The Vice Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development- Levan Davitashvili, and European Commissioner for Energy- Kadri Simson, held a joint press conference after the first high-level energy dialogue at the Ministry of Economy.
The Vice Prime Minister and European Commissioner spoke about prospects for deepening energy cooperation between Georgia and the EU at the press conference.
The vice prime minister said, “The arrival of the European Commissioner for Energy in Georgia is a very important moment on the way to European integration of our country. It is especially noteworthy that during the Commissioner’s visit today, a high-level dialogue in the field of energy was held for the first time. “As we agreed, we will have a high-level dialogue every year.”
As Levan Davitashvili noted at the press conference, Georgia is starting a new path in the European integration process when more needs to be done regarding reforms in different directions.
According to him, the meeting with the European Commissioner noted that Georgia has made significant progress in implementing reforms – in terms of legislation in the field of energy, as well as institutional strengthening.
Levan also mentioned, “For this, of course, very important are the reforms that we carry out in different directions of the economy and specifically in the energy sector. However, apart from the progress made, many important energy reforms still need to be implemented with EU support. “The country, of course, has the greatest energy potential in terms of renewable energies, and in the way to effectively use and acquire this potential, we feel the support of Europe and European financial institutions.”
European Commissioner Kadri Simson states that high-level energy dialogue results from intensive joint work on the energy sector.
“We discussed reforms, investments and also major infrastructure projects. This harmonization is necessary to join the European Union, making Georgia more energy secure and attracting more investment. We are glad that there is a united vision, and we confirm once again that the EU will support Georgia technically and financially, ” he said.
The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Levan Davitashvili, stressed that Georgia has a close dialogue with the European Commission and the Energy Community in the energy field. The country constantly receives technical support from its European friends in implementing reforms.
As said today at the joint press conference of Levan Davitashvili and Kadri Simson, it will continue like this in the future.
“In many areas, Georgian legislation is already in line with European requirements and standards, including the introduction of a new energy efficiency labelling system, which is already slowly being implemented.”
We are also working on institutional arrangement and improvement, where transmission and generation functions will be clearly understood. This will, of course, make it more predictable and establish more fair play rules in the energy system,” – noted Levan Davitashvili.
One more critical issue, which Vice Prime Minister Levan Davitashvili and European Commissioner Kadri Simson discussed in the format of dialogue – opportunities to fully explore Georgia’s potential with renewable energy. They also talked about the Black Sea submarine cable project. According to Levan Davitashvili, this is a significant project for Georgia and the EU.
As the parties agreed, the next meeting of the high-level energy dialogue between the EU and Georgia will be held in Brussels.
