Georgian Defence Ministry celebrates 31st anniversary
Georgian Ministry of Defence is marking the 31st anniversary of its founding. Photo: Georgian Defence Ministry/Facebook page.
Tweet 
Share
The Georgian Ministry of Defence is marking the 31st anniversary of its founding, with the date coinciding with the closing of this year’s Noble Partner multinational defence drills in the country.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashivili, who served as the Defence Minister between 2019-2021, extended his gratitude to the military personnel involved in the drills at the closing event, noting they had once again showed their “high professionalism and responsibility”.
He called the exercise “another consistent step” in deepening international cooperation, developing professionalism of the Georgian Defence Forces and its interoperability with NATO.
The Ministry’s origins go back to a September 9, 1991 decree by Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first President of Georgia, which established the body and tasked it with forming the national armed forces and providing logistics support for the National Guard in the formative years of the newly independent state.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Friday hailed the “strength in partnership” between Georgian and allied militaries, noting “peace and freedom only exist when you have noble partners” at the closing event of the Noble Partner multinational defence drills in Georgia.
This year’s Noble Partner multinational defence drills officially opened at the 4th Infantry Brigade training grounds in Vaziani near Tbilisi on Monday, with over 2,400 servicemembers from 21 countries involved in the manoeuvres.
Georgia is celebrating the founding day of its Defence Ministry on September 9. Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze has announced that the ministry’s employees and defence forces’ military servicemen with 25 or more years of service were awarded cash prizes on the occasion of the anniversary.
Georgian Defence Forces are celebrating 28 years since their founding, with formal celebrations involving officials and military commanders joined by congratulatory messages from the public today.
Official occasions to mark the date were held in Georgia as well as locations where peacekeepers from the country are serving in international missions, while service members from allied nations offered their messages of support.