UK Backs Georgia’s EU, Euro-Atlantic Integration - Foreign Secretary

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond stated that the United Kingdom considers Georgia to be an important international partner and a role model of success in the region.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The United Kingdom supports Georgia’s pro-European integration course, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Wednesday, as quoted by a Georgian foreign ministry statement.

On Wednesday, Hammond began a two-day visit to Georgia.

"Philip Hammond, in turn, stated that the UK considers Georgia to be an important international partner and a role model of success in the region. It was underlined that this visit is a clear demonstration of the UK’s support for Georgia and that the United Kingdom will continue to support Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, European and Euro-Atlantic integration," the statement reads.

The ministry noted in the statement that Hammond said "countries like Georgia should have an opportunity to make its own sovereign choice without outside interference."

"Given the current global challenges, the enhancement of security co-operation is of particular importance," the British official was cited in the statement as saying.

Brussels and Tbilisi signed the EU-Georgia Association Agreement on June 27, 2014. It has since been ratified by the parliaments of Georgia and the 28 EU member states.

Georgia joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1992 after becoming a sovereign state and engaged in other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) programs. NATO backed Georgia's bid to join the alliance in 2008, and established a commission to oversee the process of Tbilisi's accession to the western military alliance.