Georgia and NATO would like to establish a joint training and evaluation center in Georgia 10906154

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Defence & Security News - Georgia
 
Georgia and NATO would like to establish a joint training and evaluation center in Georgia.
Georgia and NATO are continuing active cooperation on the establishment of a joint military training center that may be opened by the end of the year, head of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Vakhtang Kapanadze said Tuesday, June 9, 2015. Georgia and NATO began cooperation in 1994, as Georgia joined the Partnership for Peace, a program of practical bilateral cooperation between individual Euro-Atlantic partner countries and the alliance.
     
Georgia and NATO are continuing active cooperation on the establishment of a joint military training center that may be opened by the end of the year, head of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Vakhtang Kapanadze said Tuesday, June 9, 2015. Georgia and NATO began cooperation in 1994, as Georgia joined the Partnership for Peace, a program of practical bilateral cooperation between individual Euro-Atlantic partner countries and the alliance. Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed forces at the press conference of NATO Strategic Military Partners Conference.
     
NATO`s Strategic Military Partner Conference 2015 (SMPC) has opened at the Expo Georgia Tuesday, June 9, 2015. High-ranking officials of NATO member and partner nations` armed forces and experts are taking part in the annual military forum and discussing the transformation issues and future challenges.

The annual conference is an important forum that enables Chiefs of Defence of NATO and Partner nations to share their perspectives on strategic issues of common interest. The intent of the SMPC is to facilitate the exchange of ideas regarding transformation throughout the Trans-Atlantic Community by creating a common understanding. The conference is co-hosted By NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and the Georgian Armed Forces

Joint press-conference was held in the exhibition center “Expo Georgia” within the NATO Strategic Military Partners Conference. Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed forces, Major General Vakhtang Kapanadze and Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Jean-Paul Paloméros outlined the importance of holding the forum in Georgia and emphasized NATO-Georgia cooperation.

After the Generals speeches the press-conference continued in an interactive format. The journalists were mainly interested in Georgia’s NATO aspiration prospects and opening of NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center.

As General Jean-Paul Paloméros said, the decision of Georgia’s NATO membership is made on political level: “This is not for us to make political decisions you understand but this is very important that us – military chiefs push the boundaries of the partnership as much as we can and then at the political level it was demonstrated in Wales and even before and I am sure it will be demonstrated in Warsaw that the Heads of State will make their decision about the future. But we are here to make sure that we enable the future in terms of military capabilities. When we see the ability of the Georgian Forces to integrate within NATO operations this is a great sign of Georgia getting closer and closer to military standards and military capabilities. If one day at the political level it is decided that Georgia is on the course of the Membership Action Plan that will make things much easier. This is exactly what happened in the past with many countries. We are here to enable the participation of Georgia in military operations of NATO which is the aim of any partnership with NATO”.

NATO General highlighted Georgia’s commitments towards NATO: “Georgia has never failed. Georgia is true to its commitments. So as I said here are the military chiefs who are doing our best to make sure that the Substantial Package, the Enhanced Partnership, the Interoperability Platform – all of that works as much as possible. Our presence here is a great demonstration and I am very pleased that I made this decision almost two years ago that Georgia will be the hosting nation thanks to the great offer of your country to host the Strategic Military Partnership Conference. This is a great mark of our demonstration to work together”.