Official: Intensive Work Ongoing on Drafting Annual Program with NATO

Georgia is now “intensively working on final draft” of its Annual National Programme (ANP) with NATO, which is expected to be over by the end of this month, Giorgi Muchaidze, the deputy defense minister, told RFE/RL Georgian service.

“We hope it will be finalized by the end of this month and then it will be submitted to NATO and agreed,” he said.

NATO agreed to develop ANP, which will form the basis for, as NATO officials say, “practical cooperation” between the alliance and Georgia, in December, 2008.

ANP, Muchaidze said, was also discussed during the visit of Gen. James N. Mattis to Georgia on March 9-10. Gen. Mattis is a commander of NATO Supreme Allied Transformation and commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command.

The Deputy Defense Minister also said that during the visit of Gen. Mattis, it had been agreed to transform the Georgian army’s mountain training center in Sachkhere into NATO’s PfP (Partnership for Peace) training center.

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