On 12 March 2014, the Information Centre on NATO and EU held the meeting with 20 students – participants of Levan Mikeladze Foundation’s project: Supporting Youth Initiatives in Ethnic Minorities.
Students expressed desire to meet with representatives of the Information Centre on NATO and EU. They want to get familiar with the details of cooperation with NATO and the European Union.
The students were hosted by Elene Gotsadze, director of the Information Centre on NATO and EU. She talked about the following issues: the necessity of forming NATO and EU alliances; principles, regulations, structure and members of these organizations; procedures of joining these organizations; NATO Secretary General’s rights; modern challenges of alliances – cyber security and terrorism. Director of the Center shared her experience in addressing critical issues in the process of rapprochement with NATO. Moreover, Elene Gotsadze spoke about the issues related to EU-Georgia cooperation.
Students were particularly interested in issues related to the status of breakaway regions of Georgia in case of accepting Georgia into NATO. They asked questions about how long the Georgian military contingent should be in Afghanistan and why NATO did not intervene in Russia-Georgia conflict in 2008 as actively as now in case of Ukraine.
The students expressed their wish to plan meetings with population in the regions aiming at providing more detailed information about NATO and EU. Elene Gotsadze offered the students to visit their villages within the framework of “NATO bus” project and to hold informational meetings on site.
The project Supporting Youth Initiatives in Ethnic Minorities of the Levan Mikeladze Foundation aims to support ethnic minorities living in Georgia (Akhalkalaki, Marneuli and Tbilisi), contribute to youth integration and their active involvement in the public life.
The project is being implemented since 2013 and the young people have already met the young Constitutionalists in Tbilisi.
