TBILISI. Dec 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian Navy will become fully professional in 2004, Dzhoni Rukhadze, chief of the Navy's military policy and international relations department, said on Friday.
"The plan is to make our Navy fully manned by professionals before the beginning of 2005," Rukhadze told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Units of the Navy Staff and warship crews are the first to become professional, he said.
The Georgian Navy currently totals over 20 warships and boats.
"The transition of the Navy's units and ships manned by about 1,500 conscripts to professional service is a part of the general reform in the Georgian Defense Ministry that aims at adoption of NATO standards," Rukhadze noted.
According to him, first professionals will be recruited in April.
"The last preparations are nearing completion, and the new Navy manning pattern taking into account NATO requirements and standards will be approved in the near future," he said.
Georgia gets major assistance in navy reform from Greece and Turkey that, in particular, train Georgian Navy officers in their colleges.
According to Rukhadze, Georgia lacked military sailors badly five to six years ago, but by now the problem has been solved.
Georgia officially announced its intention to join NATO at the alliance's Prague summit in November 2002.