UNIDO and Switzerland launch Global Quality and Standards Programme in Georgia

On Monday, 27 July 2020, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) of Georgia, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the Swiss Government, through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), launched a project to support the country’s efforts to improve the international compliance of fruits and vegetable exports from Georgia.

The project is part of the Global Quality and Standards Programme’s (GQSP) innovative approach developed by UNIDO and Switzerland to strengthen the quality and standards compliance capacity in selected value chains of partner countries to facilitate market access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The objective of the two-year project is to strengthen the capacity of national laboratories to prove compliance with international market requirements and ultimately facilitate global market access of Georgian fruits and vegetables. This will be achieved by a thorough assessment of the compliance needs and challenges along the fruits and vegetable value chain, related capacity building for testing laboratories and key government institutions and ultimately, the development of a roadmap for the future development of the national laboratory infrastructure.

The project was launched during a virtual ceremony by the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Ms. Khatia Tsilosani, Regional Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office for South Caucasus, Ms. Danielle Meuwly, and UNIDO Managing Director of the Directorate for Digitalization, Technology and Agri-business, Mr. Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento.

On that occasion, the Global Quality and Standards video was launched, which can be viewed here

Project factsheet

For more information:

Dorina Nati

d.nati [at] unido.org