Georgia Has No Financial Means to Create Naval Forces

Georgia lacks financial resources to establish its naval forces, Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli said Monday.

TBILISI (Sputnik) — Georgia does not have enough money to establish its naval forces, Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli said Monday.

"We don't have naval forces, and I can say that we won't have it for a long time. Establishing naval forces requires such opportunities that we don't have and that cost hundreds of millions, and Georgia doesn't have such amount of money," Khidasheli said during the presentation of the annual report.

The defense minister stressed that NATO was elaborating the Black Sea security concept, and Georgia was a full-fledged participant of the entire process.

"Any concept, which will be adopted at the Warsaw summit, will be adopted together with Georgia, no matter whether we are a NATO member state or not," Khidasheli added.

She explained that NATO concept included joint exercises with NATO countries in the Black Sea and NATO warships' regular visits to the Georgian ports.

In 2008, Georgia applied for membership in NATO. Since then, a NATO commission has monitored Tbilisi's progress in matching the standards of the bloc. Georgia's membership of the alliance is expected to be addressed at the NATO June summit in Warsaw.