Mayors of Imereti Municipalities are Working with the EU Initiative “Mayors for Economic Growth” for Local Economic Development and Job Creation
02 March 2018The EU initiative “Mayors for Economic Growth” and the Imereti Regional Administration conducted a meeting with the Mayors of Imereti Municipalities on 2nd March, 2018 in Kutaisi. Eight municipalities out of the twelve municipalities in Imereti are members of the “Mayors for Economic Growth”. Together with the local business and civil society, the municipalities work on increasing the local economy and creation of jobs.
Imereti Governor, Mr. Givi Chichinadze stated that, “Imereti region is actively cooperating with the EU. Imereti Municipalities’ involvement in the EU initiative “Mayors for Economic Growth” will support development of the local economic by establishing EU best practices in Imereti region and create better environment for business development and implementation of EU projects in the region”.
Deputy Head of the Department for Promotion of EU integration and Reforms of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Mr. Giorgi Dididze, stated that the Government of Georgia will present a Decentralization Strategy in the nearest future. This strategy considers even more enhancement of local self-governance. The process of development of economic plans and their implementation through local and EU resources, will have a crucial and decisive role for successfully overcoming the challenges of implementation of the strategy. He also highlighted the importance of Imereti region and its municipalities to be involved in international cooperation with the EU and its organizations and projects.
The Team Leader of the EU Initiative, “Mayors for Economic Growth”, Mr. Peter Korsby, highlighted Imereti Municipalities’ active participation in the initiative and expressed his readiness to support Imereti Regional Administration’s proposal to conduct a forum for the post-industrial cities from Eastern Partnership and EU countries in Kutaisi.
The “Mayors for Economic Growth” club membership certificates were handed over to the member municipalities of Imereti region during the event.
The event was attended by high officials from Imereti Regional Administration and by mayors of municipalities in the region. The event was also attended by NGOs and business sector representatives.
A separate discussion with Tkhaltubo Municipality and local business representatives about required actions for identifiying investment opportunities and job creation in Tskhaltubo Municipality took place later the same day.