TALLINN. April 3 (Interfax) - Estonia is in favor of granting a NATO Membership Action Program (MAP) to Georgia, the Estonian Foreign Ministry told Interfax.
"Georgia's attitude towards regional and global security is an example of how a relatively small state can support the international community," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said at a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
Georgia has participated in NATO's ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) operation in Afghanistan since 2004 and its contribution has been the biggest among non-NATO member states, he said. Georgia is also ready to contribute to Afghanistan security after the ISAF mission ends in December 2014, and to have its troops involved as part of NATO rapid-reaction forces in 2015 and 2016.
"The Georgian government's willingness to conduct important reforms has brought Georgia closer to NATO. Estonia supports the further consolidation of the NATO-Georgia relationship. I therefore hope that over the next few months NATO and Georgia will adopt a NATO membership action program for Georgia," the foreign ministry said.
MAP is a program of broad and individual cooperation that NATO offers to nations seeking to join the alliance, the ministry said.
At the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, the allies' heads of state and government spoke in favor of future NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said.