Economy and environment

Economic and environmental activities of the OSCE Mission to Georgia

The Mission regularly monitored, analysed and reported on developments in the economic, energy and environmental sectors. Its activities included:

• supporting the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
• assisting the Government in strengthening economic and environmental legislation; and
• facilitating OSCE regional activities in these sectors.

Focusing on economic security

The Mission focused on developing small- and medium-sized enterprises, supporting the fight against corruption and providing economic policy guidance to the Government. Additionally, the Mission actively supported good governance initiatives in regions outside Tbilisi. Activities included:

• Analysing the country's economic security:
  The focus of this extensive review, which was conducted by the Mission in co-operation with the National Security Council, was economic growth and sound economic policy planning.
• Supporting good governance resource centres in Gardabani and Marneuli:
  These centres aim at assisting local governments in developing and implementing their budgets, and disseminating information to villages in these regions, which have large national minorities.
• Supporting anti-corruption initiatives:
  The Mission helped non-governmental organizations (NGOs) monitor Georgia's commitments to implement the anti-corruption recommendations made by the OECD. The Mission supported an initiative to support the Government's plans to implement an Inspector General law that would be responsible for monitoring the financial activities of each of the ministries in Georgia. In 2008, the Mission supported a project to monitor aid flows to Georgia.
• Supporting small- and medium-sized enterprise development:
  The Mission gave business training to over 100 young people in the Samskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. This programme was linked with other partners who provided start-up capital for several of the developed business plans. The Mission financially supported the Business Consulting Centre in Gali region, Abkhazia.
• Creating a Trade Facilitation Guide:
  The Mission is producing a guide that will help businessmen and women understand the requirements of the new customs protocol.
• Organizing a youth summer camp on entrepreneurship:
  During the camp, training was held for young people from all over Georgia on the basics of entrepreneurship.

Addressing environmental security issues

The Mission established an Aarhus Centre in co-operation with the Georgian Ministry of Environment in Tbilisi in December 2005. The aim of the Centre is to promote the principles of the Aarhus Convention signed by Georgia in 2003, and to help build trust between the Government and civil society sectors working on environmental matters. The Mission trained judges on the Aarhus Convention, most recently in March 2009.

The Mission worked on identifying environmental problems that can result in instability or even conflict. Assisted by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, the Mission supported the OSCE-UN Environment and Security (ENVSEC) OK initiative in developing projects that tackle environmental issues.

The Mission also funded the formation of environmental clubs in all the regions of Georgia by training more than 30 young people, resulting in the formation of 17 "eco-clubs" each with 15 to 25 secondary school students between the ages of 12 and 17. These clubs are located in Adjara, Guria, Imereti, Kakheti, Kazbegi, Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Shida Kartli and Tbilisi. This initiative was followed by a number of summer camps for eco-clubs members.

The Mission supported the six-year OSCE-NATO South Caucasus River Monitoring Project, a collaborative project involving scientific institutions of all three South Caucasus countries, through which data on the Kura river was collated. 

Post-conflict environmental assessment

The Mission supported a joint OSCE/UNEP assessment of the environmental impact of the August 2008 conflict. In follow-up to this initiative, it supported an ENVSEC assessment to study the danger of erosion in the fire-affected areas in and around the Borjomi region.