OSCE, Georgia discuss issues of national minorities
Georgia's State Minister for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili and OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek participated in the roundtable on "Ljubljana principles for the integration of a distinct community".
Zakareishvili talked about the national concept of civic integration and tolerance, and stated its main areas: rule of law, education, the Georgian language, media and access to information, political integration and civic participation, social and regional integration, culture and identity.
Zakareishvili said that the state believes knowledge of the official language by national minorities is key for full integration into society.
"A positive trend has been observed in terms of teaching the official language, and we hope that in a few years, representatives of national minorities will be as fluent in Georgian as in their native language or Russian," he said.
The roundtable was attended by representatives of non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and the diplomatic corps.