The President of Georgia nominated Irakli Dzneladze on the post of the Chief of the General Staff. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Defense of Georgia, and it was attended by Irakli Alasania and representatives of the General Staff. Candidacy of Colonel Irakli Dzneladze was decided through joint consultations between the Minister of Defense and the Head of State. Mikheil Saakashvili congratulated Irakli Dzneladze and wished him success, while noting that he is being given a very responsible mission considering the tough situation existing in the country.

Mikheil Saakashvili also spoke about the issue of developing the defense sphere and noted that the chosen course must continue in this sense. The President of Georgia named the issue of defending the country and its territorial integrity as a priority. He also focused attention on the necessity of continuing military reforms.

“Today is an important day for the Armed Forces of Georgia because I present to you the new Chief of the General Staff, Mr. Irakli Dzneladze. He is a very experienced officer and he has gone through his career with many of you. He also has a good education – he studied in the United States and Germany…he has worked a lot at the General Staff as well as in specific military fields. He also has experience in the diplomatic field which is very important for the General Staff. I think Mr. Irakli’s candidacy is ideal in conditions when we are trying to continue the work of the General Staff progressively. After serious contemplation I made a decision to nominate him for this position. Problems emerged regarding the previous Chief of the General Staff, General Kalandadze. I respect him very much and I hope these misunderstandings end soon. He will remain an honorable part of the Armed Forces and will soon return to his work. We don’t have the right to be emotional, because the Armed Forces are apart from political life, and stand above personalities of each one of us or unfairly created legal problems. We cannot stop development of the Armed Forces. The Defense Minister and I shared our opinions in this sense and he has a similar opinion: we must keep advancing towards NATO. We had several stages; before 2004 an equipment and training program was created for the Armed Forces, and in 2004 we created new infrastructure. Issues of arming, housing and material issues as well as new bases were dealt with. We negotiated with President Obama in January to begin a new stage of arming our military, which envisions land protection, air and equipment for all the bases that are most important for Georgia. So, our Army is not only being prepared for foreign operations, but every step will be made in order to equip our Armed Forces. This is a new historic stage of cooperation between Georgia and the United States. Hence, like never before, your participation is important so that nothing stops. I think a lot of experience has been accumulated and I am proud to have taken part in that with you; however everything is still ahead of us. In 2008 Georgia’s freedom first of all survived because of the heroic resistance by our Armed Forces, and we all know that well. Our nation must have hopes for our Armed Forces in the future as well. I am certain that this course will continue.  I think we must overcome all the obstacles including the ones that emerged with regard to NATO recently. We must be able to continue this course with joint work.

The following summit, an enlargement summit, will be held in Chicago in 2014 – it was decided this year, and I hope Georgia will be in a good shape by that time for ending up as part of the next NATO enlargement group. However, along with political issues this is an issue of continuing military reforms. This is why I would like to wish success to you and the Minister of Defense in this direction. No matter what kind of government we have in Georgia, when it is the call of the nation to continue the course towards NATO and defending the country and its territorial integrity, this issue is holy of the holy for us. The Armed Forces must remain apart from politics and constantly advance on the path of development. This is the course I chose from the first day and logically this is how it should continue in the future. I would like to congratulate you one more time, and tell you that it is a tough time and you are being given a tough responsibility. Mr. Irakli, I would also like to congratulate  each one of you and Mr. Minister” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.

Colonel Irakli Dzneladze has been serving in the Georgian Armed Forces for the past 20 years. He served at various times in the J-3 Operative Planning Department and Infantry Army Command. In the recent time period he was a Georgian military attaché in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.