On July 28, members of the working group 2 “Economic Integration and Convergence with the EU” and working group 3 “Environmental Protection, Climate change and Energy Security” of the Georgian National Platform conducted sectoral meeting with Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Otar Shamugia.
During the meeting, the issues of the implementation of the Association Agenda between Georgia and the European Union, already achieved progress, current challenges in the sphere and future plans were discussed.
Deputy Ministers of Environmental Protection and Agriculture also participated in the sectoral meeting. The Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Nino Thandilashvili, presented a thematic report to the participants of the meeting in the process of implementation of the Association Agreement in the fields of food safety, veterinary medicine and plant protection, rural and agricultural development, environmental protection and combating climate change, improvement of atmospheric air quality, water quality and on the activities and achievements of the Ministry in the areas of water resources management, biodiversity, waste, chemicals and sustainable forest management.
Chairwoman of the Georgian National Platform, Nino Chkhobadze, in her address, emphasised the importance of the involvement of non-governmental sector in the process of fulfilling the obligations under the Association Agreement. She also briefly talked about the areas that should be discussed thematically in the future. After presenting the reports, the meeting continued in the question & answer mode, in which the member organisations of the platform were actively involved. They also touched upon areas that are problematic and require further discussion and attention. Representatives of the Ministry and relevant agencies included in the Ministry’s system also participated in the meeting.
