SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE #3

The Georgian Air Force cel-ebrated its 15th anniversary onSeptember 19th when a solemnceremony to mark “Air ForceDay” was held at the Alek-seevka Helicopter AviationBase.

Deputy Chiefs of the JointStaff of the Georgian ArmedForces, LTC. Shmagi Telia andLTC. Alexander Osepaishviliand Air Force Commander Col.David Nairashvili were on handto congratulate military person-nel on the occasion.

Speaking about the missionof the Air Force, Air ForceCommander Col. David Nair-ashvili commented that: “Ourfirst task is to prepare our crewsfor combat operations. Theymust be real pilots and able tocarry out any combat mission inany sort of difficult weathercondition. The second is that ourequipment, our aircraft, mustalways be operable and our thirdtask – the Air Force must alwaysbe ready to diligently fulfill thetasks it is assigned by our gov-ernment and leadership.”

By order of the Defence Min-ister, 15 military servants re-ceived rewards and 27 service-men were officially appreciatedfor the conscientious perfor-

The Georgian Air Force Celebratesits 15th Anniversary

Communications BattalionTraining Center Opened

in Saguramo

On September 17 the DefenceMinister of Azerbaijan, SafarAbiyev paid a two-day officialvisit to Georgia. Safar Abiyev ac-companied by an eight memberdelegation visited the GeorgianDefence Ministry. The Represen-tatives of the Azerbaijani DefenceMinistry were received by theGeorgian Defence Minister Dav-id Kezerashvili.

After the official ceremonythe Azerbaijani and GeorgianDefence Ministers held a tete-a-tete meeting. Delegation mem-bers held talks with the Com-manders of the Land and AirForces, also with the Chiefs ofthe Departments of the DefenceMinistry and Joint Staff. Theplan for bilateral military coop-eration between Azerbaijan andGeorgia was signed on the first

Defence Minister ofAzerbaijan Visits Georgia

day of the visit.After visiting the Georgian

Defence Minstry the Azerbaijanidelegation headed for HeroesSquare and laid a wreath at thememorial of the Georgian He-roes who made the supreme sac-rifice for the territorial integrityof the country and at the memo-rial of the former President ofAzerbaijan Heydar Aliyev.

On the second day of the of-ficial visit the Azerbaijani dele-gation visited the 2nd InfantryBrigade in Senaki. In the frame-work of the visit the representa-tives of the Defence Ministry ofAzerbaijan hold the meetingswith the President of GeorgiaMikheil Saakashvili and theMinister of Foreign Affairs GelaBezhuashvili.

By Rusudan Tsimakuridze

mance of professional duties andfor their outstanding contributionto the development of the Geor-gian Armed Forces. The JointStaff and Air Forces Commandawarded honorary diplomas to upto 60 military personnel.

The ceremony was attendedby the defence attaches accred-ited to Georgia. At the end ofthe ceremony, Air Force person-

nel laid a wreath at the memo-rial for fallen Georgian pilotsand a minute of silence was ob-served in their honor. After theceremony a display of militaryaircraft was presented.

The Georgian Air Force andAir Defence Division was es-tablished on January 1, 1992.On August 10, 1993 it wastransformed to a Main Division.

The two divisions were unitedon August 18, 1998 and the jointstructure was called the AirForce.

Georgia’s first combat flightwas conducted by Iuri Tserts-vadze and Valeri Nakofia onSeptember 19, 1992 and laterthis date was established as AirForce Day.

By Giorgi Kakiashvili

Georgia has a Distinctive and Constructive Roleto Play in the International Arena

An Interview with New British Ambassador to Georgia, H.E. Denis Keefe

The presentation of a renovat-ed building for the SeparateCommunication Battalion ofLand Forces was held in Sagura-mo on September 14th.

The new training center hasbeen equipped with modern in-ventory and communicationsequipment. The renovations andconstruction work were done bythe U.S.-based Harris Corpora-tion.

The center will serve as atraining facility for Georgian ser-vicemen. Trainings for the per-sonnel of the CommunicationBattalion of the Georgian Armed

Forces will be provided by fiveGeorgian servicemen from theDepartment of New Technolo-gies who underwent a five-weekfactory training course in Roch-ester NY, at the Harris Corpora-tion Technical Training Center.

The opening ceremony start-ed at 11:00 a.m. at the base ofCommunication Battalion inSaguramo. A four-member del-egation from the Harris Corpo-ration arrived from the UnitedStates of America to attend thepresentation of the new trainingcenter.

Continued on p.3

Defence Today: You are thenewly appointed Ambassador ofGreat Britain and Northern Ire-land to Georgia. What is your firstimpression of our country? Whatexpectations do you have forworking in Georgia?

Denis Keefe: I have been inGeorgia for two months now andam enjoying it enormously. Geor-gia is a beautiful country, with anancient history and hospitablepeople. Georgia is also an excit-ing place to work because it is acountry that is changing very fast,modernizing and reforming itseconomy and governance, whilefacing real political challenges athome and abroad.

D.T: As the Ambassador ofGreat Britain and Northern Ire-land what do you see as your role,particularly vis-a-vis Georgia asa developing nation?

D.K: The task of the BritishEmbassy here is to promote Brit-ain and Georgia’s shared values;to help resolve conflicts peaceful-ly; and to support Georgia’s re-forms as the country grows clos-er to NATO and the EU. That iswhat I intend to do during mytime here, with the help of myexcellent team at the Embassy.

D.T: How do you assess theGeorgian-British relationship?

D.K: It is a warm relationship.So far, a relatively limited num-bers of Georgians have been toBritain and limited numbers ofBritish people have come to Geor-gia. I would like people in the twocountries to get to know each oth-er better because we share an in-terest in a peaceful, prosperous,European future. I think it is a verygood sign that recently the Brit-ish-Georgian Chamber of Com-merce was able to start work inGeorgia. This demonstrates thegrowing business links betweenour two countries.

D.T: How do you evaluate theNATO-Georgia partnership? Aswe know, during your tenure inthe Czech Republic you helpedthat country to join NATO. Whatrecommendations will you giveto Georgia about becoming inte-grated into the Alliance? How doyou evaluate Georgia’s path to-wards NATO and what challeng-es do you see on this path?

D.K: Georgia has made greatstrides towards becoming part ofthe NATO community, includingentering its Intensified Dialoguephase last September. The military

is developing well and I hear ex-cellent reports from our US friendsabout your soldiers’ performancein operations in Iraq. The UK hasbeen playing its part in this too;we are assisting with the pre-de-ployment training of the 1st INFBde units before they go to Iraq inDecember this year, and we re-cently took part in a very success-ful joint exercise [“Georgian Ex-press”] between Georgian medi-cal units who will go to Iraq and aUK medical unit. I was delightedto be able to attend part of this ex-ercise and see the high profession-al level of everyone involved. Wehope to continue this series of ex-ercises in future years, with vari-ous types of units.

A lot of detailed planning hasgone in to the reform process inthe armed forces and we lookforward to assisting where wecan to implement these plans fur-ther. But NATO membership isnot just about military capabili-ty. The whole spectrum of re-form of the economy and gover-nance is important to successfulintegration.

D.T: Your point of view onGeorgia’s role in the internation-al arena?

D.K: Because of our sharedvalues and interests, Britain andGeorgia share common groundon many important issues. Geor-gia’s geographical position meansit has a distinctive and construc-tive role to play in the internation-al arena. I greatly value the op-portunities my position gives meto discuss the crucial issues weface with Georgian representa-tives, and to work together withthem, whether it to be on con-flict resolution or on Georgia’sgrowing integration with Europe.

By Tea Kerdzevadze

Georgian Defence Minister hosts his Azerbaijani counterpart

Air Force Day

H. E. Denis Keefe

22222 SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE #3MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF GEORGIA TODAY

Military spending is on the rise. Tak-ing into consideration the amplified in-terest of society and the media towardsGeorgia’s increased defence budget,Defence Today interviewed the DeputyChief of the Defence Ministry’s Finan-cial Management Department LTC Va-khtang Makaridze.

Defence Today: Additional financialresources were assigned to the Ministryof Defence in 2007. Compared to the pre-vious year, how much was the defencebudget increased and what were the mainfactors that caused the budget of the min-istry to increase during the last years?

Vakhtang Makaridze: Despite con-siderable pressure from outside of thecountry, the economy of Georgia hasachieved significant growth – 9, 4%during 2006 and 10, 5% in the first quar-ter of 2007. Along with the usual col-lection of revenues, the successful im-plementation of fiscal policy and thereduction of corruption allowed this eco-nomic boost to significantly increasebudget incomes in the 2007 fiscal year.The Ministry of Defence of Georgia, likeother government structures, receivedadditional financial resources. Accord-ing to the current situation it is evidentthat the allocated sums for the Ministryof Defence during the last years consid-erably improved Georgia’s defence ca-pabilities. Improved social conditionsand the modernization of infrastructureand technologies brings more interop-erability with western standards. In or-der to implement tasks and internation-al commitments and to increase Geor-gia’s defence capability, the growth ofthe Georgian Armed Forces is one of thenation’s most important priorities.

D.T: Can you name the sums thatwere received by the Ministry of De-fence over the last five years? What isthe figure of percent increase?

You can find the detailed allocationof sums in the charts. Please, see the partof expenditure of 2002-2007 budget ofthe Ministry of Defence of Georgia.

D.T: What are the priority fieldswhere these new financial resources willbe allocated and what are the criteria bywhich the Ministry of Defence of Geor-gia prioritized these fields?

Vakhtang Makaridze: Allocationsassigned to the Defence Ministry ofGeorgia are used for the following pri-orities:

· Improvement of social conditions,which implies first of all to increasing sala-ries for the military servicemen stage bystage; for the improvement of medical as-sistance and the provision of living apart-ments; the improvement of rations and thus,nourishment, and providing compensationfor some categories of military personnelinstead of nourishment; providing retiredservicemen with financial assistance dur-ing the retirement period considered by thelegislation, preferential credit and others…

· Improvement of the combat capa-bilities of the Armed Forces.

· Improvement of the material-tech-nical base and logistical system.

· The modernization of military in-frastructure is one of the priorities forthe building process of the Armed Forc-es. Senaki Military Base is a very mod-ern, western-type base. The building of

Explaining the Defence Budgeta modern military hospital in Goriequipped with modern instruments, thecompletion of the new building of theMinistry of Defence, the construction ofthe Gori military base – these are exam-ples of improved infrastructure. It is alsoa priority to improve, modernize andrepair infrastructure of the military fa-cilities located in Batumi, Poti, Kutaisi,Tbilisi, Telavi, Vaziani and Khashuri.

· The Georgian government made adecision about participating in interna-tional missions and operations, whichwas supported by the legislative bodyand it is a priority for the GeorgianArmed Forces. One of the brigades ofour Armed Forces will stay in Iraq untilJune of 2008 in order to fulfill its mis-

sion. Georgian Military Servicemen arealso accomplishing a peacekeeping mis-sion in Kosovo. Different units of theArmed Forces are participating in vari-ous international trainings.

D.T: A salary increase was plannedfor the certain categories of military per-sonnel at the initiative of the Presidentand the Minister of Defence; this wasmentioned in the NATO recommenda-tions. What can you say concerning thisissue? For whom and how much weresalaries increased?

Vakhtang Makaridze: According tothe Defence Minister’s Order #227, is-sued on May 4, 2007, from the 1st ofSeptember an additional 115 GEL willbe added to the salaries of the followingstructural units:

Special Operation Groups· Special operation detachment· Special operation battalion· Special operation school· Navy special operation detachment

Separate Units of the Land Forces· Separate communication Battalion· Separate tank battalion· Separate engineering-chemical Bat-

talion

Artillery Brigade· Artillery Brigade Command· Artillery Brigade 152mm howitzer

“MSTA” Battalion· Artillery Brigade 122 mm reactive

Battalion· Artillery Brigade 152 mm “ 2 S 3”

Battalion· Artillery Brigade T/M Battalion

“DANA”· Artillery Brigade Defensive com-

pany· Artillery Brigade anti-tank Artillery

Brigade commanding Battery· Artillery Brigade logistic support

Battalion· Artillery Brigade training Battalion

1st Infantry Brigade

· 1st Infantry Brigade tank Battalion· 1st infantry Brigade Artillery Battalion· 1st infantry Brigade Communicationcompany· 1st Infantry Brigade Engineering-chem-ical company

2nd Infantry Battalion

· 2nd Infantry Brigade Tank Battalion· 2nd infantry Brigade Artillery Division· 2nd infantry Brigade Communicationcompany· 2nd Infantry Brigade Engineering-chemical company

3rd Infantry Brigade

· 3rd Infantry Brigade tank Battalion· 3rd infantry Brigade Artillery Battal-ion· 3rd infantry Brigade Communicationcompany· 3rd Infantry Brigade engineering-chem-ical company

4th Infantry Brigade

· 4th Infantry Brigade Tank Battalion

· 4th infantry Brigade Artillery Battal-ion· 4th infantry Brigade Communicationcompany· 4th Infantry Brigade Engineering-chemical company

According to the Defence Minister’Order #389, of June 24, 2007, from the1st of August an additional 300 GEL willbe added to the salaries of the followingstructural units:

· Special operation detachment· Special operation school· Navy special operation detachment

Land Forces Units

· Intelligence platoon of the Sepa-

rate Tank Battalion· Intelligence company of the 1st in-

fantry Brigade· Intelligence company of the 2nd in-

fantry Brigade· Intelligence company of the 4th in-

fantry BrigadeAccording to the Defence Minister’s

Order No 513 of September 10, 2007from the 1st of October an additional 170GEL will be added to the salaries of thefollowing structural subdivisions:

National Guard

· National Guard Department· The 10th Cadre Brigade –Reserve

training base in Kojori· The 40th Cadre Brigade – Reserve

training base in Mukhrovani· The 50th Cadre Brigade – Reserve

training base in Telavi· The 20th Cadre Brigade – Reserve

training base in Senaki· Adjara A.R. of National Guard –

city Batumi Mobilizitation Point· Abkhazia A.R. Mobilization Point

of National Guard· The I category Mobilization Point

of National Guard· The II category Mobilization Point

of National Guard· The III category Mobilization Point

of National GuardAs well, let me introduce the 2003-

2006 salary increasing dynamic of mil-itary and civil servicemen which clear-ly shows the rising labor compensationand improvement of social conditions.I also want to add that in the introducedtables labor compensation is given onthe base of middle indices and is not stip-ulated.

D.T: This year Georgia sent an in-creased contingent of peacekeepers oninternational missions. This processmight necessitate budget amendments.How much is spent for internationalmissions and what is this money usedfor?

Vakhtang Makaridze: Of course,Ministry of Defence of Georgia had toallocate additional sums to implementthese missions. Only the financing oflong-term missions required additionalallocations worth more than 21 millionGEL till the end of the year. The unitssent on such missions underwent furthertraining and special preparations inGeorgia as well as abroad, which cer-tainly required additional expenses.

Additional allocations became nec-essary in order to adequately implementthese tasks and aims. According to thechanges and additions to the law “Aboutthe 2007 State Budget of Georgia”, asupplementary GEL 441,400 thousandwas allocated to the Ministry of De-fence.

The mentioned amount was allocat-ed to the following articles:

By the article of labor compensation18,200 thousand GEL

By the assignment article from theemployer 3,600 thousand GEL

By the missions article 21,100 thou-sand GEL

By the article of other goods and ser-vice 119,916.3 thousand GEL

By the article of subsidies and cur-rent transferring 700 thousand GEL

By the article of capital expenses277,883.7 thousand GEL

D.T: Several days ago, the Ministryof Defence received an additional442.100 GEL for the 2007 budget – amove which was criticized severely byopponents. What was the reason for thebudget change?

Vakhtang Makaridze: The addi-tional allocation of labor compensationand accordingly in assignments articlesfrom employers is caused by increasinglabor compensation for some militaryservicemen and to be able to issue addi-tions for them, the labor compensationis also gradually changing for the mili-tary servicemen who are currently en-rolled in the II and 1b categories.

The armed forces were charged toincrease the military contingent in Iraqas a peacekeeping mission through onebrigade. For this purpose additional as-signation is necessary to be allocated inthe mission article.

Besides the above mentioned, during2007 an additional amount will be spentfor reserve preparation and covered ex-penses. Including: purchasing ammuni-tion, modernizing arms and aircraft, an-tiaircraft defence installments, heavyand light equipment, purchasing shipand modern communication equipmentand customs procedures

Allocation will also be spent for mil-itary servicemen in order to create ac-commodation fund in Tbilisi and Gori.

The capital and routine repairs ofmilitary parts and units, modernizationand improvement of infrastructure arestill continuing. Totally 60 million GELis allocated for construction and repair.

By Nana Intskirveli

Chief of Financial ManagementDepartment LTC. Vakhtang Makaridze

33333SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE #3 MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF GEORGIA TODAY

Communications Battalion Training Center Opened in SaguramoContinued from p.1

The Harris delegation was led by vicepresident of international sales Ed Lock-wood. Minister of Defence of GeorgiaDavid Kezerashvili and Ed Lockwood cutthe ribbon for the renovated center. Chiefof the Joint Staff Col. Zaza Gogava, Com-manders of the Georgian Navy, Land andAir Forces and representatives of the Geor-gian Armed Forces were also present atthe solemn ceremony.

In his comment, the Minister of De-fence of Georgia David Kezerashvili un-derscored the importance of the project:“We are completing the equipment usedby the Georgian Armed Forces withmodern communication systems; Har-

ris offers one of the most advanced andmodern systems in this field. The estab-lishment of this system will foster fullmodernization process of the GeorgianArmed Forces. Consequently, openingof this center acquires more importanceas it will provide professional trainingfor the personnel of the Georgian Army.”

According to vice president of inter-national sales Ed Lockwood, “This is avery important project for Harris. Welook to the future to continue and ex-pand our cooperative relationship withGeorgia. We are arriving at different ar-eas in which we can help to modernizethe communications of the GeorgianArmed Forces.”

Harris RF Communications has been

Television for Military Servicemen and all citizens of Georgia . . .The new independent TV Company

“SAKARTVELO” started broadcastingon September 1. The TV Channel broad-casts on the 33rd decimeter diapason andaims to reflect ongoing processes in thedefence sphere, the active involvementof society in the life of the GeorgianArmy and to nurture patriotic feelingsin Georgia’s citizens.

An Interview with the General Pro-ducer of the TV Company “SAKART-VELO”, Tamar Kvernadze.

Defence Today: The TV Company“SAKARTVELO” and the Ministry ofDefence of Georgia concluded a Coop-eration Agreement. What are the termsand conditions of the Agreement?

Tamar Kvernadze: The Ministry ofDefence of Georgia and TV Company“SAKARTVELO” concluded a Coop-eration Agreement in accordance withthe “Law of Georgia on State Procure-ments”. The TV Company will providevarious kinds of TV service to the De-

fence Ministry till 2010.D.T: It is clear that the TV Company

broadcasts on certain topics. Can you gointo more detail about what TV pro-grams will be broadcast?

Tamar Kvernadze: First of all I

want to say that our motto is – “We servethose who serve.” Firstly this means ser-vice in the Army. Our TV Company iscalled “SAKARTVELO” and thereforewe want to be in the service of thosepeople who serve their motherland.

General Producer of the TV Company “SAKARTVELO” Tamar Kvernadze

We’ll have close cooperation with mili-tary experts and the NATO InformationCenter. We plan to prepare programs onhistory. The TV Company “SAKART-VELO” has been on the air for only twoweeks so far. We have planned numer-ous projects and we are working veryhard on them.

D.T: Isn’t it difficult to work on mil-itary topics? How did the new staff copewith working on a completely differentprofile and how did you solve this prob-lem? Did they receive special training?

Tamar Kvernadze: The TV Com-pany has close links with the DefenceMinistry. We’ve had active consultationswith them. At this stage we broadcastonly documentary and feature films onmilitary topics.

D.T: Do you plan to create localproducts or prepare news programs?What can you tell us about the futureplans of the TV Company?

Tamar Kvernadze: The TV Com-

pany will not broadcast news programs.Most of our air time will be used for cov-ering defence reforms. The TV program-ming is designed according to the orderof the day in the Army. Our primetimeof broadcasting is when military service-men have more free time: 07:00-08:30,13:15-15:45, and 18:00-21:30. The TVCompany starts broadcasting at 07:00with the national anthem of Georgia.

D.T: A few words about the structureand equipment of the TV Company. Arethere any plans to recruit new employersand how will you select them?

Tamar Kvernadze: The TV Com-pany “SAKARTVELO” started broad-casting two weeks ago. We have onlydocumentary and feature films on air.When we start to produce new programswe’ll need to recruit qualified and ex-perienced personnel and also to procurenew equipment for the TV Company.

By Khatia Kurashvili

active in supporting the Georgian MODsince 2002. Harris has delivered tacti-cal communications systems to defenseand peacekeeping forces in more than65 countries around the world.

The Harris Corporation is a leadingsupplier of secure voice and data com-munications products, systems, and net-works. The company’s RF Communi-cations Division provides secure radioproducts and systems for manpack, ve-hicular, strategic fixed-site, and ship-board applications. These products areused by the U.S. Department of Defense,other federal agencies, and internation-al defense agencies worldwide. In fact,peacekeeping forces around the globeare increasingly standardizing on Har-

ris tactical and strategic radio systems.The demand for Harris radios contin-

ues to accelerate as defense forces world-

wide pursue modernization and standard-ization initiatives that require common-platform, software-based systems thatcan integrate HF, VHF, and UHF com-

US – Georgian Bilateral Defence ConsultationsThe city of Atlanta, Georgia hosted

Bilateral Defence Consultations (BDC)between the United States of Americaand Georgia on September 17-18, 2007.The consultations between the two stateswere organized by the National Guardof Georgia State of the U.S.

Identifying Georgia’s Defence Prior-ities, ongoing defence reforms, NATOintegration and the implementation ofIntensified Dialogue (ID) were dis-cussed during the consultations. Bothsides discussed the activities which havebeen implemented during the presentyear as well as plans for future activi-ties in 2008. The U.S. Delegation washeaded by Deputy Assistant Secretaryof Defence for European and NATOPolicy Daniel Fata. From the U.S sidethe consultations were attended by rep-resentatives of the Office of the Secre-tary of Defence, National Guard ofGeorgia, United States Air Forces(USAF), Defence Security Cooperation

Agency, CUBIC, Office of DefenceCooperation (ODC) of USEUCOM andU.S. Defence Attache in Georgia. Dep-uty Defence Minister Batu Kutelia head-ed the Georgian Delegation, consistingof Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian

Armed Forces Col. Zaza Gogava, Dep-uty Chief of Staff, LTC. Grigol Tatish-vili, Commander of the Special Opera-tions Unit, Air Force Chief of Staff,Chiefs of the Educational Departmentand J-5, representatives of the Interna-

tional Relations and Euro-Atlantic In-tegration Department, Defence Policyand Planning Department and Procure-ment Department.

Defence cooperation between theU.S. and Georgia has a long and suc-cessful history. The United States wasthe first state which made steps to helpenhance the Georgian Armed Forces.U.S. assistance is very important in theprocess of the development of an effec-tive, mobile and NATO-compatibleArmed Forces. The main accent of Geor-gian-U.S. defence cooperation is placedon military education issues. As the Ex-traordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambas-sador of Georgia to the United States,Canada and Mexico H. E. DavidSikharulidze commented: “In the imple-mentation process of the joint projectswe grant particular importance to the ed-ucational projects: the International Mil-itary Education and Training (IMET)program, Georgian Train and Equip Pro-

gram (GTEP) and Sustainment and Sta-bility Operations Program (SSOP) arevery successful projects. SSOP is stillin the process of being implemented. “Iwould like to mention that these projectshave played a significant role in thebuilding process of the Georgian Army.Today, the Georgian Army is headed bypeople who have gained their knowledgein the United States, or in Europe. I thinkthat it is our wealth.” - said the Ambas-sador of Georgia to U.S.

Indeed, educated intellectual soldiersform a solid core of a strong army. H.E.David Sikharulidze highlights that withtechnology, an educated and profession-al military is the basis of the militarystrength of developed states in the con-temporary world. Defence cooperationwith the U.S in which the military edu-cational projects play a great role, is verybeneficial for Georgia.

By Nini Bakradze

Chief of Joint Staff Visits Republic of Bulgaria

The Chief of Joint Staff of the Geor-gian Armed Forces, Col. Zaza Gogavapaid an official visit to the Republic ofBulgaria from September 24 to Septem-ber 26. Bilateral military cooperation isbeing implemented between the Minis-tries of Defence of Georgia and the Re-

public of Bulgaria. An official meetingwas held at the General Staff of the Re-public of Bulgaria. The Chief of JointStaff of the Georgian Armed Forces methis Bulgarian counterpart, Gen. ZlatanKirilov Stoykov.

The Georgian-Bulgarian defencepartnership, the modernization of theArmed Forces, the Georgia-NATO re-lationship, and Bulgaria’s experiencewith NATO integration were discussedduring the meeting. A press conferencewas held for the Bulgarian mass-mediaafter the meeting at the General Staff ofthe Republic of Bulgaria. The GeorgianEmbassy in the Republic of Bulgariaheld a reception in honor of the Geor-gian Delegation. The representatives ofthe Ministry of Defence of Georgia were

welcomed by the Extraordinary andPlenipotentiary Ambassador of Georgiato the Republic of Bulgaria H.E. Teimu-raz Sharashidze.

Col. Zaza Gogava visited the Parlia-ment of the Republic of Bulgaria, wherehe met the Chairman of the DefenceCommittee Angel Naidenov. The Chiefof the Joint Staff also visited the 68th

Special Brigade of the Armed Forces ofBulgaria, where a demonstrative exer-cise was held for the Georgian Delega-tion. In the framework of the visit Col.Zaza Gogava visited the 3rd Airbase ofthe Bulgarian Armed Forces and met theCommander of the 3rd Airbase, Briga-dier General Rumen Ravdeev.

By David Jokhadze

munications systems and provide inter-connectivity among land-based and wire-less communications media.

Today, Harris is a high-technologyenterprise with a single focus on com-munications equipment. The companyhas four major product areas, includingmicrowave communications, televisionand radio broadcast systems, secure ra-dio communications, and governmentcommunications systems. Annual reve-nues for the company are approximate-ly USD 2 billion, and the company hasmore than 10,000 employees, with salesand service facilities in more than 90countries.

By Tea Chonishvili

Meeting of Georgian and Bulgarian Chiefs of Defence

Leadership of the MoD at BDC in Atlanta

Georgian Servicemen practicing HARRISCommunication System

Cheif of Joint Staff of Georgia meetsDeputy Defence Minister of Bulgaria

44444 SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE #3MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF GEORGIA TODAY

The infrastructure of the GeorgianArmed Forces has been considerably ren-ovated and modernized during the recentperiod. Thousands of military servants areable to undergo theoretical and practicaltrainings in refurbished, modern facilities.Both the living and social conditions ofmilitary servicemen have been improved.

One of the best examples of this mod-ernized infrastructure is the Senaki Mili-tary Base which was built on the territo-ry of a military airdrome in a very shortperiod of time. The construction of themilitary base on reclaimed swamplandstarted on April 4, 2005 and the Presi-dent of Georgia Mikheil Saakashviliopened the renovated base on Novem-ber 19, 2005. The Senaki Military baseis the first of its kind in the post-Sovietspace. Its western standard barracks of-fer excellent conditions for military ser-vants and can accommodate up to 3,500servicemen. At their disposal are 15 bar-racks, training grounds, a sports hall, din-ing facilities and a swimming-pool. Nineblocks of flats with 232 apartments forofficers and their families were built.Construction work was carried out by theInternational Building Company and cost17.5 million GEL.

On August 22, 2006, the President ofGeorgia and U.S. Senator Richard Lugaropened a Mountain Training School inSachkhere with a solemn ceremony. TheSachkhere Mountain Training Schoolwas established with the support and as-sistance of the French government. Theschool is designed to prepare light infan-try units in mountain tactics as well as totrain and retrain mountain instructors andis therefore surrounded by excellent nat-ural conditions for practical training.Equipped with modern mountain equip-ment, facilities and technical means theSachkhere School provides an excellent

opportunity for training modern, compat-ible mountain units of the GeorgianArmed Forces as well as of different PfPand NATO countries. The SachkhereMountain Training School has excellenttraining facilities such as a gymnasiumand training wall for mountain climbing.A newly built, modern hotel with 200

beds is also functioning on the territoryof the school.

The Central Military Hospital wasopened on October 3, 2006 in Gori. Thereconstruction work on the Military Hos-pital took four months. The medical in-stitution meets international standardsand is outfitted with modern equipment.It offers high professional services forboth military personnel and civilians andis designated to hold 150 patients. TheMilitary Hospital can host various medi-cal trainings as well. The NATO assess-ment team which visited in February gavethe Military Hospital a high evaluation.

The construction of the new militarybase in Gori is also worth mentioning.Construction started on July 5, 2006 andthe base will start functioning by the endof 2007. The base will cover 64 hectares

and will serve 4,000 military service per-sonnel. According to the project 40 newbuildings will be constructed. Barracks,the dining facility, sports hall and swim-ming-pool are under construction. Thetotal cost of construction amounts to GEL30 million and it is being built by theGeorgian-Turkish “International Build-

ing Company”. Simultaneously, a blockof flats is being built for officers and theirfamilies.

A new building of the Defence Min-istry was opened on July 19th by thespeaker of the Parliament of Georgia. Theceremony was attended by Members ofParliament and the Government, the Dip-lomatic Corps accredited in Georgia andpublic figures. Sharing his view on thebuilding Ambassador of the UnitedStates, John Tefft declared: “The build-ing is wonderful. I would like to say thatit is a kind of symbol of rebirth of theGeorgian military and of the Ministry ofDefence of Georgia. The United Statesis a big partner of Georgia rebuilding themilitary and helping Georgia trying toachieve NATO standards. We are proudthat role we’ll keep working on that.”

The construction of new blocks offlats for officers on the territory of the3rd Massive is currently in progress. Newand comfortable flats will be granted toofficers annually step by step.

A new base for a Special OperationsGroup of the Georgian Defence Minis-try was opened two weeks ago in Vashlij-

vari. Regarding this fact, the President ofGeorgia Mikheil Saakashvili, DefenceMinister David Kezerashvili, Chief ofJoint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forc-es Col. Zaza Gogava and Commandersof Land, Navy and Air Forces visited themilitary base.

The new facility can accommodateapproximately 500 servicemen. Con-struction work was carried out by thecompany Business Comfort. The con-struction of a new complex started inDecember 2006 and the total costamounted to GEL 9 million. It fully meetsEuropean standards and is equipped withan air conditioning and heating system.Besides the living quarters, there is alsoa dining facility, sports hall, ammunitionstorehouse and shooting gallery. Con-struction of infrastructure of the Special

Georgian Armed Forces Modernizes Infrastructure

The Georgian Ministry of Defence is nowmanning the Georgian Armed Forces andinvites qualified citizens of Georgia to joinin this contract-based professional service.

Registration is possible in the military mobilizingstaffs (former military commissariats) of cities and

regions or in the 4th Infantry Brigade of LandForces to the following address: No 38a Kakheti

Highway, Tbilisi

For additional information contact the LandForces Command.

Address: No 177a Uznadze St., TbilisiTel.: 91 19 08

Ministry of Defence of GeorgiaNo 20 Gen. Kvinitadze St., Tbilisi 0112

E-mail: pr@mod.gov.ge www.mod.gov.ge

CONDITIONS:· High salary starting from GEL 567 inJanuary with a perspective 15% increase

· Adequate nutrition· Free medical service· Modern equipment· For successful students the perspective tocontinue study abroad

· Physical preparedness· Free foreign language study· Social and legal guarantees· According to military specialty additionalsalary compensation

Serving for Georgia

Operations Group base is not yet com-pleted. By the end of 2008, another bar-rack, special purpose school, shootingarea and helicopter landing strip will bebuilt. The auto-park area will also be ren-ovated and arranged. The President ofGeorgia cut the ribbon and viewed thenew base. After this, the President madea comment: “This new military unit isanother step forward. This used to be anold militia barracks where the President’sprivate security guard was trained. I re-spect my security guards greatly, but to-day the protection of our motherland ismore important than the protection of anyindividual, even the President. So, despitetheir complaints, we granted this entirefacility to the Special Operations Groupof the Defence Ministry. A new, well-equipped center like a five-star hotel hasbeen built here, at the entrance of Tbilisi,next to the monument of King David theBuilder. It will provide reliable safety forour capital. I want to underline that in thenearest future we are will be completingthe construction of a military base in Gori,at the beginning of the road to Tskhinva-li. Anyone can witness how the construc-tion work is going there. The modern-ization of the Vaziani military base is in-tensively going on. We decided to mod-ernize Kutaisi military base and expandit towards Khoni. New reservist trainingcenters have been arranged in Telavi andother places. The material and technicalbase of the Defence Ministry has alsobeen renovated. I am very glad that mon-ey is invested in construction of roads,schools and infrastructure. This is themoney invested in the future of our coun-try. That’s why we increase financing andimprove the quality therefore. This cen-ter is a clear example that was built inseveral months.”

By Tea Chonishvili

Senaki Military Base