New Ambassador of France arrives in Georgia
By Messenger Staff
Thursday, March 10
Georgia has a new Ambassador of France, Pascal Meunier, who has replaced Reno Salens.
The Ambassador has already arrived in Georgia and submitted his credentials to President Giorgi Margvelashvili on March 7.
The President wished him success for his four-year term.
After the first official meeting in Georgia, Meunier met Georgia’s Minister of Defence Tinatin Khidasheli.
Khidasheli emphasised France had expressed readiness to be Georgia’s “major support” in the air-defence field within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-Georgia Substantial Package.
She stressed that Georgia aimed to involve France in other sections of the package.
Khidasheli also underscored that the French Defence Minister’s visit to Georgia was being arranged, and that the the first French troops who are being tasked with training Georgian soldiers in air defence would arrive in Georgia next week .
The Minister also highlighted that this year, Georgia would celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Sachkhere Mountain Training School, opened with the support of France.
Meunier put emphasis on Georgia and France's close partnership, expressed his support to Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and emphasised Georgia’s efforts in maintaining international peace and security.
“Georgia is the only country of the post-Soviet states with whom France has enjoyed truly global cooperation. I am very happy that the Sachkhere Mountain Training School has been granted NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) status. Our cooperation is quite large-scale, which indicates the trust between the two nations,” the Ambassador said.
The PfP Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is a multilateral agreement between NATO member states and countries participating in the PfP programme. It deals with the status of foreign forces while present on the territory of another state.
