Levan Kharatishvili discussed issues of deepening cooperation with the newly appointed Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia
Levan Kharatishvili, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, held an introductory meeting with Natalia Voutova, the newly appointed Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, and discussed issues of cooperation in the field of culture.
Levan Kharatishvili congratulated Natalia Voutova on her appointment as the Head of the Georgia Office and wished her success in fulfilling this honorable mission. The Deputy Minister also positively assessed the joint projects implemented by Georgia and the Council of Europe in the fields of education, culture and sport, and expressed hope that the existing fruitful cooperation will be further deepened and developed.
According to Levan Kharatishvili, the coming year is of particular importance, as from September 29 to October 1, Georgia will host the 10th Forum of the Council of Europe's Enlarged Partial Agreement in the city of Kutaisi, which will be attended by up to 400 high-ranking guests from various countries.
In her turn, Natalia Voutova, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, expressed her readiness to deepen cooperation and thanked Levan Kharatishvili in particular for his contribution to strengthening relations between Georgia and the Council of Europe in the field of culture and for his active participation in the organization's various platforms. Natalia Voutova also congratulated the Deputy Minister on his election as the Chair of the Council of Europe's Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape (CDCPP) for a 1-year term and wished him fruitful work. She also expressed her readiness to actively get involved in advisory bodies of various formats existing in the cultural dimension.
The Deputy Minister emphasized that against the background of the crisis caused by Covid-19 in the field of culture, special mention should be made of the manifesto published by the Steering Committee, "Manifesto on the Freedom of Expression of Arts and Culture in the Digital Era," which was prepared within the framework of the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights and reflects both the importance of artistic creation and cultural industry for democratic societies, as well as the significance of protecting the freedom of artistic expression, which is regulated by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
