United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that Olympic Games must be an instrument for peace in the world.

The UN chief made the remarks at a press stakeout at the UN headquarters in New York in response to the question that why he will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

"The Olympic Games is an extremely important event, and it's an event that symbolizes the role of sports in bringing people together and in promoting peace, and it is in this strict context and without any political dimension that I intend to be present in the opening, with this message that Olympic Games must be an instrument for peace in the world," said Guterres.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natia Turnava traditionally congratulated the New Year from the National Dispatch Centre of the Georgian State Electricity System – a place where the country’s energy sector is managed from.

Natia Turnava got acquainted with the operation of the control shield equipped in compliance with the latest technologies, which is responsible for the operational management of the power system.

“I would like to congratulate all Georgian citizens on the New Year and wish them well-being, success, health and an ending of the epidemic. We are confident that the next year will be a year of development, new successes and accelerated reforms,” – Natia Turnava said.

Dispatchers working in shifts 24 hours a day at the National Dispatch Centre carry out operational negotiations with the power systems of the neighbouring countries; operation power plants, substations and high voltage power lines in normal and emergency situations; control power balances in power plants and provide protection and monitoring of the export-import schedules.

“This is the central place where our energy sector is managed from throughout Georgia. Consumption is high, but our energy system can handle it. Everything is in order as a result of the work of our dispatchers who work here on the New Year’s Eve. I congratulate them and all those people who are on duty on the New Year’s Eve of the year of 2022 and wish them healthy and successful year,” – Natia Turnava said.

On 13 January 2022, an online-meeting was held between the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Teimuraz Janjalia and the State Secretaries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova, Ruslan Bolbocean and Vladimir Cuc.

The bilateral and multilateral relations between Georgia and Moldova, as well as prospects of their future development were discussed at the meeting. The parties underlined the importance of the 30th anniversary of our diplomatic relations in 2022, in light of which various events will take place in the two countries.
Both sides expressed readiness to intensify bilateral political dialogue, including the exchange of the high and the highest-level visits.
It was underlined that despite the pandemic, the positive trend of our trade-economic relations has been maintained. The parties outlined the significance of further deepening the existing cooperation in this domain, including in the field of tourism.

Particular emphasis was made on the direction of the European integration, including the existing successful interaction in frames of the Eastern Partnership, Associated Trio, and the sides stressed importance of strengthening sectoral cooperation and joint projects in this framework. Likewise, the parties underlined significance of one of our shared priority topics – connectivity, and in this respect, full utilization of the Black Sea resources was highly regarded by the colleagues.

Taking into account our common aspirations and interests, both sides underlined importance of intensification of the visits and high-level meetings with our partners in the format of the Associated Trio, through promoting existing, as well as new formats of dialogue.
At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to maintain active interaction and promote the mutually beneficial future cooperation.