Georgian delegates visit Columbia to gain democratic perspective

Georgian MU graduate students guided the delegates.

By Pierce Courchaine

Published Nov. 13, 2009

Delegates from the Republic of Georgia toured MU on Thursday as part of the Open World program. Georgian MU graduate students led the tours of the College of Business and the School of Journalism.

"Georgia is in a transition period from a soviet communist economic system to a market economic system," graduate student David Javakhadze said. "All of these people who came are in the economic areas of their town."

Javakhadze, who originally came to MU as an exchange student, led the delegates' tour of the business school.

"Georgia is disciplined in physics and chemistry," Javakhadze said. "But for business and economics, this is kind of a new thing for us because we are from communist background."

The Georgian delegates have been in Columbia since Nov. 7 and are here until Sunday. During their visit, they have toured government buildings and educational institutions in order to learn about local governments and government accountability.

"All of the countries that broke away from the Soviet Union have had problems getting oriented to doing things for themselves," said Kee Groshong, vice chancellor emeritus of Administrative Services.

Groshong was on the city committee that helped organize the delegates' visit to Columbia, and he is helping get the delegates to and from each event.

The tour of the business school was particularly important to the delegates because a lack of development in rural areas of Georgia, Javakhadze said.

"One of the first things I have noticed here is that innovations are introduced on a timely basis," said Konstantine Kavtaradze, Georgian delegate and Kutaisi government official. "Theory and practice correspond more effectively here than home."

Ioseb Buadze, a Georgian government official from Khashuri, said educational institutions in Georgia are more focused on science, not business.

"Anything that relates to market economy is new to us," Buadze said. "New methods of teaching are being applied now."

Kavtaradze and Buadze spoke through a translator who accompanied the delegates from Georgia. Javakhadze said adjusting to democratic society is difficult for Georgians.

"In Soviet Union, there was no democracy at all," Javakhadze said. "Right now, there is a misunderstanding of what is democracy. It's like if someone was in jail for 100 years and was suddenly released. To us, democracy is freedom and abandoning any laws. We need to understand how democratic society works."

Javakhadze said he hopes what the delegates learned in Columbia would be effectively implemented in Georgia.

"In Georgia, when someone comes back, the whole neighborhood will gather and they will share the experience,” Javakhadze said. "I want to make sure that everything positive here goes back to Georgia."