EU, German Government’s €7.5mln programme to unveil investments for improving economic, social life in Georgian regions
The four target regions are Guria, Imereti, Kakheti, and Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Investments selected for financing for a four-year, €7.5 million programme by the European Union and the German Government to identify untapped economic and social potential in four Georgian regions will be revealed in a presentation in Tbilisi on Tuesday.
The German Society for International Cooperation said mayors from 14 municipalities would present the investments ranging from developing a southern entrance to Kolkheti National Park in Lanchkhuti and establishing a wine laboratory in Baghdati in the west, to rehabilitating a local museum in Dedoplistskaro in the east of the country.
The event will also involve a showcase of goods produced by private sector beneficiaries of the programme, which is entitled Catalysing Economic and Social Life.
The German institution, which is responsible for implementation of the programme together with the Georgian Ministry of Infrastructure, on Monday said the project aimed to realise the “existing but untapped” potential in the four target regions - Guria, Imereti, Kakheti, and Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti - to achieve “positive economic and social outcomes”.
Running from February 2022 to September 2025, the programme aims at re-balancing economic and social life in Georgia away from the few large cities it is usually centred around, such as capital Tbilisi and the Black Sea city of Batumi.
Life opportunities for local inhabitants should be improved, thus contributing to more balanced territorial development across Georgia, including a reduction in migration from the target regions and an increase in people relocating there”, the organisation said.
Municipalities from the four regions will be joined by state bodies, donors and implementing organisations and associations in the presentation.
A programme supporting Georgia’s sustainable and inclusive growth, balanced territorial development and good governance has been launched with the financial support of the European Union and the German Government, with the project worth €9.5 million.
Infrastructure projects are being conducted in six Georgian municipalities in the Imereti and Guria regions with a value of 2.5 million GEL, which are part of the first phase of the Georgian government’s 220 million GEL Pilot Integrated Regional Development Grant Programme (PiRDP), of which 186 million GEL comes from EU funding.
Cities and towns in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine (Eastern Partnership countries) will explore new opportunities through the EU-funded Mayors for Economic Growth Facility (M4EG), launched by the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Eleven municipalities in Georgia have been awarded 5 million GEL in grants for local infrastructure and business development as part of a programme to support the integrated development of Kakheti, Imereti, Guria and Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti, announces the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.
Ongoing and future economic projects, wheat import, economic growth indicators and development of the digital economy in the country were discussed in a meeting of the Government’s Economic Council led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, the Government Administration said on Thursday.