U.S. Embassy Supported Exercise for Georgian Security Partners
This Joint Maritime Operations Center Table Top Exercise (JMOC TTX) facilitated by DTRA’s International Counterproliferation Program, brought together Georgia’s maritime-oriented interagency on 8-11 August to collaboratively respond to port and coastal security scenarios.
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S Defense Threat Reduction Agency worked shoulder to shoulder at various locations along Georgia’s Black Sea Coast with Georgian security partners from the Maritime Transport Agency, the Coast Guard, the State Security Service, the Emergency Management Service and other organizations to address maritime security challenges.
The exercise builds on the JMOC TTX executed in September 2021 and will carry momentum into a JMOC TTX planned in spring 2023.
Participating agencies will be able to use lessons learned to develop enhanced response procedures and plans. Lessons will also potentially inform national-level maritime security strategy and legislation.
The JMOC TTX showcases another example of the U.S. government’s long-standing support to the government of Georgia.
G7 Foreign Ministers demand Russia immediately return control of Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant to Ukraine
On 10 August, G7 Foreign Ministers, including the EU High Representative Josep Borrell, demanded that Russia immediately hand back full control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and of all the nuclear facilities to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine. This will ensure their safe and secure operation.
“Ukrainian staff operating the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant must be able to carry out their duties without threats or pressure. It is Russia’s continued control of the plant that endangers the region,” says the G7 statement.
The ministers warned that the seizure of Ukrainian nuclear facilities and other actions by Russian armed forces significantly raise the risk of a nuclear accident or incident and endangering the population of Ukraine, neighboring states and the international community. It also undermines the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) ability to monitor Ukraine’s peaceful nuclear activities for safeguarding purposes.
“IAEA staff must be able to access all nuclear facilities in Ukraine safely and without impediment, and engage directly, and without interference, with the Ukrainian personnel responsible for the operation of these facilities,” says the statement.
Find out more
GLOBALink | Beijing Int'l Film Festival kicks off, 16 candidates vying for top award
BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) --The week-long 12th Beijing International Film Festival kicked off on Saturday in the Chinese capital, with 16 nominated films competing for this year's Tiantan Award.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Georgian diaspora can make a valuable contribution to establishing strong ties with Europe - Ilia Darchiashvili
On 12 August 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) hosted the awarding ceremony for the winners of the Diaspora Grant Competition.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ilia Darchiashvili, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimer Konstantinidi, the First Vice Speaker of the Parliament, Giorgi Volski, the Chairman of the Diaspora and Caucasus Affairs Committee of the Parliament, Beka Odisharia and the Head of the ICMPD office in Georgia, Zurab Korghanashvili spoke before the attending audience.
Ilia Darchiashvili thanked the winners of the grant competition for their interesting ideas and initiatives. According to him, grant programmes aimed at supporting the diaspora are getting increasingly popular.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented three grant programs: “Be a Young Ambassador of Your Country”, “Supporting the Diaspora Initiatives”, and “Supporting the Georgian Folk Dance and Song Ensembles Abroad”. During the coronavirus pandemic and the post-crisis period, the main goal of the grant programmes was to solve the problems faced by the emigrants. At the subsequent stage, however, the focus of the grant programmes was shifted to the role of the Georgian diaspora in the context of Georgia’s European future.
The Foreign Minister thanked all Diaspora representatives involved in the 2022 grant programmes for their interest and participation and highlighted that the Georgian government will continue to maintain close ties with the Georgian diaspora abroad and, through the implementation of projects developed by the State, will support its active role in Georgia’s European integration process.
MFA Georgia
Market explosion death toll climbs to 6
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. The death toll in the Yerevan, Surmalu market explosion reached 6, the Ministry of Emergency Situations spokesperson Hayk Kostanyan said.
A strong explosion ripped through the Surmalu market just outside the city center around 13:23, August 14.
Initially it was reported that the building which caught fire and subsequently exploded was a fireworks warehouse.
