International Day of Multiculturalism was celebrated in Karvasla. The State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili and the Minister of Culture and Sport Mikheil Giorgadze attended the event.

A concert dedicated to this day was held by the artist, musician Misha Mdinaradze. The creative groups of ethnic minorities living in Georgia offered to the guests musical performances.  The writer Givi Shakhnazari was awarded with the special prize “Art Guru” for his particular merit in development of Georgian culture. The traditional dishes of ethnic minorities also were presented.

The State Minister Ketevan Tsikhelashvili thanked the guests and noted that the International Day of Multiculturalism is a day of dialogue and development.

"We live in a country where every citizen has an equal opportunity to develop. Despite of ethnicity, each citizen is equal and everyone have equal opportunities to participate in the different areas of public life.

"We should together build a country where we all will care for the development and economic progress. This is our message today for Abkhazians and Ossetians, for our population in both regions where people are well aware of the need of protection, preservation and development of identity. This is a message in our common future, which I am confident of.

"You know that our homeland celebrates 100 anniversary since the announcement of our First Republic. I would like with pride say about the ethnic diversity that was in the founding council of the First Republic. We can say that the first representative body of our country reflected the picture of Georgia of that period. When we talk about civic equality, tolerance and diversity, we have to know that the roots of this existed a century ago", - said Ketevan Tsikhelashvili.

The event was organized by the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality and Ministry of Culture and Sport with the support of international organizations UNAG and USAID.

In 2001, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity, based on which "Cultural Diversity Day for Dialogue and Development" has been celebrated annually since May 21, 2002.