NATO-Georgian Joint Training Centre to Get First Crop of Students in May

TBILISI - Defense Minister for Georgia Tinatin Khidasheli has introduced the implementation process for the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package (SNGP) to the Ambassadors of NATO member countries at a meeting on Wednesday.

The NATO-Georgian Joint Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC), a key element of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, was the main topic of the meeting with the Defense Attaches in Tbilisi.

Khidasheli emphasized that JTEC has already started to work actively on the project. The training and assessment center will receive its first contingent in May.

“We discussed all the final details which are necessary for finalization of the project. Partner countries are motivated and mobilized. They support the success of this package and the Georgian state. However, support is never enough and we always ask for more. Our aim is to be absolutely honest at the summit,” Khidasheli commented.

The JTEC was inaugurated on 27th August 2015 and aims to assist Georgia with reforms modernisation and the help strengthen its security and contribute to promoting regional stability in the Black Sea and Caucasus region.

The SNGP granted to Georgia at the Wales Summit is a combination of measures and initiatives to strengthen Georgia’s defence capabilities and achieve closer cooperation and interoperability with NATO member countries.

In 2015, 20 NATO member and partner countries with their experience and recourses contributed to the implementation of SNGP.

By Tamar Svanidze

Edited by Chloe Diamond