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Stoltenberg's visit to mark Georgia's "NATO contribution": Tbilisi

Xinhua, August 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will pay an official visit to Georgia on Aug. 26-27 for events marking Georgia's contribution to NATO missions, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that on Aug. 27 Stoltenberg will participate in a ceremony marking the "inauguration" of NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC) at the Krtsanisi National Training Center outside Tbilisi.

The JTEC is one of the components of the "substantial package" of cooperation, which was offered to Georgia by NATO at the Wales summit last September.

Maj. Gen. Vakhtang Kapanadze, chief of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, has said previously that along with infrastructure at the Krtsanisi training center, facilities available at the Vaziani training area will also be used for the planned JTEC.

The U.S. marines have been providing training to the Georgian troops for over a decade already at the Krtsanisi training center.

During the visit, Stoltenberg will also meet the Georgian infantry company, which is part of NATO's Response Force (NRF) since January 2015, the ministry said.

"Broad range of issues related to Georgia's NATO accession and further steps on this direction, as well as implementation of the substantial package adopted at the Wales summit and the preparation for the next NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016 will be discussed," it added.

With about 885 soldiers, Georgia is the second largest contributor of troops after the United States to NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. Endi