12_th Session of EU-Georgia Association Parliamentary Committee in Brussels
08-06-2023

The 12th session of the EU-Georgia Association Parliamentary Committee was held in Brussels, Belgium. Permanent delegations of the Parliament of Georgia and the European Parliament, as well as the representatives of the executive structures of Georgia participated in the session.

First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Romeo Mikautadze and Deputy Minister Genadi Arveladze delivered speeches at the session.

Georgia’s progress of the implementation of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement, was discussed among other important issues. 

“We are not looking for shortcuts or privileges on the way to the EU accession. We also know that the candidate status and opening the accession negotiations will only be a beginning of a long journey and we are ready to do what it takes to reach our destination and to become a member of the European Union,” – Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Genadi Arveladze stated in his speech.

Arveladze noted, that Georgia stays strongly devoted to political association and economic integration with the EU and are implementing wide range of reforms aimed not only at enhancing trade relations with the EU, but also at facilitating convergence to the EU standards in various areas. strong partnership between the EU and Georgia led to success in wide range of directions, including in trade, where in 2022 the turnover of Georgia with the EU was increased by 29% amounting to 3 912 mln. USD and made up 20,5% in total trade turnover of Georgia. In the same period, exports from Georgia to the EU market was increased by 20% and amounted to 863 mln. USD.

Arveladze highlighted the already implemented as well as ongoing reforms, including in the direction of quality infrastructure, standards, technical regulations, metrology, market surveillance, accreditation and public procurement. He also emphasized the successful decision, according to which the European Union market was opened for products of animal origin produced in Georgia.

Development of green energy in Georgia, reform of the electric energy market, encouragement of production and use of energy from renewable sources, energy efficiency - these and other priority issues were emphasized by the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Romeo Mikautadze, in his speech.

“Georgia’s energy sector is in an active phase of development. Our goal is to make full and effective use of the huge unused potential of renewable energy in order to increase the country’s energy security,” – First Deputy Minister noted.

According to Mikautadze, with the support of the donor organizations, a new renewable energy support scheme was developed and approved, which provides for the arrangement of auctions of the capacity of renewable energy sources in order to attract investors, as well as the development of non-traditional sources, such as hydrogen, biogas, biomass, geothermal energies, etc.

“The proposed scheme promotes negotiations and cooperation with the financial institutions, which helps potential investors to raise financing, which is important for the implementation of renewable energy projects in our country,” – First Deputy Minister added.

Association Parliamentary Committee is a parliamentary institution for the cooperation between Georgia and the European Union, which was established on the basis of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union. Its main goal is to supervise the implementation of the Association Agreement and promote Georgia’s integration with the Europian Union.