On June 27, Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, said that he will meet with prominent EU figures as part of the NATO Summit, which will take place in Madrid, Spain, from June 28 to June 30, 2022. Georgia has allegedly made progress toward NATO membership, and the Prime Minister wants this development to be acknowledged. "We inaugurated the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center in Krtsanisi" (JTEC). I believe that every effort has been made to increase the compatibility of our troops. The military is undergoing active reform, transformation, and reinforcement.
The NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre is one of thirteen Defense Capacity Building initiatives under the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package (SNGP), which was approved at the August 2014 NATO Summit in Wales. The primary functions of the JTEC are to train and evaluate various types of armed forces through the provision of multiple forms of training: a realistic and virtual training system to train the lower echelons with an emphasis on mission command and combined weapons.
Earlier, on June 21, at the Qatar Economic Forum, Irakli Garibashvili said, "We are not naive; we are aware that Georgia has territorial issues, which we must resolve before joining NATO. This is an understanding of our European partners and NATO member countries." He emphasised the desire and determination of his administration to join the Alliance but added that doing so depends on the consensus of all member nations, contending that this consensus cannot be achieved as long as Russia occupies Georgia's borders. While pointing out that more than 80% of Georgians favour Euro-Atlantic integration, the Prime Minister asserted that the ruling Georgian Dream was crucial to the country's progress along the Euro-Atlantic route.
In his remarks at the Cabinet meeting, the governor of Georgia also addressed the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, which celebrated its eighth anniversary on June 27. The prime minister stated, "Today is a very momentous day, as it symbolises the beginning of the country's road toward becoming an associate member of the European Union, as well as the start of genuine, meaningful action."
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