TBILISI. Nov 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The South Ossetian problem should be settled before Georgia's accession to NATO, Georgian State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration Giorgi Baramidze said on Monday.
"I think we will join NATO by the end of 2008, and before that we should settle the Tskhinvali problem," he said.
"It will be easier to settle the problem of Abkhazia after the accession to NATO, if it is not resolved before," he said.
Baramidze did not go into the settlement details, but said the conflicts will be settled "step by step with considered measures."
He said Tbilisi might start fulfilling the accession plan in the end of 2006 when the Individual Partnership Action Plan is complete.