Defense Minister visits Nordic countries
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, January 27
Within the frames of an official visit to the Nordic Countries, Georgia’s Minister of Defense, Levan Izoria, arrived in Sweden after holding bilateral meetings in Finland, where he met his Finnish counterpart, Jussi Niinisto, Finnish Chief of Defense Jarmo Lindberg and Foreign Minister Timo Soini.
In Sweden, Izoria was hosted by his Swedish counterpart, Peter Hultqvist.
The sides discussed the bilateral relationship between Georgia and Sweden and Izoria expressed readiness to deepen defense cooperation with the Swedish ministry.
The Georgian minister also invited Swedish troops to take part in Georgia-NATO military exercises 2018.
“We will deepen our bilateral cooperation with Georgia. At the meeting, we discussed cyber defense, hybrid war threats and security issues," the Swedish Defense Minister said.
Following the bilateral meeting, Izoria and Hultqvist attended a seminar of the Society and Defense think-tank, which specializes in security and defense issues.
The seminar, entitled “Sweden and Georgia – Defense Cooperation in a Turbulent World” explored a number of Georgia-related questions, including the country’s foreign and security priorities, its NATO and EU membership issue and counter-measures to Russian policy in the region.
Izoria also met the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, Michael Byden, and representatives of Swedish Parliament’s Committee on Defense.
From Sweden, the Defense Minister traveled to Tartu, Estonia, where he visited the Baltic Defense College and talk to Georgian students of the Academy’s Joint Command and General Staff Course.
Georgia’s defense Ministry reports that in Estonia, meetings were held with Defense Minister Margus Tsahkna and Deputy Commander of the Defense Forces Indrek Sirel.
