NATO Military Committee’s first visit to Georgia

Georgia is one step closer to fulfilling its NATO integration goals with the arrival of a group of NATO military officials.

The NATO Military Committee delegation was met at Tbilisi International Airport by the Chief of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze and the Georgian representative to NATO, Irakli Dzneladze. The officials arrived in Tbilisi earlier today.

"It is a very important meeting not only for the Armed Forces but for the country as well,” Kapanadze said.

"We will discuss issues of regional security and the aims we set on our way to integrating with NATO,” Kapanadze said, adding that the progress on this way was "very visible”.

The NATO delegation is led by the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Knud Bartels.

"The fact that today we are in Georgia means that NATO supports the reforms that are ongoing in Georgia," Bartels said.

Today, the international military officials are scheduled to meet with Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

Tomorrow, General Bartels is expected to meet Minister of Defence Irakli Alasania.

Following that meeting, a Military Committee session will be held at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel in the 28+1 format. Georgia’s security and defence transformation, the country’s contribution to the Euro-Atlantic security and future NATO-Georgia military cooperation are topics set to be discussed during the session.

After this, Georgia’s State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Alex Petriashvili will host the NATO delegation at a working lunch.

The Military Committee is the highest military authority of NATO. Its main function is to provide the North Atlantic Council with consensus-based military advice and give clear military direction to NATO strategic commanders.