NATO assessment team finishes Georgia visit
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A NATO assessment team involved in the establishment of the new NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre has completed its first visit to Georgia.
While in Georgia, the NATO assessment team was tasked with looking at potential sites for the new facility and assisting the Georgian side implement the project, which was outlined in the NATO-Georgia Substantial Package.
Over three days this week, the NATO delegation toured the Vaziani military airfield, a firing ground and other potential locations. The assessment team became familiarised with the capabilities of the National Training Centre Krtsanisi and expressed an interest in the military airfield. After conducting their initial assessment, the NATO experts will define specific requirements and detailed measures to help Georgia successfully implement the project.
"Over the last three days we had the team coming to Georgia to assess the possibilities for a Joint NATO-Georgia Training and Evaluation Center. The Team has conducted a successful visit. The team consisted of [experts from] Nordic-Baltic nations, from Denmark, Norway, Lithuania and Latvia, supported by Germany. We had a very good discussion. We have seen some of the possible locations and we are happy with the outcome of this visit,” said NATO representative Gustav Vroemen.
NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai released a special statement on his Facebook page that positively assessed the team’s visit.
"First assessment team in the framework of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package just wrapped its visit to Georgia. They, together with the Georgian Ministry of Defence, looked at the potential sites, scope and mission of the Joint Training and Evaluation Centre,” he said.
"Good progress has been made, the establishment of the Centre and the implementation of the Package remains on track. Allies and Georgia remain committed to this process. More expert team visits are to follow soon,” Appathurai noted.
The establishment of the NATO training Centre in Georgia is one of the key initiatives of the Substantial Package. The Centre will be designed to conduct a pre-deployment training and certification of units assigned to the NATO-led and other international operations. Centre will have capabilities to host multinational, joint and combined exercises and training.
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Georgia’s NATO membership process and the details of the NATO-Georgia Substantial Package were discussed at a meeting between Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
NATO has decided to publically release an introduction to the Substantial NATO-GEORGIA Package, says Georgia’s Embassy in the United States of America. On the Embassy's official webpage the first three points of the the introduction to the document were published.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) top official is looking at his calendar and deciding on a date to come to Georgia for the first time.
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