Georgian and Ossetian youth begin joint European tour

 A Georgian and Ossetian youth peacekeeping mission has begun.

The joint project, which is called Youth Peace Express and is carried out by the Georgian-Ossetian Civil Forum, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the European Union (EU), began this morning.

The project will see Georgian and Ossetian youth travel together by bus for 17 day to five European countries: Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo.

While traveling, the youth will meet students in each country, civil activists and members of the local governments. In additio, they will formulate mechanisms and plan for future cooperation.

Project participants will have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with other European citizens and learn about foreign values, traditions and customs.

The Georgian buses left this morning and will be joined by the Ossetian group in Istanbul.

They will return to Georgian on May 12.