The First Deputy State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality met with the members of the US House of Representatives.
The First Deputy State Minister gave an overview of the situation in the occupied regions of Georgia, with an emphasis on gross violation of human rights and problems that emerged for the local population due to the installation of barbed wires.
The visitors expressed interest towards the policy of the Georgian Government and the State Minister’s Office in particular for the settlement of conflicts and integration of ethnic minorities. The conversation also concerned the availability and simplified procedures of Georgian passports and neutral documents for the residents of occupied territories.
According to Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, the Government of Georgia considers peace as the only mechanism for the settlement of conflicts with due emphasis on the support to people-to-people contacts, confidence building and reconciliation measures. For this purpose, the Government carries out the Engagement Strategy to extend those benefits and services to the residents of occupied territories that available for the rest of citizens in Georgia; these benefits are available with a support of Georgia’s international partners, including in frames of the cooperation with the European Union.
As far as the civil integration was concerned, the First Deputy State Minister familiarized the members of the US House of Representatives with the State Strategy on Civic Equality and Integration and its respective Action Plan, providing information on planned activities, including the improved state language awareness, programs in support of improved access to quality of education and all spheres of public life for ensuring added value for engagement mechanisms.
Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili noted that “1+4” Programme, designed for ethnic minority entrants at higher academic institutions is one of the project with tangible outcomes.
The conversation also concerned the modality of Geneva International Discussions and the issues that are dealt under the Humanitarian Working Group; in particular the return of IDPs who remain exiled from Georgia’s occupied territories, which remains central among the topics discussed; discussion also dealt where Georgia actually stands for now.
By the conclusion of the meeting, the First Deputy State Minister stressed that Georgia considers the support of the United States indispensable for the non-recognition of Georgia’s occupied territories, as well as in Geneva International Discussions and the implementation of the projects that support peace-building processes.