Georgia: European Youth Parliament Meets

Some 30 young people gathered in Tbilisi to participate in a European Youth Parliament (EYP) panel discussion on future EU-Georgia relations and civic engagement.

A peer-led, Europe-wide organisation, EYP brings young people together with a focus on intercultural communication and social change.

“I have always believed that the youth are the face of the nation and a lot depends on their activity, because the young generation is the driving force,” said IWPR representative Rusudan Jamaspishvili, who addressed the event.

“This was very well shown during the events of March 2023, when the Georgian parliament approved so-called the foreign agent law, which was followed by a very large protest in Tbilisi and several large cities of Georgia. This fact clearly shows how much power young people have.”

The July 12 event also included a talk on focused on artificial intelligence and its implications for the future. Ani Janelidze, an AI consultant and an EYP alumnus, discussed new EU regulation of the field as well as “the issues associated with AI usage and potential ways to eliminate them”.

The youth conference was supported by IWPR as part of the "Amplify, Verify, Engage (AVE) Project" implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.

Ana Datiashvili, president of EYP Georgia, said that it had been the first time the organisation had held this type of meeting.

“Discussing issues that are close to our hearts, having an open and welcoming environment, exchanging ideas and information was something that made the event special,” she said, adding, that it had been “a space for us, the young people, to discover new opportunities and network with interesting people inside and outside the organisation”.