President Saakashvili said on March 9 that Georgia was “a half-step closer” to joining NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) and “one step closer” to restoring the country’s territorial integrity.  

“The issue of launching our NATO accession will be decided in three weeks and we are very close to it,” Saakashvili said. “We are only one step away from restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity and this is also very close. The demand and aspiration for Georgia’s integrity, the unity on common values are in the air – this is unity of the government and the church, this is unity of the government and the opposition, this is unity of all our citizens regardless of their ethnicity, this is unity of Georgians living in Georgia and our compatriots living abroad.”

Saakashvili was speaking in the Holy Trinity Cathedral after attending a prayer dedicated to the day of absolution. “I want to beg for mercy to the government and the opposition, those people, who support us, as well as to those, who do not agree with us and who argue with us.”