A new facility has opened in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi today to better allow the Government to control and monitor the use and distribution of chemical, nuclear, radiological weapons around the country, and prevent such substances from being illegally brought into and out of Georgia.
The Operative-Technical Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs launched the new Technological Innovation and Technical Training Centre in Tbilisi today.
Until now Georgia has had a lack of equipment and professionals who were capable of working with chemical, nuclear and radioactive substances.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said he was confident the Centre would enable the Government to successfully carry out Georgia’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons non-proliferation strategy, which would be coordinated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"Today our country already has an opportunity to control the movement of nuclear and radioactive materials on the territory of Georgia, and particularly important is that the country’s border is being controlled. We took real and effective steps towards protecting the border,” Garibashvili said.
The Ministry noted the facility would be fitted with equipment from their American partners, ensuring it met international standards. A document detailing which equipment was necessary was also agreed today between the Georgian and US Energy Departments.
PM Garibashvili also thanked the US National Nuclear Security Agency for its support, which would "allow Georgia to become an active participant in regional and international security”.
According to the Ministry’s official website, the Centre was established for several purposes; firstly to develop trilateral cooperation between Georgia, the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) in the field of nuclear and radiation non-proliferation by means, of which Georgia will be involved in international processes; secondly in terms of capacity building of the country in order to ensure non-proliferation of radiation and thirdly, to foster the Ministry’s contribution in the field of human and material resources.
The Operative-Technical Department of the Ministry is the state department that deals with nuclear weapons and other substances.
The Department actively worked to ensure border safety of the country and to provide high quality IT support. One of the directions of the Department was to control the movement of radioactive materials through the border, noted the Ministry.