The International Conference "Cooperative Engagement & Builders" was held in Washington, D.C., organized by the American non-governmental organizations, the International Religious Freedom Secretariat (IRF Secretariat) and the Love Your Neighbor Community (LYNC), in which the representatives of different countries of the world took part.

One of the topics of the discussion at the forum was the role of Georgia in the South Caucasus. The Chairman of the State Agency for Religious Issues, Zaza Vashakmadze addressed the participants of the conference.

The Chairman of the Agency spoke about the religious policy of the Georgian State, cooperation between various religious organizations, and the role of the State in strengthening tolerant coexistence among religions. During his speech at the forum, emphasis was placed on the current situation in the occupied territories of Georgia: "In the territories controlled by puppet regimes, in A/R of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, fundamental human rights and freedoms are being violated, in particular: the right to property, freedom of movement, the right to exercise religious belief, women's and children's rights. Orthodox clergy do not have the right to move to the occupied territories of Georgia for the purpose of religious services, while the clergy of different religions meet with their parishioners and perform religious services. Ethnic-religious discrimination is carried out only against Georgian Orthodox Christians, only against clergy of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Georgian Orthodox parishioners have been deprived of the right to worship in their native language and attend religious holidays. The situation is especially difficult during great religious holidays, when the ethnic Georgian population is  prohibited from even visiting the graves of their ancestors. Periodically, both in the occupied territories, the so-called restoration process is underway, which, in fact, destroys the original appearance of buildings built centuries ago, making it impossible to determine their ownership and identify them, the Georgian traces are being erased and any evidence that these territories are an integral part of the Georgian State. Similarly, religious buildings of other denominations - synagogues, Catholic churches or mosques - cannot be controlled.

Zaza Vashakmadze spoke about active cooperation with the host non-governmental organizations, touched upon Georgia's role in strengthening religious freedom in the region, and came up with a new initiative: "Georgia, as a country distinguished by tolerance, has a historical mission of becoming a regional platform for religious freedom, which will be an important space for dialogue between the countries of the region, including our neighbors and friends for Armenia and Azerbaijan. Georgia is an important link in the international highway, the Trans-Caspian international transport route - the so-called middle corridor, and therefore, peace and stability in the Caucasus region is not only in our interest today," said the Chairman of the Agency.