Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

Working meeting held within the framework of the program " EU4Environment - Water Resources and Environmental Data"

During the meeting, the current situation and challenges faced by Georgia in water accounting -as one of the program’s main components were discussed in depth by parties, who also identified the needs and revealed priorities to plan future activities for the implementation of the project.

As mentioned at the meeting, Georgia has started implementing large-scale reforms in the water resources management field through EU-supported projects in the past few years.

Within the framework of the European Union Water Initiative Plus for the Eastern Partnership (EUWI+ 4 EaP), a draft law on water resources management has been drafted and has already been submitted to the Parliament, whereupon, the discussions are underway at the Committee. 

The Regional Program – " EU4Environment - Water Resources and Environmental Data" being implemented in six countries (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine) aims to improve health, the well-being of citizens and to pursue the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the EU's Eastern Partnership countries, it also provides an opportunity for the green transformation of aforementioned countries, following the European Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 
The program embraces two main areas - support for sustainable use of water resources and the use of reliable environmental data by partner countries, entailing, expansion-improvement of environmental data and information.
 
The EU program ‘’EU4 Environment - Water Resources and Environmental Data’’ is a part of the EU Eastern Partnership framework with a total budget amounting to € 12.75 million.

 The program will be implemented in the period 2022-2024; The consortium of implementing organizations consists of representatives of the Umweltbundesamt (Environment Agency Austria), the ADA (Austrian Development Agency), the Office International de l'Eau (France), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
‘EU4Environment – Water Resources and Environmental Data’ builds upon the success of previous programs like the European Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+) and the Shared Environmental Information System Phase II (ENI SEIS II East). 
Through respective programs, modernization of environmental monitoring and data analysis systems have been successfully held, which supported partner countries in bringing their national policies and strategies into line with the EU Water Framework Directive. 
The workshop was attended by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture representatives, the stakeholders of the program, and experts.