A Framework Document establishing the new body was signed by NATO’s Secretary General and the Georgian Prime Minister on 15 September 2010 in Tbilisi. The inaugural session took place immediately afterwards, during the visit of the North Atlantic Council to Georgia.
The NGC aims to deepen political political dialogue and cooperation between NATO and Georgia at all appropriate levels.
It also supervises the process set in hand at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, when the Allies agreed that Georgia will become a NATO member. To this end, the NGC seeks to underpin Georgia’s efforts to take forward its political, economic, and defence-related reforms pertaining to its Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO, with a focus on key democratic and institutional goals.
Another of the NGC’s goals is to coordinate Alliance efforts to assist Georgia in recovering from the August 2008 conflict with Russia.
Participation
All NATO member states and Georgia are represented in the NGC, which meets regularly at the level of ambassadors and military representatives, as well as periodically at the level of foreign and defence ministers and chiefs of staff, and occasionally at summit level.
Senior level meetings of the NGC are prepared by the Political Committee in NGC format (or NGC PC). Meetings in this format also serve as the site for ongoing exchanges on political and security issues of common interest, and the preparation and assessment of Georgia’s programmes of cooperation with NATO.
The work of the NGC
The NGC provides a forum for consultation between the Allies and Georgia on the process of reforms in Georgia, NATO’s assistance to that process, and on regional security issues of common concern.
In December 2009, NATO foreign ministers decided to further enhance work under the NGC through the development of an Annual National Programme (ANP). The ANP, which was finalised in spring 2009, replaced the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which has guided NATO-Georgia cooperation since 2004.
The NGC also keeps under review cooperative activities developed in the framework of Georgia’s participation in the Partnership for Peace, as well as in the military-to-military sphere.
