"We talked about Georgia's chances of being granted a Membership Action Plan at the end of this year," Georgian Defense Minister David Kezerashvili said on Rustavi-2 after talks with Robert Gates in the Hungarian capital. "The United States assured us that it would try hard to convince bloc members ... of the need to give Georgia a MAP."
At a summit in April, NATO member states decided to put off the decision on whether to grant action plans to Georgia and another ex-Soviet republic, Ukraine, until December. Their bids have received strong U.S. backing, but Germany and France said that opening the path to membership for the two states would unnecessarily antagonize Russia.
Germany's chancellor said at a meeting with Russia's president earlier this month that Georgia and Ukraine had the right to join NATO, but their bids for action plans were unlikely to be approved at a conference of NATO defense ministers in December.
"The time has not come for the MAPs," Angela Merkel said
Merkel also reiterated her criticism of Russia's recognition of breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as a violation of Georgia's territorial integrity. The move came two weeks after Russia had ended its military operation to "force Georgia to peace" after Tbilisi's attack to retake South Ossetia on August 8.
In Budapest, the defense officials agreed to meet again in Washington in late October to discuss U.S. aid to Georgia to strengthen its defense capability.
Moscow has urged a ban on sales of offensive weapons to Georgia in the wake of the conflict and accused the U.S. of encouraging Georgian aggression by strong political backing of President Mikheil Saakashvili, as well as arms supplies and training.
