Georgia aims to achieve EU standard road safety

The number of fatal road accidents in Georgia is twice as high as the average number of the European Union (EU) member states.

However the country has an obligation to decrease this number under the Association Agreement (AA) deal it made with the EU last year.

Today high officials from Georgia’s five ministries – Regional Development, Economy, Internal Affairs, Education and Health – convened to discuss how to fulfill this obligation and how to make Georgian roads safer.

"Road safety is one of our priorities,” said Economy Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili.

He added Georgia had developed a National Strategy for Road Safety and a five-year Action Plan that outlined its implementation.

Leading international experts were involved in creating the Strategy, which was funded by the World Bank.

The Action Plan for the National Strategy, which has not become publicly available yet, described in detail what Georgia should do from 2015-2020 to decrease the number of fatal car crashes on its roads. The document contained concrete measures and new stricter regulations on roads as well as replacing old public buses with new ones in Tbilisi from 2016.

At today’s meeting the officials agreed to create a coordination council that would ensure all relevant agencies worked effectively to implement the Action Plan.