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The News in Brief

Friday, September 16
Ukrainian Delegation at the General Staff

The Chief of the Hetman Petro National Army Academy of Ukraine, LTG Pavlo Tkachuk, is paying a three-day official visit to Georgia. Today, the Chief of General Staff of GAF, Major-Genral Vakhtang Kapanadze, welcomed his Ukrainian guest.

Major-Genral Kapanadze thanked the Ukrainian side for their support: “We are well aware of the situation around Ukraine and Georgia and we share the same vision. We are going to share our knowledge about our progress. The Ukrainian experience in hybrid warfare is very interesting, and sharing experience is good for both of us. We are planning exchange programs for students and lecturers of our educational institutions. This will give us opportunity to strengthen the development of our Armed Forces,” Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze said.

At the meeting, the sides discussed bilateral cooperation issues in military education sphere, paying specific attention to the development of this direction.

“I’d like to thank the Chief of General Staff for invitation. We met each other at the Lviv Academy recently, where Major-General Kapanadze became familiar with the educational process and trainings of the Ukrainian military personnel. The goal of my visit is to familiarize myself with your military educational systems. We are interested in the methodology of training military officers, sergeants and other ranks. Also, we want to find out your experience in transition to NATO standards and this will be one step forward in our future cooperation,” LTG Pavlo Tkachuk declared.

Today, Chief of the Hetman Petro National Army Academy of Ukraine will visit the Giorgi Antsukhelidze NCO Training Centre and the Krtsanisi National Training Center. He will also visit the Davit Agmashenebeli National Defence Academy of Georgia and General Giorgi Kvinitadze Cadets’ Military Lyceum. (mod.gov.ge)



Yes, we do believe we are closer to NATO membership - Giorgi Kvirikashvili

“Yes, we do believe we are closer to NATO membership,” Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said in an interview with the Ashish Kumar Sen, Deputy Director of the Editorial Director of the Atlantic Council.

According to him, the Warsaw Summit demonstrated that Georgia is progressing on its path towards NATO membership in terms of both political and practical cooperation.

“The allies reconfirmed that Georgia will become a member of NATO in accordance with the Bucharest Summit decision. They underlined that the integration process is moving forward and Georgia has all the practical tools to prepare for membership.

“In the context of practical cooperation, the allies agreed to provide additional support and assistance to strengthen Georgia's self-defense, security and resilience. These important new decisions include: affiliation of the Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC) with training and educational activities of the Allied Command Transformation (ACT); a provision of support for the development of Georgia's air defense and air surveillance; and the establishment of a trust fund for financial support for effective implementation of NATO-Georgia projects.

“The allies have underlined that both the existing and new initiatives are helping Georgia, an aspirant country, progress in its preparations towards membership.

“And, in an event that sent a powerful message, just two months after the summit on September 7 and 8, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) visited Georgia to discuss the practical way to implement the Warsaw decisions. It was the Council's fourth visit to our country,” said the PM.

According to him, the decision to include Georgia in NATO was taken at the Bucharest Summit and has been reconfirmed by the subsequent decisions. Therefore, it is apparently not a question of "whether" but "when" will Georgia became a member.

“As it was underlined by the [NATO] Secretary General [Jens Stoltenberg] during the NAC's recent visit to Georgia, NATO has a fundamental principle that every sovereign nation has the right to decide its own path, including what kind of security arrangements or military alliance it enters. The decision on Georgia's membership will be taken solely by the Alliance members based on the merits of Georgia and how it can contribute to security of the Alliance.

“NATO membership is the sovereign choice of the Georgian people and the ultimate goal of our government. We are determined to do our very best to achieve this objective. At the same time, we understand that we have a challenging road ahead and we are ready to follow every step to accomplish this goal,” said the PM. (IPN)