NATO Week 2014 held in Georgia

The annual NATO Week has begun in Georgia aiming to raise awareness of the role of NATO and highlight Georgia’s recent success in moving closer to the North Atlantic organisation.

Georgia’s desire to strengthen its relationship with the West was reaffirmed at the international conference today, which was attended by global NATO representatives, Georgian officials and community representatives.

NATO Week officially opened in Tbilisi today and began with the Way to NATO: Share Experience of Central and Eastern European Countries conference.

This morning, Georgia’s State Minister for European and Euro Atlantic Integration Alexi Petriashvili and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic opened the event.

High officials from Post-Soviet Eastern European countries Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Romania shared their experience of gaining NATO membership.

How Georgia was preparing for NATO integration was revealed by Georgia’s state Minister Alexi Petriashvili, Defence Minister Irakli Alasania and United Kingdom (UK) Ambassador to Georgia Alexandra Hall Hall.

At the end of the first day Grabar-Kitarovic met with Georgian students and spoke about the country’s success in its integration journey.

Tomorrow, a presentation outlining Georgia’s participation in peacekeeping missions will be held and Parliament’s National Library will host an exhibition named History of Georgian troops.

Within NATO Week, youth from Georgia’s regions will visit the NATO informational centre in Tbilisi to learn about the aims and missions of NATO.

On the April 11, the UK Ambassador in Georgia and a Georgian delegation will visit the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in south-east Georgia, which is inhabited by Georgian minority groups including Armenian and Azerbaijani people.

Meetings with residents and local students are also scheduled.

In addition, the NATO Youth Summit will be held simultaneously within NATO Week.

The Romanian Embassy is expected to host an Open Door Day for volunteers from NATO’s International Centre where volunteers will meet the Romanian Ambassador to Georgia Dumitru Badea.

On the final day of NATO Week, a meeting will be held between teachers of Georgia’s western region Guria and representatives of the NATO liaison office where head of the office William Lahiu will deliver a speech. The official agenda stated he will emphasize how Georgia can further relations with NATO.

NATO Week will end on April 16.