On the 30th of October the young Georgian Diaspora representatives living in Russia ended their visit in Georgia. The visit was organized by Caucasian House in the frame of project “Georgian-Russian Dialogue for Peace and Cooperation”. In four days participants have met state officials, as well as representatives of civil and academic sector; they got acquainted with the country’s current political, socio-economic and cultural processes and receive interesting information about contemporary Georgia.
The first meeting was held with the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, as the big desire for this meeting was expressed by the Diaspora representatives itself. The meeting was very emotional and impressive for both guests and the host. The next meetings were organized with Zurab Abashidze – PM’s Special Representative for Russian issues, Paata Zakareishvili – State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality and Gela Dumbadze – State Minister for Diaspora Issues. Other interesting meetings were held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.
The second session of the visits was meetings with representatives of Georgian civil and academic sector. Young Georgians have met with Vakhtang Tcharaia – the Rector’s adviser at Tbilisi State University and Levan Gigineishvili – Professor at Ilia State University. The participants had an opportunity to meet Naira Gelashvili, head of Caucasian House, – who introduced them history, vision and mission of the organization. The participants also learned more about the main direction of activities and trends of young social movements of Georgia. The visit of Diaspora representatives was ended by the trip to Kakheti region.
This visit of Georgian Diaspora living in Russia is extremely important in the light of current Russia-Georgia relations. Given that such an event is unprecedented, it holds a special meaning for both sides. During the visit, the necessity of strengthening of ties with the Georgian Diaspora was raised several times, as well as the importance of the role that Georgian Diaspora in Russia can play while there is no diplomatic relation between two states was underlined.
The project “Georgian-Russian Dialogue for Peace and Cooperation” is funded by the financial support of the government of Great Britain.