NATO Military Committee chair, staff to visit Georgia
The NATO Military Committee, a body giving strategic advice to the alliance, will be in Georgia this week. Photo: NATO.
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Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, will be in Georgia this week, as high-ranking leaders of the alliance continue their official visits to the country.
Peach and his staff will hold a committee meeting during the visit, on the heels of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's meetings with Georgian officials on Monday.
The Ministry of Defence of Georgia said minister Levan Izoria would join the visiting chairman in the meeting held as a sign of NATO support for the country's long-standing partnership with the alliance.
Regional security issues, including political and military circumstances in Black Sea, will be on the agenda for the meeting along with topics concerning Georgia's occupied regions of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia.
The committee staff will be presented information on ongoing defence reforms and collaborative NATO-Georgia projects in the country, including the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package and Georgian troops' participation in alliance's operations and exercises.
The Military Committee will be on visit to the Vaziani Training Area and its Combat Training Centre, in addition to learning about the Georgia Defence Readiness Programme run in partnership with United States.
Further visits will include the staff's trip to the Joint Training and Evaluation Centre and observation of the ongoing NATO-Georgia Exercise, involving hundreds of troops from the alliance's member and partner states between March 18-29.
The Military Committee of NATO is "primary source of military advice to the North Atlantic Council and the Nuclear Planning Group", giving advice on strategic direction and measures for common defence of the organisation.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hopes Georgia can soon be welcomed into NATO, and praises the progress achieved by the country. He also urges Russia to withdraw its forces from Georgian territories.
The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will travel to Tbilisi on March 24-25. Stoltenberg will meet with President Salome Zurabishvili, Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and other high-level officials.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance may have changed many times, but it has maintained its key value - the commitment of its member nations to protect and defend one another.
The NATO-Georgia Exercise 2019 has started today at the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC), National Training Center Krtsanisi, near Tbilisi, Georgia. The exercise is comprised of 21 allied nations and three NATO partner nations, including Georgia as the host nation.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has hosted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the presidential residency in Tbilisi earlier today.
The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee has urged Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia's occupied regions of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia, as the committee opened its meeting in Tbilisi earlier today.
Officials and military commanders from Georgia and NATO converged to the a bilateral training venue outside Tbilisi to reaffirm common values and strategic partnership on the backdrop of the ongoing NATO-Georgia Exercise in the country.
The NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC) has marked three years anniversary since its foundation.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stated during the ongoing NATO leaders meeting in London that there is “more NATO in Georgia now than ever.”
Georgia will this week host the NATO Military Committee for the fourth time, with the highest military body of the Alliance set to discuss regional challenges and transformation of the Georgian Defence Forces with the hosts.