LONDON (AFP) — The official process for Georgia gaining membership to NATO "kicked off" with the establishment of a NATO-Georgia commission in Brussels, Foreign Secretary David Miliband argued in an interview published Thursday.
Speaking to The Guardian from Tbilisi, Miliband said: "I think the formal process kicked off with the establishment of a NATO-Georgia commission."
"I think it's right to see Georgian and Ukrainian membership as part of a process to build up these countries as a permanent fixture -- not just as an accident."
Miliband added that the commission was "an important signal but there is also important substance to it."
"In practical terms, NATO is offering close cooperation with the Georgian government and the Georgian military."
After a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, NATO ministers stressed Georgia's "independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" and announced the setting up of the NATO-Georgia commission.
They also reaffirmed Georgia's future as a NATO member, despite denying Tbilisi official candidate status at an Alliance summit in April.
Russia is strongly opposed to Georgia's moves to join NATO.
Following the Brussels meet, the alliance said it was impossible to continue "business as usual" with Russia until it honoured its promise to withdraw its troops from Georgia.
The 26 NATO foreign ministers accused Russia of carrying out the "deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure" in the former Soviet republic.
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