BRUSSELS, June 25 (RIA Novosti) — NATO does not intend to provide Tbilisi with a plan of action for membership in the organization during a summit scheduled for September in Wales, but will create a package to bring Georgia closer to the military alliance, NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.
"The summit in Wales will not be about a membership action plan, but about more support to bring Georgia closer to NATO. It will be a substantive package. We will work on that package in close collaboration with Georgia from now until the Summit," Rasmussen said.
Georgia is one of four NATO candidates selected by the US-dominated military alliance to join the Response Force. The other three are Ukraine, Sweden and Finland.
The US and its Western military allies have paired Georgia and Ukraine for simultaneous NATO accession since at least 2008, when, at the bloc's summit in Bucharest, Romania, they were assured eventual full membership.
Currently, Georgia has over 1,500 troops serving under NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, the largest contingent of soldiers assigned to the country by any non-NATO member state. The Georgian armed forces have been trained by the US and its NATO allies for the past twelve years.
