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

The Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Nino Tandilashvili participated in the 3rd Steering Committee meeting of the Implementation of the Shared Environmental Information System Principles and Practices in the Eastern Partnership Countries (SEIS East II). The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture together with the National Statistics Office of Georgia hosted the event, which was organized by the European Environmental Protection Agency (EEA).
The Participants of the meeting discussed the progress and results of the four-year project achieved in the Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan).
The Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture, Nino Tandilashvili noted, that the Ministry has taken important steps in terms of collecting data on environmental information, citizens having a better access to environmental issues as well as increasing level of public participation in the decision-making process. Moreover, Nino Tandilashvili discussed issues related to the atmospheric air and water quality control system and positively evaluated the work of air and water monitoring stations operating in the country.
At the meeting, the participants have been focused on the importance of enhancing environmental governance, strengthen relations between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries and drew their attention to the support provided to protect the environment in the country. The implementation of environmental obligations taken by Georgia under the frame of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the EU was positively assessed.
The Participants stressed the importance of bringing environmental information and requirements in compliance with the European standards and presented current assessment reports on the environment.
The above mentioned project is funded by the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) and is responsible for the Implementation of the Shared Environmental Information System Principles and Practices in the Eastern Partnership Countries. One of the priority areas of the project is to improve environmental information and to make it closer to the European standards.
The representatives of the European Commission, European Environmental Protection Agency (EEA), United Nations Economic Commission (UNECE), high level officials of the Environmental and Statistical Departments of the Eastern Partnership countries attended the meeting.