Tbilisi: Minister of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia Otar Shamugia participated in the UN Food Systems Summit in Rome. The event, which was held at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, was attended by 1,200 delegates, including heads of 19 countries and ministers of 65 countries.
UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni, presidents and heads of government of various countries gave speeches at the high-ranking session held within the summit.
The participants discussed the progress and results of the commitments made at the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. As noted in the session, by sharing concrete examples, supporting emergency and scale-scale action, creating sustainable food systems helps achieve better outcomes.
As the Minister of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia Otar Shamugia stated, the negative impact caused by climate change on agriculture is still relevant. Against this background, it is crucial that states coordinate action to make healthy food available to all, systematically implement international commitments, and make sustainable food systems a reality in the world by 2030.
The Minister also emphasized that to ensure the stability and sustainability of food systems, the Government of Georgia is implementing essential state programs that include the promotion of each stage of the value chain.
These include access to affordable financial resources for farmers, promoting food production and processing, agro-insurance, and a number of other initiatives.
By promoting state policy, in accordance with the modern demands of the private sector, the result of an increase of almost 147% exports of Georgian agro-food products in the last 10 years.
“Georgia actively continues to bring the legislation regulating food safety, veterinary and plant protection to EU legal acts, as envisaged in the EU Association Agreement.
Since 2015 until today, 190 euro regulation and directive requirements have been passed into Georgian legislation. This process has become more intense because Georgia has been granted a European perspective by the European Union and it is expected that the country will receive a candidate country status by the end of the year.
During the Food Systems Summit, Georgia successfully held national dialogues to analyze the current situation and plan appropriate measures. The prepared report was presented to the Secretariat of the Summit. It is noteworthy that Georgia was the first country in the region to send a completed document in advance for the summit”, – said Otar Shamugia.
At the United Nations Food Systems Summit held in Rome, together with the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Otar Shamugia, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of Italy and St. Konstantine Surguladze, Permanent Representative of Georgia to UN International Organizations, was present in Rome.
