European Week begins in Georgia

Ten days of events to celebrate Georgia and its European future has begun in Tbilisi.

From May 5-14, European Week will be celebrated in Georgia with a variety of activities, including a conference where locals can learn more about the future direction of the country.

The Week was organized by the NATO-EU Information Centre with support from the State Ministry for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

The first event of the Week was a conference, currently being held at the Georgian National Library.

The conference titled ‘Our European Choice’ was the final phase of two already announced competitions – an essay competition on the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA) by the Universities of Georgia and the Art Competition on European Values announced by the State Academy of Art in Georgia.

Today’s conference was attended by the State Ministry for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Alex Petriashvili, Deputy Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili, EU Ambassador to Georgia Philip Dimitrov, other diplomats and representatives of various agencies.

"This is a traditional European week however it has a special significance within the framework of [Georgia] signing the Association Agreement,” Petriashvili said.

"This event is of special significance and has a great importance as Georgian citizens will receive more information about the AA and what direction the country is moving so that there is no confusion in the future,” he said.

Ambassador Dimitrov stressed the importance of the event and noted European Week was always celebrated in a range of countries where Europe was important.

"We are opening the week by awarding the winners of the essay competition. This is a contest held among students on the topic of the AA. I could say that these are more than just essays. Certain research was carried out and we highly evaluate these works,” Dimitrov said.

"After that, a cycle of events will be held throughout the whole week and on May 10 we will celebrate Europe Day under the auspices of the EU representation in Georgia and EU member states,” he added.

European week will continue until May 14. During the celebration meetings with students, representatives of academic circles, farmers and probationers have been planned, as well as holding sports tournaments, exhibitions and other events in Tbilisi and wider afield.