This was said by Minister Nickolay Mladenov at a meeting with Georgia’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maia Panjikidze, on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

“We welcome the confirmation by the new government of Georgia that membership of NATO remains a leading priority of Georgian foreign policy, for which it is essential for democratic reforms to continue. Bulgaria will continue to support Georgia on its path to NATO membership, especially in the field of defence and institutional capacity building,” Minister Mladenov said.

His invitation to Georgia to join the two NATO projects in which Bulgaria is playing a leading role – “Female leaders in security and defence” and “Building integrity in defence” – was readily accepted.

Minister Mladenov announced that, together with his Polish and Swedish colleagues, he would visit Tbilisi next week.