The EU Integration Committee holds offsite meetings to hear the reports on the 10-year fulfillment (2014-2024) of the Association Agreement commitment on environmental protection.

“The progress of Georgia in the environmental protection sphere has been achieved from a zero point. We factually revived the system meeting the European standards on the basis of the obliterated institutions”, - the Chair of the Committee, Maka Botchorishvili noted.

The report was introduced by the First Deputy Environmental Minister, Nino Tandilashvili. As she said, Georgia has taken tangible steps for the last decade in environmental direction, including air quality improvement and the extension of the protected areas by up to 13%, thus, ensuring the preservation of nature.

Significant actions have been undertaken to mitigate industrial pollution through a brand-new legal package. New laws have been developed for effective water resource management and addressing climate change, by which, the national policy has been approximated to the EU directives. The priority nature of environmental protection has been safeguarded on the constitutional level along with the rights of civic engagement in the decision-making in the rational natural resource use and environmental protection.

“Georgia, similar to the EU, has announced the climate-neutrality for 2050. Numerous political documents have been adopted highlighting that Georgia shares the key EU principles on climate change, including the national commitment and management of natural hazards. The steps taken in this direction have been positively evaluated by the EU”, - she noted.

“Environmental protection, for the government, is acknowledged as not only the object to be protected but a new direction for the development of the population, healthy lifestyle and economic growth, where the environment is protected and due conditions are provided for the development”, - said the Chair of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee, Maia Bitadze.

The offsite meeting of the Committees was held in the Kolkheti National Park.