I was at my office working when Sergey (Sergey Marinin, IWPR’s project manager in Central Asia – ed.) called me and asked if I would like to do a two-week internship in Georgia. I accepted the offer without hesitation and was happy to find out that the dates of the internship coincided with my vacation.
Firstly, I was interested in this proposal because the internship was at the crossroads of big changes, namely discussions on Georgia’s accession to the EU, and we could witness this process. Secondly, the internship program was very intense and very promising in terms of research and career development, many meetings with influential officials and independent experts, many ideas for the future.
After weeks of anticipation, our trip to Georgia began with a car trip from Bishkek to Almaty airport, and from there by plane, an average of 4 hours in the air. If there were direct flights from Bishkek, relations between Georgia and Kyrgyzstan would develop more actively, I thought. IWPR made sure that our trip was as comfortable as possible. A shuttle met us in Georgia and took us to our destination. Nighttime Tbilisi seemed like a very big and nighttime city, beautiful hills and glass buildings were the first thing that caught our eye. And our apartment turned out to be a mini-museum, restored to look like Frida Kahlo’s house.
On the first day, we met with experts from the Rondeli Foundation, who introduced us to their activities, and we discussed the project program. From the very first day, we had official visits to Georgia’s leading think tanks, not only national but also international.
The visit to the Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a big surprise. Everything was at the highest level of preparation; we were welcomed not as trainees but as a national delegation from Central Asia. It was obvious from the enthusiasm and preparation of the centers that they were interested in cooperation with our countries; after the collapse of the Union, close economic and cultural ties were severed, as everything was built through Moscow. But it was time to build relations through the personal prism of our countries.
We also had time to observe small and large rallies on different occasions, the big rally was after the EU denied Georgia accession to them. There were a lot of people, different ages, children and youth, different nationalities, but everyone had a common idea, so everyone in the crowd was calm and in solidarity with each other. We did not see any provocations or scandals. In Kyrgyzstan, civil society is also strong and responsive to political and social change, so I was not afraid of rallies. But these rallies showed how advanced the culture of holding rallies, everything went smoothly and peacefully.
There is still no Georgian embassy in Kyrgyzstan, so everyone who goes to Georgia becomes an ambassador of Georgia to Kyrgyzstan, which is what I am doing now, trying to tell them about the possibilities of this country, how they live and what we can learn from them. I hope this is not my last visit to Georgia; I will definitely go again as a tourist. Thank you, IWPR, for this unique opportunity to represent Kyrgyzstan in Georgia and to be among those who have made an effort to strengthen cooperation.
My impressions of the people, organizations, society, and country as a whole were very warm, and I wish them and us all success and the unification of our common forces to develop democracy and freedom in our countries.