The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia participated in the UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment in Rome, Italy.

1,200 delegates and high-rank officials, including Heads of 19 countries and Ministers of 65 countries attended the event hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, Presidents and Heads of Government of various countries delivered remarks at the high-ranking session within the Summit. The participants discussed the progress and results of the commitments made at the 2021 Food Systems Summit. As mentioned, sharing concrete examples and advocating for urgent actions and large-scale initiatives for building sustainable food systems will further contribute to achieving better results.

According to Otar Shamugia, the negative impact of climate change on agriculture is still a concern. Against this backdrop, states must coordinate their efforts to produce healthy food with a lower environmental impact and accessible to everyone. Moreover, states should systematically implement international obligations in practice and make the existence of sustainable food systems a global reality by 2030.

The Minister emphasized that the Government of Georgia is carrying out significant programs promoting each stage of the value chain for ensuring the sustainability and stability of food systems, including promoting farmers’ access to preferential financial resources, supporting food production/processing, agro-insurance, and many other initiatives.

With the support of the state policy, the export of Georgian agro-food products has increased by over 147% in the last 10 years, resulting from the development of the private sector in line with the current needs and requirements.

“Georgia actively continues to bring food safety, veterinary, and plant protection regulatory legislation closer to the EU legal acts, as stipulated by the EU Association Agreement. Since 2015, the requirements of 190 European regulations and directives have been transposed into the National legislation of Georgia. This process has become even more intense since the European Union awarded Georgia a European perspective, and we expect to receive the status of a candidate country by the end of the year.

Within the scope of the UN Food Systems Summit, Georgia successfully convened national dialogues aiming to analyze the current situation and plan relevant measures.

The prepared report was submitted to the Summit Secretariat. It should be mentioned that Georgia was the first country in the region to send the finished document to the Summit in advance”, - said Otar Shamugia.