U.S. Senator Richard Lugar to Visit Georgia (August 10)

TBILISI, Georgia – U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs Andrew Weber will participate in a naming ceremony for the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL) on August 12.  The laboratory will be named in honor of Senator Lugar and his efforts to safeguard the world from stockpiles of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, related materials, and delivery systems.

The U.S. Government, through the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, has partnered with the Georgian Government to launch the CPHRL, a state-of-the-art facility designed to promote public and animal health through infectious disease detection, epidemiological surveillance, and research for the benefit of Georgia, the Caucasus, and the global community.  As the U.S. and Georgia celebrate 20 years of bilateral cooperation between our two countries, the laboratory serves as a permanent reminder of the vital role Georgia plays in protecting itself and the region from potential threats, and the U.S. commitment to working with Georgia in these critical areas.

Senator Lugar and Assistant Secretary Weber will also participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for the administration building for the Georgian National Center for Disease Control, which will also host the offices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Global Disease Detection program and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.  Together with the CPHRL laboratory, the future administration building will serve as a regional training center and a vital node in a global network of laboratories that cooperate to identify and report potentially deadly diseases before they can spread.