On October 4 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas is conducting his first formal visit in Georgia to meet with Minister of Defence of Georgia Levan Izoria and Chief of General Staff Major General Vladimir Chachibaia.
Lt Gen J. V. Žukas is expected to discuss the security situation in the region, relevant aspects and prospects of bilateral military cooperation, deployments to multinational operations and to find out more about the priorities, activities and progress regarding the Georgian Armed Forces' capabilities.
Lithuania's Chief of Defence will also visit the National Defence Academy of Georgia and the NATO-Georgian Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC) based in the territory of the Krtsanisi National Training Centre.
Lithuanian-Georgian defence cooperation
Lithuania and Georgia have been cooperating actively in the area of defence since signing a bilateral agreement in 2001.Main areas of military cooperation include: officer training, expert-level consultations across such areas as cyber defence, logistics, finance and budget, strategic planning, protection of classified information, legal issues, etc.
Georgia's representatives have been studying at the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania and the Baltic Defence College in Estonia since 2004, Lithuanian Armed Forces School - since 2010, Military Medical Service - since 2008. Georgia's troops regularly observe or train in military exercises in Lithuania, and Lithuanians - in Georgia.
The cooperation with Georgian Armed Forces is also developed at services and military education level: the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Force and the Georgia National Guard, Special Operations Forces of both, Georgia and Lithuania, and the Military Academy of Lithuania and the National Defence Academy of Georgia cooperate.
Lithuania, UK, and NB8 countries established the NATO-Georgia Vocational Training Program for security and defence sector personnel in 2009. In 2009-2014 Lithuania and Latvia led the Public Relations Work Group and completed various specialist training projects. Lithuania provided financial support to the NATO-Georgia Vocational Training Program based on a trust fund model. Since 2015 Lithuania has been contributing to the creation of NATO-Georgian Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC) alongside other Baltic and Nordic countries.
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence Major Mindaugas Neimontas, 003307 5 278 5091, 00370 682 25359, e-mail: mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
