Georgia hopes to bypass membership plan in NATO bid

TBILISI, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia could join NATO without participating in the Membership Action Plan, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Nalbandov said on Thursday.

The pro-Western leaderships of Georgia and Ukraine have been seeking to join the Western military alliance, but at the NATO summit in April 2008, members refused to admit the post-Soviet countries into the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a key step for membership.

Nalbandov told journalists that Georgia's Annual National Program is a copy of MAP, and may suffice for membership.

"Rapprochement with the alliance and joining it in the future is possible," he said.

"Our annual plan of action is basically a paradigm that gives us a clear idea of which steps need to be taken today, and which steps are required in the medium and long term," he said.

Georgian state minister on reintegration, Temur Yakobashvili, told reporters that the "instrument we have is a mirror copy of MAP, so if we are discussing implementing criteria, we have the opportunity, in the framework of this document, to fulfill all commitments, which will make us closer to NATO."

"The rest is just a political decision to be made by NATO member countries," he said.