State Secretary Majer: The Slovak-Georgian defence relationship will take on a new quality as we set up a Slovak Defence Attaché's Office in Tbilisi

State Secretary of the Slovak Defence Ministry Marian Majer's official visit to Georgia (GEO) began in Tbilisi, with a series of meetings with 1st Deputy Defence Minister of Georgia Ms Lela Chikovani, Chair of the Parliamentary Defence and Security Committee Mr Irakli Beraia, Head of the NATO Liaison Office (NLO) Georgia Mr Alexander Vinnikov, and representatives of the local security community and military education & training establishments. Separately, they discussed deepening the SVK-GEO relationship, the opportunities for defence industrial cooperation, the support for Georgia's defence capacity building, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine with its repercussions for European security.

In his consultations with 1st Deputy Defence Minister of Georgia Lela Chikovani and Chair of the Parliamentary Defence and Security Committee Irakli Beraia, State Secretary Majer reaffirmed the position whereby Slovakia supports Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, pushing for Georgia to be granted EU candidate country status.

Recognising Georgia's right to sovereignty, Marian Majer said: “Georgiaʼs territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders is a basic condition for a peaceful solution to this conflict.” He went on to highlight that Slovakia does not recognise the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since they are being occupied by the Russian Federation.

Whilst meeting the senior government and parliamentary officials, the SVK delegation announced its intent to set up a Slovak Defence Attaché's Office in Tbilisi as early as next year. “Thanks to this step, our bilateral defence cooperation will be made simpler and will take on a new quality. I am firmly convinced this will be an excellent opportunity to extend our links to cover new areas,” State Secretary Majer added.

Both sides identified further areas of cooperation. For example, Georgia belongs to a close circle of countries where our state-owned Konštrukta-Defence JSC can see realistic needs for potential use of its products or field artillery (FA) systems to be exact.

State Secretary Majer's official working trip to Georgia included a visit to the Defence Institution Building School (DIBS) in Tbilisi, where a Slovakian is working as a defence education subject matter expert (SME). While still at DIBS, Majer presented his lecture on “Current European Security”.

As part of the official programme out of Tbilisi, he received a tour of the NATO Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC) in Krtsanisi, was taken to a location to see the line of contact with Russia-occupied Georgian territory, and paid a visit to a GEO Army base.