The Republic of Georgia participated in the economic and financial dialogue first time in Brussels. The dialogue is being held between the European Union and the candidate countries. Georgia attended this meeting for the first time as the country gained the status of the candidate country last year.
Today Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili, Deputy Minister of Finance Ekaterine Guntsadze and Acting President of National Bank Natia Turnava went to Brussels to join the European Union Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting. Notably this year on January 15 Georgia as a candidate country presented for the first time submitted the the Economic Reform Programme (ERP) document to the European Commission.
The ERP document represents the medium-term planning document that has been developed by the European Union for candidate countries aspiring to join the union. Moreover participation in this process serves any particular country’s macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts within the planning of the European semester.
Speaking on the occasion Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili said “An important meeting was held to discuss the economic reform plan of the European Union countries and other candidate countries. The Georgian government attended this European Commission meeting for the first time this year. He also added the Republic of Georgia is distinguished by its high rate of economic growth and it is also important that the inflation rate is one of the lowest in the EU candidate countries this year as compared to the last years as well. He further added that Georgia has achieved very fast macroeconomic stability in terms of reducing both budget deficits and external debt.”
The significant meeting was attended by the finance ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Presidents of the National Banks, representatives of the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
There is a plan to issue the joint statement after the conclusion of the event. This statement will further highlight the importance and priorities of the EU and the candidate countries as well.
It is to be specifically mentioned that the European Union has prepared recommendations on both fronts which include the macro-fiscal part and structural reforms such as energy independence and security, agriculture, informal economy and employment, human capital development, and related reforms of education, health, and social protection system and others as well.
