TBILISI, DFWatch–The visit of NATO’s top political governing body to Georgia has been agreed upon, said Irakli Alasania, Georgia’s Minister of Defense, to journalists on Monday.

He said that the exact date of the visit of the North Atlantic Council as well as the Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen would be scheduled in Brussels, where Alasania is departing for on Tuesday.

‘This is one more confirmation that Georgia is aspiring to join the Alliance,’ Alasania was quoted as saying by the Ministry of Defense official website, www.mod.gov.ge. ‘This fact shows how great importance NATO attaches to Georgia, to our contribution in international operations.’

More than 1,500 Georgian troops are stationed in Helmand, the epicenter of Taliban insurgence in Afghanistan, thus making the small Caucasus nation of less than 4.4 million the largest non-NATO contributor to the ISAF.

According to NATO official website the North Atlantic Council is the principal political decision-making body within NATO that brings together high-level representatives of each member country, including Ministers of State, Defense, or Heads of the Government. to discuss policy or decide on issues requiring collective decisions.