US grants $20m USD to boost Georgia’s defence and security

The United States (US) will grant $20 million USD to Georgia for security assistance, which will go towards funding Georgia’s reforms, training and equipping Georgian troops and more.

The Georgian and US sides met at Georgia’s Foreign Ministry yesterday for the latest regular meeting of the Defence and Security working group of the US -Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter.

At the meeting the US’ Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Todd Chapman announced the US would grant Georgia the significant aid to help boost its defence and security capabilities.

"We are truly honoured to be here in Georgia and have an extensive conversation on defence and security matters. Today we were able to review our enhanced defence cooperation which we’ve enjoyed this past year and discussed the areas in which to advance our security partnership,” Chapman said after the meeting.

Specifically, he noted the US security assistance funding and military engagement with Georgia supported the country’s defence reforms, would train and equip Georgian troops and also train them for participation in international operations, "which advances Georgia’s NATO interoperability”.

"Today we were also able to confirm the additional $20 million USD in security assistance to Georgia through the European Reassurance initiative. We were also able to discuss how we can expand our cooperation in areas like maritime security, narcotics and cybercrime. Working on all of these issues together is demonstration of the strong bilateral partnership that we enjoy with Georgia,” Chapman stated.

The current situation in the region security challenges were heavily discussed by the Georgian and US sides, while special attention was paid to the situation in Georgia’s occupied regions.

The US delegation reaffirmed its firm support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and condemned the occupation of the Georgian territories by Russia, and the recent so-called treaties signed by Georgia’s occupied territories and Russia.

In addition, the sides comprehensively reviewed the issues related to Georgia’s integration with NATO, implementation of NATO’s Package of Substantial Measures and the role of the US in this process.

The US envoy emphasized the US government’s "unequivocal support” for Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration course and expressed gratitude for Georgia’s contribution to international peacekeeping missions.

From the Georgian side, the meeting was co-chaired by First Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Dondua and Deputy Defence Minister Levan Girsiashvili, while on the US side by Chapman and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, Evelyn Farkas.