Noble Partner 2017 multination drills end
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday,August 14
The multinational military exercise Noble Partner 2017 was completed on August 12 in Georgia.
The demonstration exercise in which soldiers of NATO member countries and allies participated was held at the Vaziani military base near Tbilisi.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, Defense Minister Levan Izoria, Head of General Staff Vladimer Chachibaia, U.S. Army G3 Head, Brigade General Timothy Doherty and representatives of diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia attended the ceremony.
Uniting under the banner of the exercise’s motto ‘Strength through Partnership,’ more than 2,800 service members from Georgia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovenia, and Armenia participated in the drills focused on improving defence and attack skills.
Noble Partner 2017 aimed to improve skills in stability and combat operations, increase the interoperability of the United States, Great Britain, Georgia and partner countries, increase combat capabilities of the NATO Response Force (NRF) and interoperability of its units.
This time, the exercise was conducted in the largest scale and involved eight NATO member and partner countries.
The same day Georgia celebrated “Didgoroba,” an annual festival commemorating Georgian army’s victory in the battle of August 12, 1121.The festival has been given an historic significance as it commemorates not only the victory almost 900 years ago, but it also determined the faith of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.
In his speech, on August 12 Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said Georgia “will definitely be strong and united.”
