The European Audiovisual Observatory starts a new year under its Georgian Presidency. This Council of Europe organisation based in Strasbourg has been providing facts and figures and analysis of the film, television and video industries in Europe since 1992. 

Each January a different Observatory member country takes over its yearly rotating Presidency. Georgia follows on from Portugal which held the Observatory Presidency 2023. Georgia is represented within the Observatory’s Executive Council by Ivane Makharadze, Commissioner of the Georgian National Communications Commission (Regulatory authority in the fields of telecom and media). 

As every year, a public media conference is hosted by the Presidency of the Observatory in the first half of June. This will take place as an in-person event in Tbilisi on 12 June 2024. The subject of this conference to be chosen by the Observatory’s Georgian Presidency will be announced early this year.

Ivane Makharadze stated: “We are honored to take over the Presidency of the Observatory from our fellow colleagues from Portugal. We are committed to provide our valuable contribution to the work of the Observatory throughout 2024 and look forward to working closely with our partners on numerous crucial matters”.

The Observatory’s 2024 Georgian Presidency is also supported by the Georgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the country’s Permanent representation to the Council of Europe, represented by Ambassador Tamar Taliashvili. Ambassador Taliashvili stated that she looked forward raising a glass to the beginning of the Observatory’s Georgian Presidency. She was also keen to “throw a spotlight on Georgia’s audiovisual industry during the Observatory Presidency”.

Susanne Nikoltchev, the Observatory’s Executive Director, thanked the outgoing Portuguese Presidency and stated that she was looking forward to working with Georgia as “a dynamic and energetic Presidency country with an audiovisual industry which it will be a pleasure to discover and highlight in 2024”.

To receive an invitation to the abovementioned Tbilisi conference, please contact: [email protected]