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Azerbaijan, Georgia to launch joint bid for Euro 2020

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Author:  By Tamar Khurtsia

Georgia and neighboring Azerbaijan will make a joint bid to host the European Football Championship Finals in 2020, said President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili while addressing the legislative body of Azerbaijan, Milli Majlis, on March 7. The bidding process to host Euro 2020 is expected to start later this year, with the winner to be announced in May of 2014.

Neither Georgia, nor Azerbaijan has ever qualified for a major international football competition since gaining independence in 1991. Hence, the news was met with enthusiasm in Tbilisi. Many think that implementation of the initiative is “very realistic but challenging.”

According to Zviad Sichinava, the President of the Georgian Football Federation, hosting the European Football Championship final is a challenge for Georgian football. “The federation has much work to do in order to get ready for the bid and the support of the government will be essential for making a plan,” Sichinava said at the press conference in Tbilisi following Saakashvili’s announcement.

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Georgia produces multiple rocket launcher and infantry fighting vehicle

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Author:  By Ia Natsvlishvili

Last week the Georgian government announced with great fanfare the production of their new multiple launch rocket (MRL) system According to president Saakashvili the system is capable of firing from unprepared positions and without exposing the crew, with a rapid salvo rate..

“Following the August War in 2008 we realized that we can’t rely on anyone except on ourselves,” Saakashvili said as he described the goal of producing the MRL system as well as its operational capabilities.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the vehicles that house the MRL system have an armored cab to protect its five-man crew. “Its shells will be produced very soon,” Saakashvili said.

The rocket launcher was presented a week after Georgia unveiled another of its own military products- the Lazika, a new infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). The vehicle is equipped with a remotely- controlled weapons module and fire control system, and it is armed with a 23-mm cannon and a 7.62-mm machine-gun. Both products, as the government says, will be used in the local military and may also be sent for export.

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