NATO holds joint drills in Georgia's Batumi

/By Azernews/

By Laman Ismayilova

The NATO military alliance has sent four naval war ships to Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi as part of a scheduled month-long training mission.

The ships of the Alliance participate in joint exercises and training missions with Georgian naval and marine forces, Georgia Today reported. The ships will stay at the port until February 15.

“We are here today to demonstrate NATO’s support as well as stress our strong and mutually beneficial cooperation with Georgia,” NATO’s United Naval Forces commander Giorgio Lazio said at a press conference held in Batumi with Georgia’s Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili.

Lazio emphasized that NATO-Georgian naval cooperation strengthens peace and stability in the Black Sea.

Turkish Naval Forces’ Staff Colonel Ramazan Kesgin stressed the importance of the visit, saying that deepening cooperation with Georgia’s fledgling navy is a vital part of NATO’s security plans for 2016.

NATO launched a joint training center in Georgia in August 2015, part of the so-called substantial package of cooperation with Georgia’s armed forces. The center will start the tactical training of Georgian soldiers in May.

Georgia actively cooperates with NATO since the late 1990s. In November 2002, President Eduard Shevardnadze has officially declared at the NATO summit in Prague that Georgia wants to become a member of the Alliance.

Today, Tbilisi continues the course of integration into NATO.