On Thursday, 7th of April a mid-term conference of the EU funded Twinning project “Strengthening Georgian Accreditation System with the Focus on EU Technical Regulations” took place at the Holiday Inn Hotel Tbilisi, Georgia.
The objective of the project is to support and enhance the Georgian accreditation and conformity assessment system according to European and international requirements.
The project started in December 2019 with a budget of 1 400 000 EUR.
Expected results of the project implementation are:
The main beneficiaries of the project are the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia (MoESD) and The Unified National Body of Accreditation – Georgian Accreditation Center (GAC). The EU Member State Partners are the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS), supported by the Italian Accreditation Body (Accredia) and the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM).
The aim of the conference was to inform Georgian society about the role and importance of accreditation and its impact on economy and international trade facilitation. It also presented the results and the future plans regarding the Twinning project implementation.
The opening and welcome speeches were delivered by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Mr. Genadi Arveladze, the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia H.E. Mr. Carl Hartzell, the Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany to Georgia H.E. Mr. Hubert Knirsch, the Deputy Ambassador of Italy to Georgia H.E. Mr. Nicola Iorio, Mr. David Songhulashvili, Chairperson of the Sectorial Economy and Economic Policy Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, Dr. Arne Höll, Head of Metrology, general accreditation law, supervision of PTB, BAM and DAkkS (remote) and Mrs. Sarah Griesbaum, Coordinator for BMWK Institutional Partnerships (including EU Twinning), both from German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
The keynote speeches related to the quality infrastructure, accreditation benefits for international trade and Georgia’s path towards development of accreditation system. These were demonstrated by Dr. Stephan Finke, Chief Executive Officer of DAkkS and the Member States Project leader, Mr. Filippo Trifiletti, Director General of ACCREDIA and by Mrs. Natia Mikeladze, Director General of the Georgian Accreditation Center (GAC).
In their presentations, Dr. Stephan Finke and Mr. Filippo Trifiletti mentioned the manifold benefits of accreditation for the national quality infrastructure as a reliable instrument for the confirmation of competence. They underlined that the international recognition of accredited services is a fundamental step for the National Accreditation Body of Georgia and for the country in itself. Indeed, the European and international networks guarantee the acceptance on the market of the certificates and tests released by accredited bodies and laboratories. Therefore, they provide support for the competitiveness of local companies and their capability to export, as well as for the quality and safety of products and services provided.
The presentations on the Twinning project, its deliverables, challenges and expected results were presented by the Resident Twinning Adviser (RTA) Mrs. Tamara Schramm together with her counterpart and Deputy Director General of the Georgian Accreditation Centre Mr. Giorgi Chitadze.