On May 28, the Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili met with Ivana Živković, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS, to discuss the partnership between Georgia and the United Nations Development Programme.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the meeting, “the parties reviewed the 30-year-old close partnership and key areas of cooperation between the Government of Georgia and UNDP, including UNDP’s efforts to promote sustainable development in the country.”
The press release said that the discussion also touched on Georgia’s strategic role in the region, emphasizing the growing significance of the “Middle Corridor” transit route. “In this context, the importance of UNDP’s involvement in the process of supporting economic and infrastructural developments in Georgia was noted,” the ministry said in a press release.
The UNDP representative, as part of her visit to Georgia, is also meeting with representatives of Georgian sectoral agencies.
As stated in the release, the conversation also touched on the difficult humanitarian situation in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia.
The United Nations in Georgia has on several occasions criticized the GD government repressive laws and practices. Upon the introduction of the draft Foreign Agents’ law in the Parliament in 2023 it said that it “would likely to impede the work of the UN to implement the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, the country strategy that we have co-signed with the Government of Georgia”. The UN office expressed “profound concern”over the draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence registered by the parliamentary majority, noting that its adoption “would risk impeding the work of civil society and media and the essential contributions they make to Georgian democracy.”
The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2021-2025 guides the work of the Government of Georgia and the UN system till 2025. It was adopted at the end of 2020 in close collaboration between the UN- the long-standing partner of Georgia, the Georgian Government and a wide range of partners including development partners/donors, international financial institutions, civil society and academia. Among strategic priorities that are supported through this initiative are: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, decent work and economic growth, peace, justice and strong institutions and others. The Cooperation Framework is aligned with the national development priorities, including Georgia’s EU integration aspiration and the country’s international commitments.
In the April 9, 2024 statement UN Office in Georgia had expressed “profound concern” over the ruling Georgian Dream party’s reintroduction of the foreign agents law and “regret” over the abolition of mandatory gender quotas in party electoral lists. Citing Georgia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council, the UN urged the government to withdraw the draft law and called for “broad, inclusive, and meaningful consultations” with civil society and other stakeholders.
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