Citizens go face-to-face with Georgia’s public services

Today Georgian Ministers left their cabinets and joined people in the main street of capital city Tbilisi to speak about all of the successes and achievements reached this year.

Thousands of people from all walks of life packed into Rustaveli Ave today for the annual celebration that marked Georgia’s 97th Independence Day.

Guests were able to view latest military vehicles and equipment, watch musical, theatrical and dancing performances and other outdoor events. At the same time, guests could also learn about the achievements of different Governmental bodies.

The Ministers themselves introduced the public to their work.

Georgia's Economy Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili was among the Ministers who presented their Ministry's stall. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge

While Georgia’s Minister of Health Care Davit Sergeenko gave lessons to guests about first aid, the Minister of Justice informed people about ID cards and all the services that are provided by the Justice House.

One of the most attractive stalls belonged to the Finance Ministry, which invited people to take part in planning the state budget.

More than 4,000 people took part in an interview, in which they voiced how they would plan the state budget according to their priorities.

"There are different categories such as infrastructure, agriculture, environment, education, science, health care, culture, sport, social issues, and defence. People choose the categories which they think should be priority for the Government and the country and select them according to this direction. When the time comes the authorities will take into account people’s priorities,” a representative of the Finance Ministry told Agenda.ge while explaining the activity.

Local mother of school-aged children Elene Popkhadze selected Education as her top priority of next year’s state budget, followed by health care and agriculture. "I think education is the most important sector for any country. Educated people could develop any other sectors successfully,” she said.

Another stall that gained much attention belonged to Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency, which runs under the Ministry of Economy. Children appeared to be very interested in microelectronics, and they watched how specialists worked on different items.

The specialists worked on different items in the microelectronics corner. Photo by Agenda.ge 

"This Agency was created a year ago to develop innovation and technology in Georgia. Today we showcased everything that has been done in the Agency. We showcased the laboratories, 3D scanner, laser cutting, microelectronics corner, mobile application programming, making the computer games and graphic,” said the Agency’s Head of Skills Development and Capacity Building Giorgi Kintsurashvili.

Georgia’s Economy Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said he was proud of the Ministry’s Economics team. "Here are lots of things that are presented to people so they can see what our team is doing for creating new businesses and for employing more people,” he said.

Green technologies, electric cars, recycling and environment protection activities for children featured on the stall hosted by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection.

Furthermore, artwork created by prisoners was exhibited by the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance.

The Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodations and Refugees of Georgia displayed photos of displaced families being offered new apartments from the Government.

"We have exhibited all the achievements that the Ministry did for displaced persons from October 2012 until today. In the photos of our stall you can see how the Ministry gave these people the apartments. Our stand tells the history of how the apartments were prepared for new residents and how the displaced people were given new homes. This is a very touching theme for many visitors of our stall,” said head of the Ministry’s PR Department Dali Gogolashvili.

People see the photos of how the Ministry gave displaced people the apartments. Photo by Agenda.ge

"We gave 7,120 families apartments – some of them were new and some were old apartments that were deemed legally owned. In addition, by the end of August 2015 nine blocks and 598 apartments will be given to displaced people,” she added.

Today’s events will end with a gala concert outside Tbilisi Parliament Building this evening.