support the implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package in 2020,” the report said.

Jens Stoltenberg’s report noted that Georgia continues to provide significant support to NATO’s operations and missions such as Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and Operation Sea Guardian. Georgia also contributes to the NATO Response Force.

“In addition, NATO’s Multinational Military Police Battalion (Poland) and the Ministry of Defence of Georgia signed a partnership agreement to support the development of Georgia’s military police battalions,” NATO Secretary General stated in the report.

“Through the Defence Capacity Building Trust Fund projects, Allies funded education and training, including for Georgia’s military police, as well as exercises and equipment. In November, NATO’s Joint Force Training Centre (in Bydgoszcz, Poland) and the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre in Georgia signed a partnership agreement that sets out the overarching framework for cooperation between the two centres. The agreement ensures continuous support for the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre as a NATO-affiliated training centre,” the report concluded.

NATO Secretary General’s report covers NATO’s work and achievements throughout the year, including efforts to ensure the health crisis did not become a security crisis, and preparations under the NATO 2030 initiative to future-proof the Alliance.

The report includes the results of new polls on the public perception of the Alliance. These demonstrate that, in a year of upheaval, overall support for the NATO Alliance, the transatlantic bond and collective defence remains strong.