President Giorgi Margvelashvili chaired a session of the National Security Council (NSC) on January 29, which was also attended by PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

Preparation for the NATO Warsaw summit and Georgian troops’ participation in the international missions, specifically in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, were discussed, officials said after the meeting.

Whether Kvirikashvili was going to attend or not the NSC was an issue frequently raised in the media in the lead up to the session as his predecessor Irakli Garibashvili attended NSC meeting only once, snubbing it on two other separate occasions, which was viewed by opponents as disrespect towards the President.

On January 27, when the PM’s office announced about Kvirikashvili intention to attend the NSC session, it also said: “The head of the government believes that it is important to respect institutions and such issues [whether the PM will be attending or not NSC sessions] should no longer become a topic of discussion, especially when the authorities have much more important issues to tackle.”

“We discussed preparations for the NATO Warsaw summit and the work that has to be done by the various state agencies in the lead up to the summit. We spoke about strengthening of our defense capabilities through deeper integration into NATO. We also discussed Georgian troops’ participation in the international missions, specifically further cooperation for Georgian troops’ participation in the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan,” PM Kvirikashvili said after the meeting.

President Margvelashvili said that at the meeting “we defined clearly next steps” and “process of coordination” on the path of NATO integration.

Other participants of the meeting were Parliament Speaker; Defense Minister; Foreign Minister; Interior Minister; Head of the State Security Service; Chief of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces; chairman of the parliamentary committee for defense and security, and secretary of NSC Irina Imerlishvili.