European Union Twinning Project Supporting Georgian Civil Aviation Closes
The EU-financed “Legal approximation of Georgian civil aviation regulations with EU standards” Twinning project held a closing event in Tbilisi today.
The 26 month project with a budget of EUR 1.23 Million (GEL 3.6 million) was implemented by the Austrian Civil Aviation Agency - Austro Control GmbH, the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency and assisted the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency (GCAA) to adopt the European regulations and requirements, stemming from the Common Aviation Area Agreement between Georgia and the European Union and its Member States.
Project activities resulted in an improvement of safety and security of the Georgian civil aviation system, and as well significant progress in transposition of the relevant European standards in civil aviation system and improvements of legal framework regulating the sphere of civil aviation in Georgia.
"While there is always room left to strengthen the aviation sector, we can say that up to now that the Aviation Agency has been considerablyreinforced and modernized. We are convinced that this will bring many benefits to the country, to the citizens, the industry and new opportunities for air transport and for the whole economy will be created." noted Deputy Head of Cooperation of the Delegation EU to Georgia Kaido Sirel
Within the project timeframe, 151 visits (workshops, seminars; trainings) were conducted to GCAA which involved 41 different European experts, as well as study visits of GCAA staff to Austro Control GmbH in Vienna, Austria, Croatian Civil Aviation Agency in Zagreb, Croatia, and Federal Supervisory Authority for Air navigation Services in Langen, Germany.
The Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Mr. Giorgi Cherkezishvili, First Deputy State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Mr. Archil Karaulashvili, Deputy Head of Cooperation Section of the EU Delegation to Georgia Mr. Kaido Sirel, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to Georgia H.E. Arad Benkö; Director of the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency Mr. Guram Jalaghonia; GCAA Project Leader, Mr. Levan Karanadze; ACG Project Leader, Mr. Wilhelm Jagritsch; CCAA Junior Project leader, Mr. Damir Mika; and Resident Twinning Advisor, Mr. Gerold Fuchs addressed participants.
Twinning is a European Union funded instrument which brings together public sector expertise from EU Member States and beneficiary countries with the aim of achieving concrete results through peer to peer activities.
For any further information, please contact: Tamriko Mikadze, Press and Information Officer, Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, Tamriko.Mikadze@eeas.europa.eu