TBILISI. Dec 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The U.S. in January will launch a new program to support the Georgian army.
The Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, who is currently on a visit to Tbilisi, told journalists on Monday that about $60 million will be invested in the new military assistance program for Georgia.
A group of U.S. military experts will visit Georgia next week to negotiate the program's details, he said.
Pace visited the Georgian Defense Ministry's Krtsanisi training center, where servicemen will be instructed in accordance with the new program.
The Georgian Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier General Vakhtang Kapnadze, told reporters that "a year of the program's implementation will see as many events as Georgia would have done by itself in five years."
According to the Georgian Defense Ministry, U.S. partners originally planned to assign $32 million for this program, but later the allocations were increased.
U.S. instructors will train four battalions in the framework of the year-long program. These are two battalions of the 11th motorized rifle brigade stationed in Vaziani, and two battalions of the 21st brigade. The servicemen trained by Americans will later take part in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The new assistance program comes as a continuation of the Train and Equip Program which was implemented from 2002 to 2004. The 111th Telavi light infantry battalion, the Commando special-purpose battalion, the 16th Sachkheri mountain rifle battalion, the 113th light infantry battalion, an armor force of the 11th motorized rifle brigade, as well as a platoon of the State Border Guard Department and a platoon of the Interior Ministry Force were trained in the framework of the $64-million worth program.