TBILISI. Aug 2 (Interfax-AVN) - The Unified Military Academy of Georgia on Friday hosted the closing ceremony of a command post exercise (CPX), which is the first stage of the U.S. program for training and equipping Georgian anti-terrorist units.
Up to 200 Georgian servicemen involved in the exercise received corresponding certificates. The ceremony was attended by President Eduard Shevardnadze, Prime Minister Nuno Burdzhonadze, State Minister Avtandil Dzhorbenadze and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles.
Shevardnadze thanked the U.S. servicemen who are taking part in the program.
The next stage of the program is a field exercise of the first out of four special purpose battalions that are to be trained by the U.S. instructors. The exercise will start on August 27.
The program that provides for training over 1,700 Georgian servicemen by 150 American instructors is estimated at USD64m.