Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Joint Georgian- U.S. naval exercises are being held in Batumi on November 12.

Representatives of the Georgian Coast Guard and the crew of the American USS Mount Whitney are holding the joint exercises, the Coast Guard said.

USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, arrived in Georgia on November 11.

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland and Head of Adjara Archil Khabadze visited the ship.

Mount Whitney serves as the coordinator for the NATO ships in the Black Sea. It is connected to a global tracking system and the U.S. intelligence agencies, and receives and transmits data through U.S. military satellites and Advanced Warning And Control System (AWACS).

Joint military exercises against the ship's sinking are scheduled on the board of Mount Whitney.

The exercise is carried out at the initiative of the 6th U.S. Navy in order to continue global maritime partnerships with Black Sea states and to improve maritime security.

The ship will leave Georgia on November 13.

The strength of Georgian-U.S. relations is reflected in the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, which was signed in January 2009 in the priority areas of democracy, defense and security, economic, trade and energy issues, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Since signing the Charter, the United States and Georgia have strengthened their cooperation based on the U.S. support for Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and its commitment to further democratic reform.

Under various defense cooperation and strategic partnership agreements, Georgia actively cooperates with the U.S. forces in various mobile training team programs, and participates in the Immediate Response, Rapid Trident and Agile Spirit exercises.