Tbilisi: Tea Akhvlediani, the state minister for reconciliation and civil equality held a meeting with the management and editorial staff of two major newspaper. These two newspapers are published in non-Georgian language.
The one is Azerbaijani-language newspaper “Gurjistan” and another one is the Armenian-language newspaper “Vrastan”.
Tea Akhvlediani during his speech said, “we are committed to implement all measure which aims to “ensure access to media and information” for ethnic minorities living in Georgia.”
She highlights challenges of knowledge of the state language in regions densely populated by ethnic minorities, especially a certain part of the adult population. As per minister the most important task is to inform them in their native language about the political, socio-economic, cultural processes and current issues taking place in the country and abroad.
Moreover the knowledge of local state language will also enhance employment opportunities for them. Minister said to train members of minority community the state support of “Vrastan” and “Gurjistan” newspaper will continues in future also.
The state minister Tea Akhvlediani introduced the participants of the meeting to the results and recommendations of a study conducted by an independent research organization. This was conducted to promote the development of knowledge of native language.”
This very important meeting was held in an interactive mode. In turn, the editors of the newspapers spoke about the activities carried out in past and future plans.
In the end of this productive meeting Tea Akhvlediani once again reiterated state support and said, “Today’s meeting with the editorial staff of the Azerbaijani-language newspaper “Gurjistan” and the Armenian-language newspaper “Vrastan” was very useful and important. We discussed our two-year activities currently undergoing in accordance with the priorities of the state policy of civil equality and integration.
According to minister for next two year strategy both of these publications with a century-old history will play an important role. This will play role especially in terms of ensuring access to information in our native language in our regions densely populated by non-Georgian-speaking populations.
The representative of newspaper on the other hand emphasised that “Today, we assessed our activities, discussed the results of a large-scale independent study conducted at the initiative of the State Minister’s Office. Moreover on the basis of above study we identified ways to further increase the effectiveness of the editorial offices’ activities.
