PM to hold first meeting of new Security Council tomorrow
The new National Security Council is chaired by Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. Photo: Government of Georgia/Facebook
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Georgia’s Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze will hold the first meeting of the new National Security Council tomorrow.
The Council is an eight-member advisory body, responsible for national security policy planning and coordination.
It is chaired by the prime minister. Its other members are:
- interior, defence, foreign and finance ministers,
- heads of state security and intelligence services
- chief of the armed forces.
Upon PM Bakhtadze’s decision, Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia will be the Secretary of the Council.
Georgia’s president-led National Security Council, which was tasked to discuss issues related to the national military strategy of Georgia, was abolished after the new constitution entered into force last year.
Georgia has been ranked ninth in Europe in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2018, which is a composite index produced, analysed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to measure the commitment of its 194 member states to cybersecurity in order to raise cybersecurity awareness.
Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that the ministry and NATO will cooperate more actively in Black Sea security, as Georgia has no naval forces and the ministry is responsible for the coast’s protection.
The Georgian State Security Service writes in its 2018 report that Russian forces tried to use the two occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) to conduct clandestine, illegal operations.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has stated that the upcoming Munich Security Conference, the world’s largest gathering of its kind, will be maximally used for pushing forward Georgian issues.
Head of the National Security Council and Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia has stated that the recent developments in Georgia’s Muslim-populated Pankisi Gorge and the temporarily closure of David Gareji monastery by Azerbaijani border guards several days ago were discussed during the first meeting of the eight-member National Security Council.
Kakhaber Kemoklidze, the former Head of the Analytical Department of the Georgian Interior Ministry, has been appointed the chief of staff of the country’s new National Security Council. The staff of the Security Council will form an analytical centre, which operates under the Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze and Secretary General Giorgi Gakharia.
Former Defence Minister of Georgia Levan Izoria, who currently chairs the state intelligence service, has been appointed as the new secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, the PM’s eight-member advisory body responsible for national security policy planning and coordination.