The largest edition of the annual Noble Partner defence exercise has officially kicked off at the Vaziani military air base outside the capital of Tbilisi.

Speaking at the opening, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stressed why he believes the drills are extremely significant.

I am sure the armed forces of the participating states will use experience received at the Noble Partner 2017 for strengthening peace in the world”, Prime Minister Kvirikashvili said.

The military drills were regarded as one of the most important occasions in Georgia-NATO relations and today’s opening was attended by top defence and political leaders. Photo: Prime Minister’s press office

Kvirikashvili said this has been the third time that Georgia is hosting the largest-ever joint military drills with its European and regional partners with troops from eight countries joining forces.

It is the result of the devoted service of our soldiers and their contribution to international security that our country is being considered as a noble partner”, Kvirikashvili said.

Prime Minister Kvirikashvili believes such military exercises are important for Georgia and entire region to strengthen cooperation and increase capacity of armed forces as well as make the countries closer to NATO standards.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili (L) and Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili (R) attend opening ceremony of Noble Partner 2017. Photo: President's press office

Thanking the participants of the military exercise for their service, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said "we are holding a global flag of freedom, democracy, human rights” today.

I am sure you will gain interesting experience during the drills and make friends, as the friendship between our states starts from friendship between their people”, Margvelashvili said.

Uniting under the banner of the exercise’s motto Strength Through Partnership, more than 2,800 service members from Georgia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovenia and Armenia participate in the drills focused on improving defence and attack skills.

Service members from 8 countries will team up for the drills. Photo: President’s press office.

Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze also believes the drills don’t only contribute to peace and stability in Georgia and region but also strengthen Georgia’s defence capacity and its European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Multinational annual exercises #NoblePartner opened 3rd time in #Georgia.We stand w/ partners 4 peace&stability of our people pic.twitter.com/5vLQ986GXR — Mikheil Janelidze (@JanelidzeMkh) July 30, 2017

You can read more about Noble Partner 2017 here.