In Tbilisi, on the 1st of February 2024, the opening ceremony of the EU-funded Twinning” Advancing the Capacities of the Market Surveillance Agency of Georgia” was held at the hotel “Stamba”.

Mr. Genadi Arveladze, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Mr. Teimuraz Janjalia, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Ms. Jurga Greiciene, Vice Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, Dr. Norbert Schultes, Head of the National Contact Point for Twinning, TAIEX and institutional partnerships, German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Mr. Nicholas Cendrowicz, Head of Cooperation, The Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, H.E. Andrius Kalindra, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to Georgia, Mr. Mariusz Pietrzak, Chargé d’affaires a.i. , Embassy of the Republic of Poland to Georgia, Ms. Sarah Zielonka, Head of Economic and Press Affairs, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to Georgia, welcomed the guests and delivered opening remarks.

The Project leaders - Mr. Giorgi Ukleba, BC Project Leader, MSA, Georgia, and Ms. Goda Aleksaitė, MS Project leader, SCRPA, Lithuania, presented the project objectives and planned activities and emphasised the role of the Twinning project in light of the obligations undertaken by the Association Agreement (AA) between the European Union and Georgia.

Within the EU Twinning project, the Twinning experts will support Georgian partners in drafting a package of legislative amendments considering the best EU regulatory practices as well as the national circumstances in Georgia. To ensure a smooth approximation process and prepare the Georgian market surveillance agency and relevant stakeholders (business and consumers)  for the challenges of the transitional process, the MS experts will hold training on the key topics of the EU market surveillance directives ^[1].

The event was attended by the high-ranked officials of the Government of Georgia and Lithuania, the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, the diplomatic corps, as well as by the representatives of the business and civil society, and key experts both from Georgia and the Twinning Member States.

The overall objective of the EU-funded Twinning project is to support the further and effective fulfilment of the obligations prescribed in the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA) / Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) and Energy Community Treaty in the field of market surveillance. The beneficiary agency is the Market Surveillance Agency of Georgia, and the project is being implemented by the State Consumer Rights Protection Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (SCRPA) in partnership with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), Poland, and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Germany.

The Twinning project comprises three components. The objective of 

1. Component 1 is to enhance the market surveillance legal framework in accordance with the respective Union acquis
2. Component 2 is to strengthen the institutional capacities of the Market Surveillance Agency
3. Component 3 is to enhance engagement and awareness of businesses, consumers and relevant stakeholders

The project is one of a number of EU-funded Twinning projects supporting Georgia on its path towards European integration. 

Twinning is a European Union instrument for institutional cooperation between Public Administrations of EU Member States and of beneficiary or partner countries. Twinning projects bring together public sector expertise from EU Member States and beneficiary countries with the aim of achieving concrete mandatory operational results through peer-to-peer activities. For additional information, please see: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood.../tenders/twinning_en

Contact Person: Natia Ghvinjilia

Position: RTA assistant” EU Twinning project “Advancing the Capacities of the Market Surveillance Agency of Georgia”

Email: n.ghvinjilia.twinning.msa@gmail.com;

Mob: 555 656555