Jüri Luik, Estonia’s ambassador to NATO, signed contracts whereby Estonia will contribute 50,000 euros for training of mine clearance specialists of the army of Georgia and for establishment of a rehabilitation centre at the Gori Army Hospital.
The projects shall be carried out within the Georgia III Trust Fund which is co-managed by Estonia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. The total project value shall be 2.8 million euros.
In the project mine clearance specialists of the pioneer battalion of the army of Georgia shall be trained and equipped on the train-the-trainers principle, i.e. the instructors’ team of the army of Georgia shall be trained and later they shall train the mine clearance specialists of the army of Georgia themselves.
The project shall enable Georgia to liquidate the unexploded ordnance left behind due to previous armed conflicts and by the Soviet army which has, by now, injured about 400 Georgian civilians. The project also supports Georgia’s plans to participate in NATO’s operations with their mine clearance specialists.
With the Trust Fund the establishment of a rehabilitation centre to Gori shall also be supported which shall be the facility where members of the Defence Forces of Georgia, who got serious bodily injuries in the conflict of August 2008, shall be treated.
Substantively, the project shall be carried out by NATO’s logistics agency NAMSA (the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency). The Ministry of Defence of Estonia supported the survey of cost-effectiveness of the Georgia III Trust Fund with 8,500 euros. Also experts form the Estonian Rescue Board went to Georgia to give some mine clearance related advice.
Before, the Ministry of Defence of Estonia has contributed 30,000 euros to the Georgia II Trust Fund in the framework of which almost 9000 outdated missiles were destroyed.
Georgia with Ukraine, Montenegro and Afghanistan is one of the priority countries of destination of defence-related support of Estonia. In addition to the general development cooperation, Estonia has, in the framework of mutual defence-related support, funded the education of members of the Defence Forces of Georgia at the Baltic Defence College and donated an infantry training simulator to Georgia.
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Tags: Georgia, Ministry of Defence
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