Noble Partner drills officially kick off in Georgia

This year’s Noble Partner multinational defence drills officially opened at the 4th Infantry Brigade training grounds in Vaziani near Tbilisi on August 29, with over 2,400 servicemembers from 21 countries involved in the manoeuvres.

Georgia is hosting the exercise for the sixth time, with troops from Japan and Sweden featuring for the first time, the Ministry of Defence of Georgia said, according to Vestnik Kavkaza. 

Major General Giorgi Matiashvili, the Chief of the Georgian Defence Forces, addressed the military personnel of Georgia, the United States, NATO members and partner countries involved in the exercise by emphasising the importance of cooperation between partners and ensuring a stable environment in the Black Sea region.

The opening ceremony featured representatives of the Georgian Defence Ministry, defence attachés of the countries participating in the drills, as well as NATO experts, the alliance’s liaison office and the European Union Monitoring mission.

Noble Partner is led by the Eastern Command of the Georgian Defence Forces and the US Europe and Africa Command, and supported by the Georgian-based Joint Training and Evaluation Centre.

Servicemembers from Georgia, the United States, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Greece, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Slovakia, Norway, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Poland, Japan, Lithuania-Poland-Ukraine Multinational Brigade and the Swedish Armed Forces are involved in this year’s edition.