The First Deputy Minister of Defence of Georgia Lela Chikovani met with the Chief of Defence of the Republic of Finland, Lieutenant-General Jarmo Lindberg. The Chief of General Staff of Georgia, Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze, Georgia’s Defence Attaché to the Republic of Finland,  Finland’s Defence Attaché to Georgia and othe members of the delegation attended the meeting as well.
The sides discussed the future prospects of cooperation between Georgia and the Republic of Finland in the field of Defence. Both sides expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation and focused on exchange of information in intelligence sphere, cyber security, reserve and mobilization issues.
Lela Chikovani briefed the guests about the planned reforms at the Ministry of Georgia. She got interested in the Finnish model of defence system and talked about the importance of sharing experience. The regional security environment was also discussed at the meeting.
Chief of Defence of the Republic of Finland pays an official visit to Georgia for the first time hosted by his Georgian colleague Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze. The official welcoming ceremony was held in front of the headquarters of the General Staff.  

Representatives of the US European Command visited the Ministry of Defence of Georgia. The Chief of the General Staff, Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze and Deputy Defence Minister Besik Loladze hosted American guests. The visit was organized within the framework of the preparation process of the US-Georgian joint military exercise “Jackal Stone”. The purpose of the visit is to meet with the officials of the agencies involved in training and planning of the future activities.
The participants of the meeting emphasized the importance of the joint military exercises and noted that similar trainings always have practical and political consequences. Special attention was paid to the recently conducted military exercise “Noble Partner 16”.
“Very important delegation arrived in Georgia. Their task is to verify the correctness and timely preparation of the international interagency training. Both Georgian and the US governmental agencies are involved in the training. This exercise will be a good test to find out how effective is our crisis management system and what should we do improve the system,” – Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze said.
Exercise “Jackal Stone” is scheduled to be held in August. Up to 500 servicemen of the US European Command and the Special Operational Command will participate in the training. Over 130 representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Service of Georgia will be involved in the exercise. The Ministry of Defence of Georgia will provide logistical support. The scenario includes the anti-terrorism and police operations. Transport and reconnaissance aviation elements will be actively used during exercise.