Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The issues of bilateral cooperation in the defence sphere between Georgia and the U.S. were discussed during a meeting held at Georgia's Foreign Ministry on Sept. 10. The American delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Thomas Melia.

The delegation, which is on visit to Georgia to assess the pre-election situation, also includes representatives of the U.S. State Department, as well as Defence and Justice Departments. The Georgian side was represented by Defence Minister Irakli Alasania, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel Irakli Dzneladze and Deputies Defence Minister Tamar Karosanidze and Mikheil Darchiashvili.

A special attention was paid to the process of Georgia's accession to NATO and steps recently taken in the defence sphere in order to increase transparency and strengthen parliamentary control. The issues of controlling personnel and military education were also discussed during the meeting.

Referring to the presidential election, which will be held in October, the sides reached a consensus that they should be a fair and democratic.

Members of the American delegation have shown interest in voting procedures in Georgia's Armed Forces.

Minister Alasania said that the presidential election will be held as objectively as possible and all military personnel will have a freedom of choice.

Georgia as a significant contributor to the Euro-Atlantic security is closely involved in NATO-led operations and its contribution to the ISAF operation in Afghanistan is of significant importance. Presently Georgia is the second largest troop contributor to Afghanistan among the non-NATO states.

The October election will be the 6th presidential election after the republic's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The last one, held on January 5, 2008, resulted in the election of Mikheil Saakashvili for his second and final presidential term.