TBILISI. May 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Committees in the Georgian parliament are discussing this week a bill seeking to increase Georgia's defense spending for 2007 by 444,600,000 lari ($264 million).
Almost all parliamentarians, including those of the opposition, support the bill. If the bill is passed, Georgia's defense spending for 2007 will amount to 955,870,000 lari ($600 million).
At the same time, opposition factions demand a breakdown of military spending.
"We must know where the money goes. However, explanations by representatives of the parliamentary majority and the Defense Ministry that the additional funds will be used to bring the Georgian army closer to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) standards are not sufficient," a member of the Right-wing Opposition faction, Pikriya Chikhradze, said.
Meanwhile, leader of the parliamentary majority Maya Nadiradze told journalists that the Defense Ministry cannot disclose all its expenditures because the information is classified. "Complete information on defense spending is only made available to the parliamentary Confidence Group, which consists of several members of the majority in parliament," Nadiradze said.