Georgian Gov't implements five-year project with USAID

Georgia’s is continuing to foster its strong relationship with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has invested millions of dollars into Georgia as the country moves towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

Representatives from the Government of Georgia and USAID met today and discussed Georgia’s progress in the Good Governance Initiative in Georgia (GGI). The parties noted the Government had successfully completed its most recent phase of cooperation with USAID and had moved onto the next stage of cooperation.

This next stage of the GGI envisaged the Georgian Government and USAID implement a five-year project, with a budget of $9 million USD (about 18 million GEL).

Deputy Head of GGI David Stonehill said the Georgian Government’s partnership with USAID was special and the support USAID offered was invaluable.

"Today it is a very exciting day. USAID is partnering with the Government of Georgia to advance some specific reforms that are important for Georgia’s democratic governance,” he said.

"We are working on the civil service reform, healthcare reform, open government partnership and a number of other areas. Over the years we will be partnering with the Administration of the Government of Georgia, as well as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and few other institutions. The reason for this meeting is for us to ensure the agenda along with the Government’s priorities,” he said.

The purpose of the initiative was to improve governance structures, transparency, accountability, efficiency and to strengthen Georgia’s democratic institutions.

The GGI will assist the Georgian Government’s legislative and executive branches at central and local levels and strengthen the connection between the different branches of governance.

The GGI will also provide technical assistance to its partner governance structures, and at the same time, help them to arrange trainings.

Georgian Government representative Nina Kobakhidze said the meeting with USAID representatives was "very fruitful”.

"$9 million USD is the budget of the five-year project, which is very useful for Georgia. Although we still do not know how this money will be spent. However the Georgian Government is starting to work with different agencies in this direction,” said Kobakhidze, who is the deputy head of the Government’s Administration.

"Then, the Government and USAID will make a joint presentation where we will announce how the money will be distributed.”