The EU Ambassador to Georgia H.E. Carl Hartzell and the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Mr. David Zalkaliani today signed an agreement to kick off the fourth phase of the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD IV) worth €55 million (approximately GEL 215 million). The Acting Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Mr. Levan Davitashvili also attended the signature event. The programme aims to enhance consumer protection, promote EU exports and improve livelihoods of rural population in Georgia. It is part of the wider assistance package mobilized by the EU and Team Europe to support Georgia’s COVID-19 recovery.

"Since 2013, the EU has been providing extensive support to make Georgia’s agriculture more competitive and to improve living standards in rural areas. Today we are happy to announce our continued cooperation with the government of Georgia under a new, fourth phase of the ENPARD programme. Through this programme, we hope to see more Georgian farmers, cooperatives, and small and medium size enterprises better equipped to produce high quality products and export more to the EU market. We will also support better infrastructure and services, growth of tourism, more effective public-private partnerships and a stimulus to entrepreneurship in rural areas, all with a view to creating new employment opportunities and to boosting economic growth”, - stated Carl Hartzell, EU Ambassador to Georgia

“ENPARD programme brings concrete results for our country and particularly for our rural population. As a result of this program, the quality of products, the employment opportunities for our citizens and the EU exports are significantly improving. Even more important is the implementation of this programme at in the pandemic context. The financial support provided to Georgia under the fourth phase of ENPARD is part of the wider EU assistance supporting Georgia’s COVID-19 recovery”, - said Davit Zalkaliani, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

“Georgia is one of the outstanding countries of the Eastern Partnership that has successfully carried out all three phases of ENPARD programme. We believe that the fourth phase will be implemented successfully as well. This is a remarkable volume of assistance, € 55 million, of which € 31 million is going to be the direct budget support. However, a very important and efficient part of the assistance is a € 24 million technical and grant component, which is going to have a complementary effect on the implementation of our policy also developed in close partnership with the EU”, - added Levan Davitashvili, Acting Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia.