It is very important that like-minded democratic countries work together, and this also means joint training, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges James Appathurai, who is on a visit to Georgia, said.

Regarding Georgia's non-participation in the multinational exercise "Defender 2023" organized by the US European Command, in response to a journalist's question, Appathurai said that he learned the reports about it when he arrived here.

"I saw a message from the government that this was done as a result of consultation with the United States of America. This is what I read. What I can say is that I have just recently discussed with Georgian government officials a series of exercises in which Georgia will participate. Training that is also related to the work I do now is cyber and energy security. We discussed further exercises that we can conduct together, in particular in the energy direction, there is also a cyber exercise, in which I expect that it will be approved very soon for Georgia to participate," said Appathurai.

According to him, now the capacity of military defense has become even more important.

"At the end of the day, we are now in a situation where the capacity to defend ourselves militarily has become even more urgent, even more important, so I would just encourage maximum cooperation in the exercises," Appathurai noted.