The United States and Georgia signed a new framework agreement on cooperation in defense sphere. Document was signed by First Deputy Minister of Defense David Norkvist and Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili. Reported “Sight” citing its own correspondent in Tbilisi.
As the newspaper writes, head of the Georgian military department Irakli Garibashvili arrived in the United States on an official visit, whose main task was to sign a new agreement on military cooperation for the next three years to replace the previous one, operating since 2016 by 2019 year.
According to the new agreement, The United States will continue to reform the armed forces of Georgia, will help strengthen territorial defense and continue to conduct joint military exercises, including large scale. It is possible to build a military airfield at the base of Vaziani near Tbilisi. Other details of the concluded agreement are not given..
Under an expired agreement, The United States prepared nine battalions for the Georgian army and helped with various weapons, including the transfer of anti-tank systems “Dzhavelin”.
US First Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist said about the signing of a new military treaty with Georgia, what “cooperation between the two countries in the military sphere is moving to a qualitatively new level”.
Earlier, retired American Lieutenant General Ben Hodges in an interview with the Georgian service “voice of America” He stated, that one of the best guarantees of Georgia's defense will be an increase in the US military presence in the country. he stressed, that the Government of Georgia should continue to work on strengthening its defenses and developing methods “the Kremlin's containment”, so that Russia does not dare to conduct a large-scale operation in Georgia.
“Georgia must be able to contain Russia, before the allies come to the rescue”
– said Hodges.
