According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's Annual Report for 2021, practical engagement with Georgia continues to develop the country's military capabilities and bolster interoperability with the Alliance throughout the year. The report did not highlight any statement regarding Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"This aids Georgia's preparations for eventual participation in the Alliance," the report's section on Georgia stated. A new military capacity building effort, military police and engineering, special operations forces, and crisis management have all made progress, according to the paper. It also mentions that the Allies and partners sent around 35 resident and visiting specialists to Georgia to help execute the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package.
"All European democracies that share the Alliance's values (individual liberty, democracy, and the rule of law), are willing and able to assume the responsibilities and obligations of membership, are in a position to further the principles of the North Atlantic Treaty, and whose inclusion can contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area," according to the document.
The report asserts that "every country must be free to choose its own security arrangements, including whether or not to join any treaty or alliance like NATO… Decisions on enlargement are made by NATO itself, and all of its members must agree." In this context, according to the Secretary General's report, allies were committed into 2021 to supporting "eventual NATO membership of Georgia and Ukraine, in accordance with commitments reached at the 2008 Bucharest Summit and subsequent summits."
