“NATO stepped up cooperation with highly valid partners, Georgia and Ukraine. We will discuss how to strengthen it further,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated at a press conference in Brussels.

“NATO has increased its presence in the Black Sea region. Three literal states – Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria are the NATO members, and two – Ukraine and Georgia are close NATO partners. We’ve increased our presence on the land, at sea and in the air. We also stepped up cooperation with highly valid partners, Georgia and Ukraine. We will continue to do so. We are looking to strengthen the partnership further, both political and practical support.

We also welcome the fact that Ukraine and Georgia are providing support to different NATO missions and operations. The main message again, the part of the NATO 2030 agenda is how can we do more, how can we strengthen partnership with our neighbours because it is in our interests that our neighbours are stable and successful. Both Ukraine and Georgia are actual aspirant countries for NATO membership. We support them in implementing reforms so that they can move forward on the Euro-Atlantic path.

The best way to send a clear message to Russia is that we’ve implemented the biggest enforcement of collective defence since the end of the Cold War, with the new battalions in the part of the eastern lines, increasing the defence spending, with more exercises, and with stepping up our cooperation with partners like Georgia and Ukraine,” Jens Stoltenberg said.