Azerbaijani army’s general staff chief off to Georgia

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani First Deputy Defense Minister, Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Col-Gen Karim Valiyev, is off to Georgia on an official visit, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

As part of the September 28 visit, Valiyev is expected to discuss the opportunities for the growth of bilateral cooperation in the military, military-technical, military-educational, and other domains, as well as regional security challenges with the opposite side.

On December 22, 2021, Azerbaijani Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov and his Georgian counterpart Juansher Burchuladze signed a bilateral cooperation plan for 2022.

The military personnel of the two countries held joint drills and joined NATO’s Agile Spirit - 2021 exercises that took place in Georgia from July 26 to August 6, 2021.

The exercises included command, staff, and field training as well as airborne operations and live fire, according to the local media.

Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia conducted the Eternity-2021 joint military exercises on October 4-8, 2022.

The Eternity format of military exercises between the three countries has existed since 2017 when Georgia was the first host, followed up by the exercises in 2018, hosted by Turkey. The three countries signed a partnership agreement in 2018 to further enhance military cooperation between them.