Deputy Minister of Agriculture Levan Davitashvili attended the 30th FAO Regional Conference for Europe in Antalya. Turkey hosted delegations from FAO member countries from Europe and the Central Asia region, as well as observer countries and United Nations agencies.

During the Regional Conference, Davitashvili met with FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva. The Deputy Minister informed him about critical projects that will be implemented in the near future and expressed his gratitude to FAO Office in Georgia for supporting the work of the Ministry of Agriculture.

At the meeting, Graziano da Silva took an interest in projects supporting agricultural cooperatives, small and medium farmers and rural development measures in Georgia and noted that FAO welcomes the progress made in the field of agriculture of Georgia.

“At the Green Week exhibition In Berlin, at the meeting with Otar Danelia, the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia we discussed the key challenges the Ministry of Agriculture is facing. Significant progress has been made. You have the right vision, fully complying with FAO priorities and objectives. We will carry forward our cooperation and believe that the Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved. We can make it possible to reduce poverty, ensure safe food supply and sustainable development of agriculture,” Graziano da Silva said.

The Deputy Minister noted that FAO developing capacities of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia is of great importance for the effective implementation of the agricultural development strategy and action plan. In line with the second phase of the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), the Ministry of Agriculture has started to work on the rural development strategy, in which involvement of FAO experts is also significant.

In addition, the Deputy Minister Davitashvili said that work is underway to create legislation in line with that of the European Union (EU) in order to fulfil the obligations undertaken under the Association Agreement between Georgia and EU. ’’Ensuring food safety and animal health, including the introduction of an animal identification and tracking system, will facilitate the rapid and effective implementation of reforms with the FAO’s assistance,’’ Levan Davitashvili said.