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Saakashvili: U.S. to Launch New Military Assistance Program

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that the United States will launch a new, large-scale military assistance program for Georgian troops in peace support operations.

?Because of our active engagement in the peacekeeping operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, the United States announced a new program; training of the Georgian troops in peace support operations will be carried out in frames of this new program. Twice as many troops will be trained within the frames of the new program than were trained during the previous assistance program,? Saakashvili said at a news conference after talks with visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on November 4.

The United States allocated USD 64 million to help Georgia in training about 2,400 troops in frames of the Georgia Train-and-Equip Program (GTEP) in 2002-2003.

?As a result [of the new assistance program] the core of our army will finally be set up soon with the help of the American [military] instructors,? Mikheil Saakashvili said.

But the details of the military assistance program have not yet been unveiled.

?The Unites States intends to allocate serious funds for this assistance program. But I can not say any details, because I have no right to do so until the Unites States itself announces this. But I can say that it will be a really very serious assistance program to help us in the creation of peacekeeping forces,? Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze told Civil Georgia on November 4.

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