PANEL DISCUSSION - “NATO IN 2023: ADAPTING TO A CHANGED SECURITY ENVIRONMENT”

The Centre for Strategy and Development (CSD) and the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia (NLO) jointly organised a panel discussion on “NATO in 2023: adapting to a changed security environment”.

The event commenced with opening remarks from Mariam Tokhadze, Director of CSD, followed by a keynote speech of Alexander Vinnikov, Head of the NLO, which covered the key outcomes and takeaways of the recent NATO Summit in Vilnius.

During the first panel, Colonel Harri Paldanius, Finland’s Defence Attaché to Georgia, Türkiye, and Lebanon; Dr. Gunnila Herolf, Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs; Tornike Parulava, Director of the Security Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Dr. Bakur Kvashilava, Dean of the School of Law and Politics at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs talked about the Finland's and Sweden's integration into NATO.

On the following panel, participants engaged in a discussion regarding Russia's war in Ukraine and NATO's response. The panel featured Ambassador David Quarrey, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to NATO; Ambassador Rãzvan Rotundu, Ambassador of Romania to Georgia; Dr. Jamie Shea, former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges; and Natia Seskuria, founder and Executive Director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies.

The discussions were followed by an interactive Q&A session that touched on a variety of issues, including about Georgia’s foreign policy and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, its Annual National Programme with NATO, Russia’s disinformation campaigns, cyber attacks, and invasion of Ukraine.