Meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Advisor to the Prime Minister

28 Jan '10

The meeting on "Introduction of Food Safety System and Enactment of Company Registration" was held on January 28 2010, at the Sheraton Metekhi Palace Hotel, as organized by BAG with participation of the GoG representatives.

The event aimed at informing the companies engaged in food and beverages sector of the novelties related to gradual enactment of the Law of Georgia on Food Safety and Quality.

The Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, Bakur Kvezereli and Chief Advisor to Prime Minister of Georgia, Tamar Kovziridze, together with the BAG President attended the meeting.

In his report the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia provided participants with the information about the novelties regarding the enactment of the Law on Food Safety and Quality. Namely, the system will be enacted gradually and the first step will be the registration of businesses engaged in food and beverages sector. The ultimate aim of this legislative novelty is to achieve compliance with the European food safety standards and requirements.

Ms. Tamar Kovziridze, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Georgia spoke about the Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and the EU. According to her, at the preparatory stage of the agreement Georgia received numerous recommendations from the EU and one of them indeed is the introduction of the food safety system.

Introduction of the system is a long process with accompanying peculiarities and in this process it is important to equally take account of the interests and capacities of both the large and small businesses. Overall, 2010 is considered as a preparatory stage for the introduction of the system and entails to achieve the following three key objectives:

Registration of the companies concerned and creation of database;
Implementation of relevant legislative changes;
Public Awareness.
In closing, Mr. Giorgi Chirakadze on behalf of the Association confirmed the readiness to further facilitate continuation of the dialogue and introduced CEO of the Association Giorgi Asatiani to the participants who will have regular contact with the government and business stakeholders.