News
Deputy Minister Khanishvili hosts Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) Resident Representative and agrarian cooperative’s expert
The first Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA), Mr Giorgi Khanishvili met with the Resident Representative of the JICA, Yukihiko Ejiri and Terenuma Hiroshi, expert on agrarian cooperatives. Parties to the meeting shared experience on cooperatives in the respective countries and briefed on the needs and potential cooperation prospects related to agriculture.Deputy Minister Khanishvili discussed incumbent reforms of agriculture in Georgia, as well as projects deployed on enhancement of cooperatives in the country, as well as importance of regional units of extension. “Our objective is to transform the Rural Development Agency into a European-style agency. The respective Agency, apart from complementing agricultural enhancement efforts, also fosters environmental protection matters – including effective usage of forest and natural resources. Moreover, fostering cooperatives is a vital objective, which will increase sustainability of these” – Deputy Minister Khanishvili stated.
The Japanese attendees of the meeting expressed their willingness to formulate agricultural working groups, which will have agricultural experts on board. As part of technical assistance – sectoral trainings will be entailed, which will also cover study visits to Japan. In the course of the discussions, attendees touched upon implementation of the two-year project, which aims at formulating agrarian-agricultural cooperative model and scrutinizing capabilities for establishing the latter, as well as drafting recommendations.