The Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Mikheil Chkhenkeli participated at the awarding ceremony of Zaza Purtseladze, the director of the British Council's Georgia office and the head of the British Council's South Caucasus mission, held at the British Embassy, ​​in Tbilisi Georgia.

In his speech, Mikheil Chkhenkeli congratulated Zaza Purtseladze on receiving the Honorary Order of the Great British Empire (Honorary OBE) and personally thanked him, as well as the entire team of the British Council, for the special support of the education system.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: "I am glad to have the honour to participate in this extremely important event. I would like to congratulate Mr. Zaza Purtseladze, the director of the Georgian office of the British Council, the head of the South Caucasus mission of the British Council, on being awarded the Order of Honor of the Great British Empire.

The award you received is a well-deserved recognition of your work and achievements in strengthening the cooperation between the two countries - Georgia and the UK.

The British Council is one of the most important partners of the Ministry, and I would like to personally thank you for your support in the development of the education system and for your loyal partnership. We greatly appreciate your active involvement at all stages of the implementation of the education system reform.

We recently approved the "Strategy for Teaching English in General Education in Georgia", which was developed in active cooperation with the British Council. It is important that the mentioned document, along with the strengthening of English language teaching, also envisages the recognition and promotion of professional development of English language teachers.

I believe that by strengthening education, culture and language, a solid foundation of friendship and cooperation between the countries is created. It is this extremely important mission that the British Council serves.

Here, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the outstanding mutual cooperation and strategic partnership in various fields between Georgia and the UK, which has been going back decades.

Once again, I heartily congratulate you, thank you for supporting our country and the Ministry of Education and Science in the international arena. Good luck to everyone!"

On the other hand, in his speech, Zaza Purtseladze expressed his gratitude to the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Mikheil Chkhenkeli, for the fruitful cooperation and drew attention to the importance of the strategy developed within the framework of the partnership between the Ministry and Britain.

The award ceremony held at the British Embassy, ​ was chaired by the British Ambassador to Georgia Mark Clayton, the regional director of the British Council Joanna Burke, the Deputy Ministers of Education and Science, Nunu Mitskevichi and Valerian Gobronidze, the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports of Adjara - Maya Khajishvili and other esteemed guest of honour.

It should be noted that Zaza Purtseladze was awarded the Honorary Order of the Great British Empire (Honorary OBE) by the decree of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second for his special contribution to the enhancement of cultural relations between the UK and Georgia.

Zaza Purtseladze joined the British Council team in 2001. After working in various positions, in 2011 he became the director of the British Council office in Georgia, and in 2018 he was appointed as the head of the British Council's South Caucasus mission.

Zaza Purtseladze was actively involved in the process of developing the "Strategy for teaching English in general education in Georgia", which includes both recommendations for reforms of the general education system and the development of effective ELT practice, as well as an action plan for interventions to be implemented during the first year. According to the long-term goal of the strategy document, in 10 years, all students should have English at B2 level and all teachers at C1 level by the time they leave school.