Georgia Leaders Agree on NATO Entry

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili (L) shakes hands with the leader of Georgian Dream opposition coalition Bidzina Ivanishvili (R) as they meet in Tbilisi, on Oct. 9. Ivanishvili’s coalition defeated Saakashvili's ruling party at parliamentary polls last week. (Vano Shlamov/AFP/GettyImages)

By Alex Johnston

Alex Johnston

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October 9, 2012Updated: October 1, 2015

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Epoch Times Photo — Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili (L) shakes hands with the leader of Georgian Dream opposition coalition Bidzina Ivanishvili (R) as they meet in Tbilisi, on Oct. 9. Ivanishvili's coalition defeated Saakashvili's ruling party at parliamentary polls last week. (Vano Shlamov/AFP/GettyImages)

The president of Georgia and the newly elected prime minister came to the agreement that joining NATO is still one of the country’s goals.

President Mikheil Saakashvili shook hands with Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, a member of the opposition party on Tuesday, a week after Ivanishvili was elected, reported the BBC.

Saakashvili has said that the transfer of power to a new government headed by Ivanishvili will be peaceful..

“As the president. who is a guarantor of the constitution, I will ensure that the transition of power takes place flawlessly, it takes place in a way that has never happened before in the history of Georgia,” he said, according to Radio Free Europe.

Ivanishvili, during his campaign, said he wanted to improve relations with Russia, but stressed that his foreign policy lines up well with Saakashvili’s.

“We have a common opinion on foreign policy, which our both sides stated before. Europe and Euro-Atlantic space is an essence of our strategy and there will be continuation of the course of the previous government,” he said, according to RFE.

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