NATO Chief: Georgia Needs More Reforms To Join Alliance

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited Tbilisi.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says Georgia needs further reforms to get a full-time membership in the military alliance.

The NATO chief made his remarks at a NATO-Georgia Commission meeting held in Tbilisi today.

He noted that the more than 900 Georgian troops in Afghanistan constitute the second-largest non-NATO contingent for the Western-led operation.

He said Georgia "has come a lot closer to NATO, but there is still work to be done in a number of areas."

NATO said in 2008 that Georgia would eventually become a member of the alliance, prompting opposition from Russia.

In the same year, Russia's military routed Georgian forces during a brief war over Georgia's separatist regions.

compiled from agency reports