Cooperation between Lithuania and Georgia in the field of social integration of the disabled is initiated
On October 19-21, Vida Montvydaitė, Director of the Department of National Minorities under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, and a delegation of N. Genytė's care home, led by Director Vytautas Vigelis, visited Tbilisi. N. Genytė's care home located in Pabradė has accumulated a lot of experience in transforming the institutional care model into a family type and is ready to share its experience with Georgian care institutions.
During the visit, the delegation met with Nino Valikovi, Deputy Head of the Disability Affairs Department at the Georgian Ombudsman's Office, Meri Maghlaperidze, Director of the State Fund for Protection and Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking , Tinatin Ghogheliani, Head of the Department for Relations with International Organizations at Georgian State Ministry for Reconciliation and Civil Equality and in the care homes for people with disabilities in the municipalities of Dusheti and Martkopi. During the talks, experiences were exchanged on the provision of care for the disabled, methods of providing social and medical services to the residents of care homes, and existing good practices for the integration of individuals into society, especially those living in ethnic minority regions. It should be noted that the Georgian care system for people with disabilities seeks to meet the standards of the European Union, therefore the aim will be to strengthen bilateral inter-institutional cooperation, exchange of good practices, and implementation of joint projects. The Georgian institutions were particularly interested in the practice of providing social services in Lithuania, when state institutions provide temporary care for disabled people living in families.
Vida Montvydaitė, Director of the Department of National Minorities, also met with Tea Akhvlediani, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality of Georgia. During the conversation, Lithuania's consistent support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity was once again emphasized, and views were exchanged on the issues of national minority policy, full integration of internally displaced persons and the challenges posed by illegal migration. It was noted that Georgia is interested in cooperating with Lithuania in the areas of information resilience and prevention of hostile propaganda. The common interest in continuing cooperation on ensuring the rights of national minorities was also emphasized.
