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The News in Brief

Wednesday, September 17
PM Garibashvili visits United Arab Emirates

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

During his two day visit, Garibashvili held talks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

The Crown Prince also hosted the Georgian delegation at an official dinner.

Garibashvili visited the palace of Nahyan Sheikh where the meeting with the Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan took place. Al Nahyan, as chairman of Dabi Group, invited the Georgian delegation to an official supper.

On September 17, PM Garibashvili will travel to Dubai where he will meet Prime Minister of UAE Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Later PM will visit Ras Al Khaimah emirate.

PM Garibashvili is accompanied by Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze, Vice Premier and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Kvirikashvili and the head of Co-Investment Foundation Giorgi Bachiashvili. (Agenda.ge)



Fire at the central station extinguished

Fire broke out at the so-called gipsy open market situated next to the Central Railway Station in Tbilisi early in the morning today. The fire almost spread on the blocks of apartments surrounding the market territory. The fire fighters arrived in time and succeeded to extinguish the fire. They say no one has been injured in the incident, however, the roofs of the houses were burnt down and apparently, the damage is very serious.

The Didube district governor went to the site, met with the traders and promised them to allocate compensation after the damage is counted.

The traders suspect the fire was set to the area deliberately. (Rustavi2)



Top NATO Commander praises Georgia's Interoperability with the Alliance

NATO's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, said on September 15 that Georgia has done “an extremely good job” of becoming interoperable with NATO. Responding a question of NATO enlargement, Gen. Breedlove, who is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of U.S. forces in Europe, said some of the nations aspiring to join the Alliance, among them Georgia, have improved their “programs of engagement.”

Commenting on military component of NATO integration of aspirant nations, Gen. Breedlove said that some of the countries, “like Georgia, have done an extremely good job of becoming interoperable with NATO and deploying with NATO.”“Georgia has deployed at a very constant and high level its forces in support in Afghanistan and in other places,” he said. “So what I see is nations continue to move towards their goal or have already probably in some cases met the military expectation that we have for their entry into NATO and now some of the more political issues are being worked out by the political leadership of NATO,” Gen. Breedlove said. He made the remarks at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank’s event, discussing NATO Wales summit results. (Civil.ge)



Georgian soldiers return from Afghanistan

149 Georgian soldiers of the Special Mountain Battalion have returned to Georgia from Afghanistan.

The commander of Special Operation Forces, Lieutenant-Colonel Dimitri Kiknadze and U.S. Defence Attache to Georgia, Colonel Mathew Dimmick greeted the peacekeepers at the Alekseevka airport. They thanked the soldiers for successful completion of the ISAF mission.

The soldiers were deployed at Kandahar Airfield. Georgian contingent performed full spectrum operations in Afghanistan under the U.S Command.

The Battalion will completely return to Georgia in a few weeks. (Frontnews)



Foreign citizens exempt from tuition fees for Georgian schools

Georgia’s Constitutional Court has adopted a decision to exempt foreign citizens from the tuition fees for the country’s schools.

Under the new decision, starting from the new academic year, up to 400 pupils who are the citizens of foreign countries, will be exempt from the tuition fees for Georgia’s schools.

This initiative was put forward by Georgian Young Lawyers Association non-governmental organization, which represents the interests of six foreign schoolchildren.

The NGO representatives stressed that the payment of the tuition fee for Georgian schools by foreign citizens contradicts with the Article 14 of Georgia’s constitution, which envisages everybody’s equality before the law.

The new academic year in Georgian schools began on Sept.15. (Trend.az)