Georgian Vice Premier, Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze attended the official launch of Noble Partner - 2017 multinational defence exercise.
 
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Defence Minister Levan Izoria Chief of General Staff of Georgian Armed Forces Vladimer Chachibaia and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly spoke at the opening.
“The drills contribute to peace and stability in Georgia and in the region and strengthen Georgia’s defence capacity and its European and Euro-Atlantic integration” – Mikheil Janelidze told journalist following the opening ceremony.
Georgia for the third time hosts the annual Noble Partner defence exercise with its European and regional partners with troops from eight countries joining forces for the training at the Vaziani military air base outside the capital of Tbilisi.
Service members from Georgia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovenia and Armenia  participate in the drills focused on improving defence and attack skills.
The Noble Partner 2017 is a part of drills of the European Command in the Black Sea region, which is being held on the territory of seven countries.
Noble Partner 2017 will continue Saber Guardian in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary and Sea Breeze in Ukraine.
Established in 2015, the Noble Partner exercise was initially founded to train service members from the Georgian Armed Forces and NATO member states for the NATO Response Force (NRF) unit and to improve the Georgian troops’ interoperability with NATO units.

Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze held a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Georgia Ian Kelly.
The sides spoke about the results of the Georgian Foreign Minister’s visit to the U.S. from 20 to 23 March.
Discussions focused on the meeting of the U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission Working Group on  Economic, Energy and Trade Issues. The issues relating to preparation of a plenary session of the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter due to be held in the spring of 2017 were also discussed during the meeting.
Talking points also included aspects of future co-operation within the GUAM-U.S. format.

Ian Kelly thinks that Washington-Tbilisi relations will remain strong under the Administration of US new President Donald Trump.
According to US Ambassador to Georgia, he hopes that the appointment of new Secretary of State will happen within the next day. As Kelly stated, Trump administration has expressed the desire to negotiate bilateral trade agreements. 

The exclusive interview of Ian Kelly the US Ambassador to Georgia in the special project of Starvision “Border Zone”/ ‘Пограничная ZONA’: «Pentagon and FoggyBottom know how important Georgian Army is.
It is small but strong and it has an important role in the protection of the interests of the world».
Watch at Starvision and listen to Radio Star FM the full version of the interview today, at 21:30 p.m. “Border Zone”/ ‘Пограничная ZONA’

The exclusive interview of Ian Kelly the US Ambassador to Georgia in the special project of Starvision “Border Zone”/ ‘Пограничная ZONA’: « Existence of democratic society is important for the safety because democratic societies don’t fight each other. We are concerned about the trends in the region, the former Soviet Union».
Watch at Starvision and listen to Radio Star FM the full version of the interview today, at 21:30 p.m. “Border Zone”/ ‘Пограничная ZONA’

The Prime Minister of Georgia has an excellent plan how to increase the economy of Georgia – this statement was made by the US Ambassador to Georgia.
According to Ian Kelly, they support Giorgi Kvirikashvili. “We try to help economical development issues but there are a lot of challenges in the region. Georgia is one of the countries in this region,”-US Ambassador to Georgia said. 

“We are waiting for cooperation with the new Parliament of Georgia and the new Government”-this statement was made by US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly today in Kutaisi.
As the Ambassador said, being in Kutaisi is a great honor for him.
“This day is too important for Georgia because this is a first day of Parliamentary session. We are waiting for cooperation with the new Parliament of Georgia and the new Government. We already have deep cooperation with Georgian government and we are ready for future acts,”-Ian Kelly said. 

We fully agree with the statement of the international observers that the elections were well organized, and there was a competitive total, reflecting the will of the people, - the US Ambassador to Georgia, Ian Kelly told reporters. The US diplomat also congratulated the Georgian people on the successful elections.
"First of all I would like to congratulate the Georgian people on the successful completion of two rounds of elections. We fully agree with the statement of the international observers that the elections were well organized, and there was a competitive total, reflecting the will of the people”- he said.

We believe that these elections reflected the will of the people - the US Ambassador to Georgia, Ian Kelly told reporters. According to him, they expressed concerns about certain incidents.
"These were the incidents of violence and intimidation. We believe that such incidents do not contribute to the preservation of a quiet atmosphere. We also call on all political parties and all parties to be involved in the process and don’t withdrew from the elections,”- said the ambassador.

The Prime Minister of Georgia met with the US Ambassador to Georgian Ian Kelly and EU Ambassador Janos Herman. The sides discussed October Parliamentary elections and political processes. Ian Kelly and Janos Herman congratulated to Giorgi Kvirikashvili the election results. According to them, the election was well-organized, open and competitive.
As US Ambassador said, 2016 elections confirmed the loyalty of Georgia to democratic reforms. He hoped that the second round will held in peaceful political field.
OSCE/ODIHR researches have been also discussed. Giorgi Kvirikashvili thanked to them for a positive assessment of the elections. He highlighted the role and importante of EU and International Community.