Strategic Roadmap for Sustainable Laboratory Infrastructure Development in Georgia
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On 29 November 2022, the Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP), in Georgia launched the Strategic Roadmap for Sustainable Laboratory Infrastructure Development in Georgia at the project closing ceremony held in Tbilisi. The event brought together over 40 participants from various national agencies and international development partners acknowledging the importance of quality for value chain development. The Strategic Roadmap for laboratory infrastructure development in Georgia aims to provide guidance to public and private stakeholders (ministries, regulators, donors, decision-makers, etc.) to optimally plan various resources and invest in food laboratory infrastructure development for trade standards compliance and increased access to foreign markets. Giorgi Khanishvili, Deputy Minister from the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) stated: “The GQSP Georgia program gave us a good opportunity to present many existing challenges, the sustainable development of laboratories in Georgia is a target issue for the Ministry. The developed guide will play an important role in determining the approaches of the Ministry." The Member of Parliament, the First Deputy Chair of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia, Khatia Tsilosani, spoke about the importance of the GQSP in Georgia. She highlighted the importance of the project to strengthen private and state laboratories and committed the legislative body’s support to these issues. Danielle Meuwly, Regional Director of Cooperation, the Embassy of Switzerland in Georgia recalled Switzerland’s long support to the agricultural sector in Georgia. She highlighted the project achievements, one of which is the Strategic Roadmap for development of the Laboratory Infrastructure that incorporates the detailed pathways for improvements in the system. As part of the GQSP, which started in 2020 in Georgia, UNIDO has been strengthening national capacities among conformity assessment bodies (CABs) in the country by revamping the Georgia Laboratory Association (GeLab) as a knowledge center; aligning the conformity assessment services with international standards and good practices, and developing strategic guidance for sustainable laboratory infrastructure development in the country. The GQSP Georgia also has a strong gender dimension, helping women to achieve their career goals in the field of quality and standards. The GQSP Georgia project is in the framework of the GQSP Programme which is funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland and implemented by UNIDO in close cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA), with the objective to strengthen the quality and standards compliance capacity in the fruit & vegetable value chain in Georgia, to facilitate access to EU markets for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Check the Project Factsheet here and publication Value Chain Analysis of Fruits and Vegetables in Georgia here. Strategic Roadmap: English Version; Georgian Version For more information contact Cong WU (C.WU [at] unido.org (C[dot]WU[at]unido[dot]org)) |
