NATO SG praises Georgia for contribution to operation in Afghanistan.

TBILISI, June 10 (Itar-Tass) -- NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen praised Georgia for its important contribution to the
peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan.
In an interview with Georgia's Public Television on Wednesday,
Rasmussen said Georgia's participation in the International Security
assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) would be one of the main issues to
be discussed at the upcoming NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels on June
10-11.
The ministers will talk about Georgia's big contribution to the ISAF
programme, Rasmussen said, adding that the Georgian troops were doing an
excellent job in Afghanistan.
Since November 2009, 173 Georgian peacekeepers have served in
Afghanistan under the French command. In May 2010, another 173 Georgian
servicemen were sent to Afghanistan to relieve them.
An expanded Georgian peacekeeping battalion of 750 troops has been
serving in Afghanistan under the U.S. command since April 2010.
A total of 923 Georgian troops are currently serving in Afghanistan,
and their number will not change this year, the Georgian Defence Ministry
said.
The Georgian battalion is the second largest military unit sent to
Afghanistan by non-NATO member states. NATO spokesman James Appathurai
said earlier that the alliance would continue to support reforms in
Georgia and its North Atlantic ambitions.
On August 15, 2009, the first group of American instructors arrived in
Georgia. On September 1, approximately 65 Marines started training the
Georgian army battalion in counterinsurgency tactics. The battalion was
intended for deployment in the Helmand province, controlled by the
Taliban, in southern Afghanistan.
The servicemen from the Georgian battalion underwent intensive
training in Georgia under the direction of members of the training and
advisory group of U.S. Marines, after which the battalion went to
Afghanistan to join the peacekeeping operation under the command of the
U.S. expedition brigade.
Georgia participated in the operation in Afghanistan before -- 50
Georgians served there in the autumn of 2004.
ISAF is the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

.Georgian FM goes to Ukraine to discuss bilateral cooperation.

TBILISI, June 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol
Vashadze will become the first high-level representative of the Georgian
government to visit Kiev after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's
inauguration.
Vashadze will begin a two-day official visit to Ukraine on Thursday,
June 10. He will have talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Konstantin
Grishchenko.
They will discuss "the deepening of relations between Georgia and
Ukraine and prospects for the development of regional cooperation", the
Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
An inter-governmental agreement on air service between the two
countries will be signed.
At the end of February, Georgian parliament speaker David Bakradze
attended Yanukovich's inauguration in Kiev. He said back then that "the
new leadership of Ukraine is sending signals indicating its interest in
continued friendly relations with Georgia".
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili congratulated Yanukovich on the
victory in the election and wished "success" to him and "economic and
democratic development" to the people of Ukraine.
Pursuant to Georgia's national security concept approved six years
ago, its strategic partners are the United States, the European Union,
Ukraine, and Turkey.

.SCO summit to discuss situation in Kyrgyzstan, no statement planned.

MOSCOW, June 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
(SCIO) summiteers will meet in Tashkent on Thursday will discuss the
situation in Kyrgyzstan but plan no separate statement on the matter, an
official in the Kremlin administration said.
"A separate statement on the current situation in Kyrgyzstan is not
planned so far, but it is not ruled out that if there are suggestions to
issue such a statement it may be made," he said.
"I think it will be right to make some statements on this issue after
the elections in this country," the official said.
"I think it would be right to adopt statements on this score after
elections in that country," he added.
At the same time, presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said "special
attention will be paid" to the situation in Kyrgyzstan would at the
two-day summit.
|Acting Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbayev will represent Kyrgyzstan
in Tashkent in accordance with the position, the SCO states agreed upon,"
he pointed out.
"The SCO reaction to the dramatic events in Kyrgyzstan followed
urgently and immediately," Prikhodko said. "On April 8, 2010, SCO
Secretary General Muratbek Imanaliyev has made a statement on behalf of
the SCO states, which reflected concerns over the development of the
situation in Kyrgyzstan that entailed casualties," the Russian
presidential aide noted.
"Currently measures to promote a settlement in Kyrgyzstan, consolidate
support and necessary assistance to the Kyrgyz people are being
discussed," Prikhodko said.
-0-zak/


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