georgia
Georgia is intended to restore its trade and cultural ties with Russia in the near future, new Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili told reporters.He emphasized that it was very important for Georgia to establish relations with its “Great Neighbor”.
“With 20% of Georgian territory occupied and two Russian embassies operating in the occupied territories, diplomatic relations with Russia will not be restored”, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Maia Panjikidze told journalists after the meeting with the employees of the foreign ministry.
PM-designate Bidzina Ivanishvili and his cabinet plans to carry out “large-scale reforms in all strategic directions” according to incoming government’s program... On conflict resolution issues, the program makes emphasis on public diplomacy, economic and joint business projects and on encouraging people-to-people contacts across “the dividing lines.”
Each border control officer then reached under his desk and, with a practiced move, returned every passport with an unexpected object. It was a 200-milliliter bottle of red wine, packed in a crimson gift box and stamped: “Welcome to the Land of 8,000 Vintages.”
Georgia has now set a goal of welcoming 5 million Russian tourists by 2020 — more than one Russian for every Georgian. If Georgia succeeds in spoiling millions of Russian tourists every year with fine wines, rich meals and warm hospitality, this could do the most to defeat the Kremlin's cold war in the Southern Caucasus.
CPD recently published "Public Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution: Russia, Georgia and the EU in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the 7th issue of CPD Perspectives on Public Diplomacy for this year.
The US State Department has released their International Religious Freedom Report for 2011 which covers 199 countries including Georgia. The report reads that the Georgian Government demonstrated a trend toward the improvement in respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom.