Black Sea Peacebuilding Network

On 6th July 2010, at GFSIS office the ninth meeting of experts within the Georgian component of Black Sea Peace Network project was held. (Agenda attached)

At the meeting Ilia Guchmanidze (Youth Club Taoba [Generation]) invited guest from Adjarian Autonomous Republic addressed the experts’ work group. Two representatives of he experts’ work group: Lasha Tughushi (newspaper “Resonance”) and Gia Tarkhan-Mouravi (Institute of Public Policies) made their presentations as well.

Ilia Guchmanidze, in his report – Common Youth Strategy and Action Plan for Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts in Georgia – overviewed significance of participation of young people for conflicts resolution. For such participation, in the opinion of the speaker, youth strategy and common action plan should be developed. ilia Guchmanidze presented the project “Common Youth Strategy and Action Plan for Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts in Georgia” developed by Club Taoba and Georgian Institute of Research of Russia. Goal of the project is making closer Georgian, Osetian and Abkhazian young people in the future and development of their relations. (See below full version of the report)

After completion of the report the discussion was held in the form of questions and answers. The experts considered various issues, including: whether the speaker had information about various youth groups working on similar problems and whether their club cooperates with them or not. The organizations within Tbilisi State University and Batumi University were named. There was also mentioned that such youth groups often fall under the influence of the governmental structures, what, in the opinion of some experts, is against the spirit of “public diplomacy” and as such group are perceived as supplements to the state strategy, their effectiveness is lower. Though, some experts also mentioned that such relations do not imply dependence upon the government.

The following speaker, Lasha Tughushi presented to the audience the report Issues of Negotiations and Prospects of Relations with Russia.

The speaker overviewed visions of Moscow and Tbilisi, with respect of the dialogue and presented his views about factors determining Georgian-Russian relations. The speaker formulated his conclusions related to the discussed issues in a form of several issues. (See below full version of the report)

In the discussion after Lasha Tughushi’s presentation, Alexander Kukhianidze, Tengiz Pkhaladze, Paata Zakareishvili, Manana Mebuke, Gia Tarkhan-Mouravi and Natela Sakhokia expressed their opinions.

The third speaker at the meeting, Gia Tarkhan-Mouravi made presentation – Emergency Management in Georgia. The speaker described in details what was done in this respect in Georgia, after independence and the weaknesses characteristic for this sphere. The speaker emphasized the significance of emergency management for the country. G. Tarkhan-Mouravi also considered the competences and statuses of the departments operating in this sphere in Georgia. In this context he dealt with the issues of legislation as well. Finally, in the form of conclusion, he presented the circumstances to be taken into consideration for improvement of the emergencies management.

Experts discussed the issues arisen after the third presentation. Giorgi Volski, Manana Mebuke, Alexander Kukhianidze and Shorena Lortkipanidze expressed their opinions. They stated that this sphere is less studied and it is of great significance, that for example, there is no tourism security at all and it have not been the issue of any trainings or publications. In this discussion they considered the potential of use of Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization system, as well as the issue of “Catastrophes’ Management” presented in the Eastern Partnership as “Flagman Incentive.”