9th Annual Advisory Forum on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe

Levan Kharatishvili, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, delivered a speech at the 9th Annual Advisory Forum of the Council of Europe Cultural Routes held in Sibiu, Romania.

The working theme of this year's forum is “Cultural Routes for Cultural Tourism.” Issues such as the growing potential of cultural tourism, the deepening of partnerships among Council of Europe member states, and future ideas for the development of cultural tourism are being discussed.

Georgia has been a member of the Council of Europe's Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes since 2016. This platform is one of the priority directions of the Council of Europe and aims to showcase various countries and cultures through the prism of shared cultural heritage.

To date, the Council of Europe oversees 38 international routes, of which Georgia is an official partner of 4 international routes. In 2019, the Ministry facilitated the certification of 2 new cultural routes and supported the identification of new routes.

In his presentation, the Deputy Minister discussed in detail Georgia's activities and future plans within the Cultural Routes program.

Within the framework of the forum, a working meeting was held between the Georgian delegation and the leadership of the said Council of Europe program and the Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes.

The parties discussed in detail the action plan and organizational issues for hosting the 11th Annual Cultural Routes Forum in the city of Kutaisi in 2021.