OSCE donates equipment to dismantle and recycle obsolete munitions to the Georgian Defence Ministry

TBILISI, 13 May 2009 - The OSCE donated equipment for dismantling and recycling obsolete TNT-filled munitions to the Georgian Defence Ministry today.

"This equipment will enable the Georgian Defence Ministry to recycle TNT-filled warheads in order to deal with this environmental threat in an effective way," said Ambassador Terhi Hakala, the Head of the OSCE Mission.

For the last four years, the equipment has been used to recycle 65,000 obsolete TNT-filled shells at Dedoplitskaro military base in eastern Georgia under an OSCE programme.

The equipment was supplied by Ukraine's Ukronboronservice as part of a project of the OSCE Mission to Georgia funded by the Finnish government. Earlier stages of the programme involved financing from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The projects were conducted by dismantling experts from the government-appointed local agency DELTA.

The Defence Ministry's base in Dedoplitskaro was renovated as part of the programme.