Interfax
January 30, 2014
NATO lauds effort to fight corruption at Georgian Defense Ministry
TBILISI: NATO welcomes the effort to fight corruption and to lower corruption risks in the Georgian Defense Ministry, Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Tamara Karosanidze told a press conference on Thursday.
She said NATO experts had drawn up a report on reforms carried out by Georgia consistent with the NATO Building Integrity program.
The report positively evaluated the completed and upcoming reforms, the deputy minister said.
“The report by NATO experts accentuated the steps the ministry had taken for building up transparency and reducing corruption risks and indicated problems that had yet to be resolved,” Karosanidze said.
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Ministry of Defence of Georgia
January 30, 2014
The NATO Peer Review Team Report
The NATO peer review team praised the Ministry of Defence for its strong support for taking forward NATO’s anticorruption program and a significant progress in fighting corruption.
Deputy Defence Minister Tamar Karosanidze and Head of the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia William Lahue made remarks for media representatives regarding the results of the report.
The NATO Building Integrity (BI) Peer Review report analyzes the steps taken by the Ministry to promote transparency and integrity, and highlights the areas requiring further improvement.
“Increasing the use of electronic procurement systems, establishing of a simplified electronic tender procedure, engaging the civil society through regular contacts, establishing of the Citizen Reception Office, using military selection boards, independent testing of personnel and a balanced interview process in the hiring of new civilian staff, and using of an online asset declaration system were identified as examples of good practice and innovative approaches of the Ministry that it ought to share with others,” the report says.
The report has been sent to the Georgian Defence Minister Irakli Alasania by acting assistant secretary general, James Appathurai. In the letter attached to the report he commends the Ministry of Defence of Georgia for its frank and open exchange with the review team during the visit in December.
“It is recommended that Georgia make use of both NATO and Southeastern European Defence Ministerial (SEDM) tools to promote your experiences and lessons learned. The BI team and the NATO Headquarters, as well as the network of NATO BI Subject Matter Experts and Implementing Partners, remain at your disposal and stand ready to assist you in taking forward work to strengthen transparency, accountability, and the integrity as well promoting good practice,” says James Appathurai in his letter.
The report is based on the self-assessment questionnaire prepared by the MoD and information gathered during the visit of the NATO BI Experts Team in 9-12 December. The Building Integrity (BI) Programme is part of NATO’s commitment to strengthening good governance in the defence and security sector established by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 2007.
James Appathurai’s Letter to Irakli Alasania
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Civil Georgia
January 28, 2014
Tbilisi: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who met his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili in Jerusalem on January 28, said that the two countries should focus on how to “increase our friendship and cooperation.”
“And it’s an enduring and long friendship,” PM Netanyahu said in remarks for the press before the meeting. “We have a natural sympathy with Georgia that seeks to establish a prosperous and secure future for its people. We think we can do that together.”
“We have every area to cooperate in, technology and water, agriculture, education, everything. And we are open to further this cooperation in all fields. We’ve been doing that; we’ll continue to do that. I’m sure your visit enhances that. That is part of our quest to achieve security, prosperity and peace,” the Israeli PM said.
PM Garibashvili said in his remarks that Georgia strives “to build a favorable ground for full expansion of bilateral trade relations worldwide and therefore we attach special importance to the discussions toward a free trade agreement between the State of Israel and Georgia.”
Meanwhile in Tbilisi, Defense Minister Irakli Alasania told journalists on January 28 that “great opportunities have opened up” for military cooperation between Georgia and Israel.
“I visited Israel last month and an agreement was reached to set up a group that will start developing our military cooperation in all directions,” Alasania said.
A memorandum of understanding on launching Georgian-Israeli joint economic commission was signed by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Georgian counterpart Maia Panjikidze on January 28.
This is a second visit of a high-level Georgian delegation to Israel in last seven months. In June, 2013 then PM Bidzina Ivanishvili visited Israel. In November, 2013 Georgia and Israel signed visa-free agreement, which has yet to go into force.
After the meeting with his Israeli counterpart, PM Garibashvili told journalists: “Israel is very important country for Georgia. We pay special attention to cooperation with Israel in whole range of areas – economy, culture, security.”
“I had a very important and fruitful meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli President [Shimon Peres]. We exchanged interesting ideas about how to further deeper our relations and first of all it concern economy as there is a huge potential,” the Georgian PM said, adding that he also had a meeting with a group of Israeli business people, who, he said, would visit Georgia in March to look into investment opportunities.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu assured me of his full readiness and support to personally recommend [Israeli] investors to visit and invest in Georgia,” he said.
PM Garibashvili also said that the newly launched joint economic commission should pave the way for signing of free trade agreement between two countries. Before the visit the Georgian PM’s office was reporting that the signing of this agreement was planned during the visit.
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