The Prime Minister of Georgia Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili opened the NATO-Georgia public diplomacy forum in frames of NATO-Georgia week at Radisson Blue Iveria Hotel.
The First Deputy State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili delivered a speech on information propaganda. The First Deputy State Minister spoke about the conflicts in Easter Partnership countries and emphasized the need for peaceful settlement of the conflicts.
Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili gave a special attention to the increased Russian propaganda in Georgia and elsewhere in the region.
“Russian propaganda is indeed one of those challenges for Georgia and elsewhere. We face visible and invisible barriers, for instance tanks and barbed wires, images of enemy portrayed by Russian propaganda, anti-western narratives, etc. The occupied territories are most vulnerable with this respect; presumably, same goes with the regions of compact ethnic settlements, in which the lack of state language awareness remains challenging. This explains their disconnection from Georgian television channels, for which they use predominantly Russian television broadcasters for information. Therefore, our primary goal is to improve access to unbiased information about socio-political developments in Georgia and the region for ethnic minority representatives, as well as our citizens who live in the occupied territories, including the information on European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” – Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili declared.
Representatives of executive and legislative chambers, officials responsible for the issues of public diplomacy and communication from the government and NATO headquarters, as well as invited guests took part into the forum.
The NATO week runs in Georgia for the 9th time. This year it runs from 4 to 19 April.


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