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Saakashvili: Georgia Will Join NATO, EU

2005-9-15 9:17:44 CRIENGLISH.com

The former Soviet republic of Georgia will be invited to join NATO by 2008 and shortly after will become a member of the European Union, the president of the Caucasus country said Wednesday.

The Associated Press reported that Mikhail Saakashvili, elected president in November 2003, said his nation will enter both the North Atlantic defensive alliance and the European Union.

Georgia, a country of 5 million people, has 860 troops serving in the U.S-coalition-led forces in Iraq,

"By 2008, it is absolutely realistic to count that we might at least get officially invited to NATO and I might even say become a member," he said. "Of course, it takes time, it takes a change of perception within the organization."

"NATO (membership), I think is decisive, and is basically very realistic, and as regards the European Union, in the longer run, every country that is European by its history and culture, European by its aspirations, by its self identity, by its goals will inevitable be part of every major larger European institution. This is irreversible."

Saakashvili, 38, who received a law degree from Columbia in 1994 and practiced law in New York before returning home, was addressing a forum for world leaders at Columbia University.

The forum was held while global heads of state were in New York for a U.N. summit, marking the world body's 60th anniversary.

(Source: AP)

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