Parliament Committee approves memorandum on air situation data exchange with Turkish, NATO bodies

The Georgian Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday approved a memorandum on air situation data exchange with bodies of Turkey and NATO with the aim of contributing to cooperation with the bloc and enhancement of interoperability.

Signed with NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and between the Control and Reporting Centre in Erzurum, Turkey and the Air Operations Centre in Tbilisi, the memorandum was introduced by the Deputy Defence Minister Grigol Giorgadze, the Georgian Parliament said.

Giorgadze noted the parties currently exercised a memorandum of 2008 to exchange non-classified information, but added the new agreement included exchange of classified data.

“In the process of the enhancement of cooperation with NATO and improvement of interoperability, we considered it expedient to ensure the exchange of classified information on air situation”, he said.

The enactment of the memorandum will replace the 2008 agreement and protect exchanged data according to international agreements, national legislations and regulations.

The parties may establish “additional security measures” on issues of national secrecy, the legislative body added.