Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, Georgia's State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, opened the project "Young European Ambassadors" with Nino Bolkvadze, director of the Information Center on NATO and EU.

The project envisages holding informational meetings on the importance of Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration in villages and cities of Georgia from October 2018 to May 2019.

At the first stage of the project, mobile group will be created from members of youth centers of UN Association "Tolerance’’, Civic Consciousness and Integration Support Program" (PITA), which will be trained on NATO and EU, Western values, Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration issues. At the second stage, mobile group members will start meeting with parents, teachers and pupils on the above mentioned issues.

The State Minister talked about the importance of the project and said that the within the framework of the project young people of different ethnic origins has already been trained, who spoke with citizens about Georgia's European integration and what benefits does it have for each of them.

"We always say and emphasize that our community is firmly supporting this course and it's true. However, our task is that everywhere in every corner of Georgia, every citizen of our country, whatever ethnic origin it should be, it's a conscious choice. Of course, the challenge remains that we do not have direct access to the occupied territories. Unfortunately, there is a strong Russian propaganda and stereotypes that generate the anti-Western sentiment. However, I am sure that exactly the young people will be able to reach their peers regarding what freedom, dignity, respect for each other and what unity with diversity means, just as Georgia existed for centuries, "Ketevan Tsikhelashvili said.

The project is being implemented for the second time. Within the first flow, young people residing in ethnic minority communities were trained, who held 79 informational meetings in 60 villages resided by ethnic minorities.

The project is organized by the European Union and of NATO Information Center and the United Nations Association "tolerance, civic consciousness and Integration Support Program" (PITA), by the Initiative of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).