DCM TALKS “NATO” TO SCHOOL KIDS OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL
Depuity Chief of Mission Mark Perry spoke about the benefits of NATO membership to a large audience of school children at Public School No. 1 in Sighnaghi, 50 kilometers east of Tbilisi, on November 30. The children viewed an educational cartoon, “Ani and Rati’s Wonderful Journey to NATO,” accompanied by comic books on the same theme. In a lively question and answer session after the screening, the kids asked DCM Perry about NATO and Georgia’s chances to become a member. A precocious seventh grader asked: “Can Georgia join NATO if its separatist conflicts (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) aren’t solved?” DCM Perry emphasized that striving for NATO membership helps ensure progress on democratic reforms, and stressed that on-going reforms in Georgia will benefit the people and help the country join the Euro-Atlantic family of nations.
The occasion marked the opening of the Sighnaghi NATO Corner, organized by the NGO “New Generation New Initiative” (NGNI) and funded through an Embassy Democracy Commission grant. NGNI is opening NATO Corners - modeled on the U.S. Embassy’s successful network of American Corners – throughout Georgia, including one in Tamarasheni, in the Georgian administratively-controlled section of the separatist region of South Ossetia, under the sponsorship of NATO-country Embassies. The event was widely covered by local and national media, including Radio Hereti, the weekly Spektri, and national television companies Rustavi-2, Public Broadcaster Channel One, and Mze. |
