At an official ceremony on 26 September 2016, the Work Plan of the project entitled “Partnership with Bulgaria on Risk Assessment and Risk Management during Food Animal Slaughter Processing” was signed. The Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, Mr. Davitashvili, the US Ambassador to Georgia, Mr. Kelly, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to Georgia, Mrs. Ivanova, put their signatures on the Work Plan.

The project cost amounts to $280,000. $140,000 of which are provided by the Republic of Bulgaria in the framework of its Development Cooperation Policy. The US side provides financing under the umbrella of the Emerging Donors Challenge Fund. This is a US State Department initiative in support of the transition to democracy and market economy in countries in South Eastern Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia by 50 per cent co-financing of projects in the areas of agriculture, health care etc. Bulgaria participates for the first time in a joint project with the USA under the umbrella of that fund.

The projects aims at enhancing the alignment with standards defined in the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Georgia, by improving Georgia’s capacity to assess and address risk in trade with animal products. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food/ Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, the US Department of Agriculture/ Foreign Agricultural Service and the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia/ National Food Safety Agency (NFSA).

The project envisages trainings, practical seminars and field visits both in Bulgaria and Georgia. The activities aim to facilitate the exchange of experience and to support the NFSA experts in assessing and addressing risks in animal health and trade with animal products.

In her speech, the Bulgarian Ambassador, Mrs. Dessislava Ivanova, underlined that Georgia is one of the priority partners of Bulgaria in the region and expressed our country’s readiness to share its European experience with Georgia, including through projects such as the current one. She availed herself of the opportunity to once again stress Bulgaria’s continuous support for Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic prospective.