Georgia, U.S. expand maritime cooperation
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The U.S. and Georgian maritime experts gathered in Tbilisi for a five-day seminar about the role of a new Georgia-U.S. maritime center on February 24.
The new Joint Maritime Operations Center, which was built at the Coast Guard Supsa Radar Station on the Black Sea coast, was established under the Coast Guard Department of Georgia's Internal Ministry and equipped with joint management, control, communications and maritime surveillance systems.
The joint center is expected to improve the capability of the national agencies to secure Georgia’s maritime safety.
The main task of the center is to prevent, detect and eliminate all kinds of illegal activities, maritime incidents and gross violations of maritime laws in Georgia’s maritime space that could pose a threat to the security of Georgia and the wider region.
The event will be held in two stages. Initially participants will learn about the functions of the JMOC, while in the next few days participants will be divided into inter-agency working groups to develop the JMOC’s Standard Operational Procedures with the support of the US experts.
The JMOC was built through a financial support of the US Export Control and EXBS and was officially opened on the Black Sea coast in June 2014.
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