Otar Shamugia meets Deputy Head of Europe and Asia Bureau of the USAID

The Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Otar Shamugia, on an official visit to the United States of America, met with the Deputy Head of the Europe and Asia Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Alexander Sokolovski.

As Otar Shamugia said at the meeting, cooperation with the United States of America, as a strategic partner country of Georgia, is very important for the development of the agricultural sector. 

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) implements a number of important programs and projects for the development of the agricultural sector of Georgia, and tangible results are visible. The minister emphasized the fact of USAID’s special support in the fight against pheasants since 2018.

Otar Shamugia noted that the Georgian Hazelnut Producers Association, together with the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture, successfully completed the hazelnut harvest survival project that started in 2018. From 30,000 tons of low-quality nuts, the sector was able to double its yield to 60,000 tons of medium and good-quality nuts.

At the meeting, attention was focused on the issue of increasing the export potential of Georgian wine in the United States of America. Otar Shamugia spoke about the promotion programs of Georgian wine and noted that the National Wine Agency plans to carry out a number of marketing activities in strategic markets in the context of a ten-year strategy, which will contribute to raising the awareness of Georgian wine and will directly affect the growth of Georgian wine exports. 

The National Wine Agency cooperates with the American company, which has developed a promotion and marketing plan in order to increase the awareness of Georgian wine, which significantly affects the increase in sales of Georgian wine in the US market.

Alexander Sokolovski expressed his readiness to continue cooperation with the Georgian side with the involvement of the USAID regional office, to support the growth of Georgian wine exports to the United States of America, and to connect interested companies with each other.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture Nino Tandilashvili and Giorgi Tsikolia, Ambassador of the Georgian Embassy in the United States of America.