Bilateral meeting with H.E. David Songulashvili, Minister for Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

Rome - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and H.E. David Songulashvili, Minister for Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, met on the sidelines of the 44th Session of the FAO Ministerial Conference, to discuss ways to strengthen collaboration between FAO and Georgia.

The Minister expressed his appreciation of the work FAO is doing in the country. He noted that agriculture was a priority area and cooperation with FAO had seen an unprecedented increase over the past decade, noting that FAO was the lead agency globally for the agrifood sector and that the FAO country office in Georgia was coordinating one of the largest FAO programmes in the region.

The Minister further stated that current priority areas of the work were reducing disparities between urban and rural areas by increasing agrifood sector productivity; enhancing the resilience of conflict-affected communities by introducing good agricultural practices and improving farm management skills; enhancing climate resilience of communities and the environment through improved governance, climate action, and the sustainable management and use of natural resources.

The Minister also informed that FAO was supporting Georgia's National Animal Identification and Traceability System to improve food safety and animal disease control, to support trade and contribute to the implementation of the free trade area with the EU, serving as a regional model for food safety and livestock sector improvements. The Minister highlighted that Georgia needed FAO’s support to establish a solid foundation for the sustainable growth of the country’s aquaculture sector, to position Georgia as a reliable domestic and international supplier of high-quality, safe aquaculture products.

The Director-General reaffirmed FAO’s continued support to Georgia, and the region, in providing the needed technical assistance for the transformation of  agrifood systems and to achieve Four Betters.