Important Moment: Georgia’s Perspective

By Ambassador Alexander Maisuradze

Alexander Maisuradze was appointed by the President as an Ambassador of Georgia to NATO on May 1, 2015. Mr. Maisuradze is a career diplomat and has worked on a number of positions at MFA of Georgia since 1998. He started as an attaché at the Disarmament and Arms Control Division of Military-Political Department and eventually became the Director of the Department for Security Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration (2006-2008). While working at MFA of Georgia, Mr. Maisuradze was actively involved in the process of withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia, according to the Istanbul Obligations, as well as the Euro Atlantic integration process of Georgia. In 2008-2012, Mr. Maisuradze served as the Deputy Head of the Georgian Mission to NATO. From 2012 to 2015 he worked as the Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Republic of Austria, Deputy Permanent Representative to the OSCE and other International Organizations in Vienna. Mr. Maisuradze graduated with honors from Georgian Agrarian University in 1995 and Georgian Diplomatic Academy in 1998. He has also successfully completed Leaders for the 21st Century Course at George C. Marshall Center for Studies in 1998, Integrated Partner Orientation Course (IPOC) at NATO Defence College in Rome in 2002 and European Security course at Geneva Center for Security Policy in 2003.

In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, after NATO allies at the Bucharest Summit made clear that Georgia and Ukraine should be offered membership in the future. Although Georgia remains outside of the alliance, partially due to worries of some NATO countries about provoking Russia again, Georgia still looks poised to be invited into NATO. At the NATO heads of state summit in Warsaw this July, Montenegro – a country soon to be made the newest NATO member – took part, signaling to prospective member countries that NATO expansion is on the agenda. The Cipher Brief spoke with Georgia’s permanent representative to NATO, Ambassador Alexander Maisuradze, who was at the summit about progress made there.

The Cipher Brief: What are the highlights of the NATO Summit that took place in Warsaw on July 8 and 9? And was the question of NATO expansion high on the agenda?

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