The opening ceremony of the renovated Japanese centre, equipped and renovated with the support of the Japanese government, was held at Ilia State University. The event was attended by the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia Mikheil Chkhenkeli and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Georgia - Imamura Akira.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli addressed the audience and spoke about the importance of deepening cooperation between Georgia and Japan.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: “I am glad to have the honour to congratulate you on the opening of the Japan Center at Ilia State University, which is extremely important for the internationalization of the Georgian educational system.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Government of Japan for its support to Georgia, including in the fields of education and science. I would like to highlight the cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with which we have interesting plans, and which will actively enter the Georgian education system in the coming future."

Mikheil Chkhenkeli noted that the existence of the Japanese Center is of special importance at the university space, as it facilitates the opportunity to get to know Japan more closely, to study its centuries-old history, rich culture and Japanese language. It also strengthens the cultural ties between the two countries.

The Minister stressed that negotiations with the Ambassador of Japan have already begun to establish Kartvelological Centres in leading Japanese universities. According to him, the Japanese have a great interest in studying the Georgian language, Georgian culture and history and expressed hope that the existence of Kartvelological centres will further deepen this interest.

It should be noted that the Japanese Center of Ilia State University was provided with equipment and modern educational literature from "Nippon Dzaidani" within the framework of the Japanese Government Grassroots Support Program, the centre was also fully equipped with furniture.

Ilia State University has a long history of teaching and promoting Japanese language, history and culture. Back in 2001, the first centre of Japanese studies in Georgia was the Giorgi Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies, which has been a research institute of Ilia State University since 2006.

In 2017, the Japanese Center was established on the university premises, and every year hundreds of students of different professions can study both the Japanese language and several other subjects related to Japanese studies (history, culture, etc.). The centre was equipped under a grant agreement between the University and the Embassy in 2020 under the Grassroots Grant Support Program of the Government of Japan.