Georgia advances cultural relations with Estonia

Georgia’s tight cultural relations with Estonia are set to move closer together following a high-ranking meeting between the culture ministers of the two states.

The meeting coincided with the screening of a Georgian film to open an international film festival in the Baltic country’s capital Tallinn.

Head of Georgia’s state culture office Mikheil Giorgadze and his counterpart Indrek Saar met on Thursday to review past events organised within their bilateral cultural cooperation before discussing the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival that will open later today with a screening of the film My Grandmother by Georgian director Kote Mikaberidze.

Ways to widen and deepen cooperation between the two states’ cultural organisations was also on the meeting agenda.

As well as the two officials, the meeting was attended by Giorgadze’s deputy Kakhi Kandelaki, chair of Estonian Parliament’s Cultural Affairs Committee Laine Randjärv and Georgia’s Ambassador to Estonia Tea Akhvlediani.

Discussions on developing state strategies on culture, museum affairs and protecting historical legacies were part of the formal events, where the two sides agreed to work to renew the current agreement on cultural cooperation that is due to expire in 2016.

Georgia will enjoy the status of Focus Country at this year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, where 13 productions from the Caucasian state will be screened in a special section of one Northern Europe’s largest film events.