(UPDATE: adds quotes from NATO press release in third, fourth and fifth paragraphs)

Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania and State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Alexi Petriashvili attended a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission in Brussels on November 20.

The meeting was chaired by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“This was the first meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission since the October parliamentary elections. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen noted that the elections were assessed to be free, fair and up to democratic standards. He said that Georgia had passed an important test, and next year's presidential elections will constitute another important test,” NATO said in a press release.

It said that he NATO Secretary General “recalled that he had the opportunity to meet both President Saakashvili and Prime Minister Ivanishvili last week and to discuss with them the importance of making co-habitation work, in full respect for the constitution and the rule of law.”

“Allies welcomed Georgia's commitments to take defence reforms forward and continue on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration. They thanked Georgia for increasing its contribution to ISAF, making Georgia the biggest per capita non-NATO troop contributor to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan,” NATO said.

“We have assured our NATO partners that after the recent elections Georgia has turned into much more stable, much stronger, predictable and more preferred partner,” Defense Minister Irakli Alasania said. “We had a very open discussion about recent developments, including about the arrests [of former and current officials].”

NATO wants to see rule of law and absence of selective justice in Georgia and “I have explained them that selective justice is over in Georgia after the October 1 [parliamentary elections] and everything will be absolutely transparent,” Alasania said.

The NATO-Georgia Commission meeting came less than a week after PM Bidzina Ivanishvili visited Brussels where he met, among others, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.