Polish president reiterates support for Georgian NATO membership

Duda and Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili signed a bilateral agreement commemorating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and Georgia.

The document confirmed Warsaw’s support for Georgia joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union.

“We stress the importance of NATO's continued open-door policy and the need to take the next step in Georgia's membership within the Alliance,” Duda said at a joint press conference with Margvelashvili.

The presidents agreed that their countries should continue cooperating in strengthening Euro-Atlantic security in line with agreements made during last year’s NATO summit in Warsaw.

Meanwhile, the Georgian president said his country “appreciates Polish efforts to promote its membership of NATO” and initiatives to bring Tbilisi closer to the European Union.

During the visit to Georgia, Duda also met the country’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and the Speaker of the Georgian parliament, Irakli Kobachidze.

Duda also laid a wreath in front of a monument in Tbilisi dedicated to late Polish President Lech Kaczyński, which was unveiled in the Georgian capital on the second anniversary of the 2010 Smolensk plane crash.

Lech Kaczyński was one of the first world leaders to travel to Georgia during the 2008 Russo-Georgian crisis.

Duda said Poland would increase its strategic engagement in the Caucasus.

"We treat this priority as a continuation of President Lech Kaczyński's legacy. That’s why we support reforms of Georgia's defence sector, especially with regard to the modernization of Georgian special forces and military police," he added.

(rg/pk)