Assembly to welcome John Smith Fellowship Programme participant
The National Assembly for Wales will welcome Mr Armen Amirkhanyan, a young politician from Georgia, who is visiting as part of the as part of the John Smith Fellowship Programme, on Tuesday June 17th
Mr Amirkhanvan is a Member of the Board of the Javakheti Citizens’ Forum an organisation that assists in the integration of ethnic minorities to Georgia in particular the Armenian community in the region of Javakheti and is standing in Georgia’s parliamentary election later this year.
He is visiting the Assembly as part of a longer visit to learn about how the institutions and practices of democracy have evolved over time in the United Kingdom. During his visit he will focus on his interests of democratic engagement, particularly with ethnic minorities, and processes of decentralisation. He will meet with the Assembly’s Education team and visit Siambr Hywel the Assembly’s brand new education facility and meet with the Equality of Opportunity and Children and Young People Committees.
Chair of the Equality of Opportunity Committee, Ann Jones said “I look forward to welcoming Mr Amirkhanvan to the National Assembly and in sharing our experiences as a committee with him. Our recent inquiry into issues affecting migrant workers in Wales has highlighted a number of issues surrounding the integration of ethnic minorities and we hope to discuss them and share ideas. We have as much to learn from other countries as they do from us.”
Chair of the Children and Young People’s Committee Helen Mary Jones said “I am proud that the National Assembly is now regarded highly enough by other European countries to be used as an example of a young democratic institution that can share its best practice with other developing democratic bodies. I hope that Mr Amirkhanvan will find his visit to the Assembly very useful and will take his experience back to Georgia to share with others”
The John Smith Fellowship Programme is named in memory of the former leader of the Labour Party and is run by the John Smith Memorial Trust, a registered charity and is a non party-political organisation. It provides talented young leaders from the former Soviet Union with an intensive five week programme on good governance, democracy and social justice. It seeks to show how a mature democracy supports and develops good governance, the Rule of Law and the vindication of human and legal rights. It also shows how our form of democracy fosters and supports voluntary and other non-governmental organisations that seek to secure the relief of poverty, to empower disadvantaged groups andto give a voice to those who currently lack political influence