Georgian delegates visit Columbia
Arriving Nov. 7, the delegates will observe the city's government.
Published Nov. 6, 2009
Columbia will open its arms Saturday to representatives from the Republic of Georgia.
Delegates are coming to the United States as part of the Open World Leadership Program, an organization funded by the Library of Congress, for a weeklong government accountability program.
Since 1999, the Open World program has helped the United States host more than 14,000 leaders from former Soviet Union states.
City spokeswoman Renee Graham, who is helping to organize the delegate's visit, said the reason for the Georgian's trip is to learn about local governments and government accountability.
"We're talking about a very young democracy that is trying to go from a very top down government to a more participatory government," Graham said.
Columbia has a history with the Republic of Georgia.
"We've had a very close sister city relationship with Georgia for the past several years," Graham said.
Graham said one of the main reasons Columbia was selected as a host city was because of its sister city ties to Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city.
The Republic of Georgia is located between Russia and Turkey. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia formed as an independent state in 1991 and is home to 4.6 million people.
"They are kind of building things from a new foundation," Columbia city spokeswoman Toni Messina said. "It's important for us to watch that and remember that we are not such an old nation."
Columbia will be hosting five delegates from cities all around Georgia. Before arriving in Columbia on Nov. 7, delegates must go through an orientation session in Washington.
After arriving in Columbia, Mayor Darwin Hindman will formally greet the delegates.
"He is our chief ambassador," Messina said.
Delegates will follow an itinerary that will allow each delegate to observe areas of government that interest them.
"We didn't know who our delegates would be, so we came up with a curriculum that would cover a lot of topics," Graham said. "All of them have an interest in city planning."
The itinerary will include visits to Columbia's major city government facilities.
Graham said now that the delegates have been selected, the city is accommodating time for other areas of Columbia the delegates want to see, including the university.
Delegates will stay with various host families during their time in Columbia.
"Columbia is a very welcoming place because of the kind of people that live here," Messina said.
Messina also said Columbia could learn just as much from the Georgians as they can from us.
"We are not alone in the world," Messina said. "People all over share a lot of the same core values. There are ideas that can transfer very successfully from one nation to another."