ESTONIA: FM PAET VISITS GEORGIA

UNCLAS TALLINN 000002

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL EU NATO OSCE GG RU EN
SUBJECT: ESTONIA: FM PAET VISITS GEORGIA



1. (SBU) Summary. During his visit to Georgia
December 18-19, Georgian Officials told Foreign
Minister Urmas Paet that:

-- they hope for a NATO Membership Action Plan
(MAP) already in 2007;
-- they intend to extend economic and political
reforms and substantially increase investment in
education and infrastructure;
-- they plan to amend the constitution to delay
parliamentary elections until 2008; and
-- they badly want the West to provide greater
assistance to help resolve the separatist
conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Paet reiterated Estonia's commitment to support
Georgia and pledged further cooperation in development
assistance. End Summary.


2. (U) Foreign Minister Urmas Paet led a delegation to
Georgia to officially open Estonia's new embassy in
Tbilisi and to meet with Georgian President Mikhail
Saakasvili, Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli, Foreign
Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, Minister of Defense David
Kezerashvili, State Minister Giorgi Baramidze, and
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Miheil Machavarian
December 18-19.


3. (SBU) Following the visit, Lauri Kuusing, MFA
Acting Georgian Desk Officer and delegation member,
briefed Pol/Econoff on Paet's meetings.

-- NATO: In all of Paet's meetings, Georgian officials
reiterated their commitment to starting an intensified
dialogue (ID) with NATO, which they hope will
eventually lead to a membership action plan (MAP)
process by late 2007. With public support for NATO
membership at 75 percent, Georgian officials explained
that the MAP process would assist in implementing the
hard internal reforms necessary for NATO membership.
In addition, Machavarian told Paet he expected the GOG
would comply with its European Neighborhood Policy
action plan commitments in three years instead of
five.

-- REFORMS: Kuusing said that in the short to mid-
term, the GOG planned to focus more on implementing
further political and economic reforms. Georgian
officials expressed their appreciation for the
European experts, including one Estonian, who are
training Georgian prosecutors, judges, and penal
officials. The GOG also plans to increase the
education budget fivefold and investment in
infrastructure tenfold. PM Noghaideli told Paet that
despite Russian sanctions he expected the economy to
grow by 10 percent due to the GOG's market reforms.
Moreover, Russian sanctions have forced Georgia to
seek new markets and foreign investors, with the goal
of reducing dependence on Russia.

-- SUPPORT: Paet reiterated Estonia's support for
Georgia including additional trilateral development
cooperation projects with Georgia (which in the past
has included Finland, Iceland, and Sweden on a various
projects). State Minister Baramidze said the GOG
views Estonia's development experiences as invaluable.
In addition, Paet signed an agreement on December 18
to eliminate double taxation to encourage Estonian-
Georgian investment.

-- GEORGIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS: With the increase in
the price of gas from Russia, the GOG plans to turn to
Turkey and Turkmenistan for supplies. Georgian
officials said that there was currently no dialogue
between Tbilisi and Moscow and complained of ongoing
harassment of Georgians traveling to Russia. GOG
officials also detailed plans to change their
constitution to postpone parliamentary elections until

2008. The goal of this is to de-link Georgian
elections from the Russian election cycle to prevent
Georgia's elections from being an issue in Russian
elections.

-- FROZEN CONFLICTS: GOG officials repeatedly pressed
FM Paet on the need for increased EU, NATO, and U.S.
assistance to solve the conflicts in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. Defense Minister Kezerashvili seemed
optimistic that the removal of the two remaining
Russian military bases in Georgia was still on track,
but noted Georgia's priority is to replace Russian
peacekeeping military forces with police units. Paet
reaffirmed Estonia's support for Georgia's territorial
integrity, but also cautioned that the Georgians will
need to be patient since an eventual peaceful
settlement will take time.


4. (U) Comment: Estonia's new embassy in Tblisi is
its first in the southern Caucasus and reflects the
priority Estonia places on relations with Georgia. At
the moment, the Embassy is staffed by a Charge
d'affaires ad interim, but an Ambassador will be in
place by the end of 2007. The GOG plans to open an
embassy in Estonia in 2007. (Note: Currently Georgia
has an envoy resident in Lithuania covering all the
Baltics. End Note.) In addition, starting January
2007, the GOE will grant visa-waiver travel to
Georgian diplomats and plans to waive the application
fee for Georgian citizens applying for a transit/one-
time entry visa in late 2007 to make it easier for
Georgians to travel to Estonia.

GOLDSTEIN