Georgia: President Zourabichvili visits Kvareli Euroclub to mark its 4th anniversary

On 28 November 2023, the Kvareli EuroClub in Georgia marked its four-year anniversary with an official ceremony and a public fair, the ‘EuroClub Village’. 

The special event was organised as part of the ‘MORE EU in GEORGIA’ public outreach activities of the Young European Ambassadors (YEAs), with financial support of the EU NEIGHBOURS east regional communication programme, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Norway. 

The official ceremony was attended by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, Nicholas Cendrowicz, the Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Georgia, Anna Chernyshova, the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Georgia, as well as the ambassadors of Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, US, UK and Estonia and the representatives of France, Poland, Denmark, Norway, and NATO.

The Kvareli EuroClub was founded by Young European Ambassador Nika Gurini in November 2019, with the support of the European Commission, DG NEAR, through the EU NEIGHBOURS EAST programme. In the four years since then, more than 2,000 young people have benefited from the different projects and activities organised by the EuroClub.

The main mission of the EuroClub is to create a space for young people to interact and learn, to have access to non-formal education, and to stimulate civic activism at the community level. 

“Such an initiative is exactly what our country needs the most in order to achieve our goal – the European road of Ilia [Chavchavadze], and for this, everyone’s involvement is necessary,” President Zourabichvili said in Kvareli. “The government, leaders, they come and go, but society remains, and society, if it is sure of itself, if society really knows what kind of future it wants, what it wants for its children, for the next generation, then that society will achieve its own, and it all starts in the city, village, community, all the initiatives started from there are the strongest.”

Photo credit: UNDP/Gela Bedianashvili

To mark its 4th anniversary, the EuroClub Kvareli organised various events, including the ‘EuroClub Village’, where local youth were invited to celebrate the European Commission’s recommendation for Georgia’s EU candidacy and the EU’s support to Georgia. The event brought together more than 500 local young people.“Bringing people together is at the core of the EuroClub Kvareli vision and this event was a great opportunity for the local community to strengthen confidence in building Europe at home,” said EuroClub founder Nika Gurini.“Discussing Georgia’s European aspirations, the role of youth in society  and the importance of civic activism for community development with the Georgian President and the representatives of diplomatic missions to Georgia was truly inspirational.”