EESC together with ABCO-Georgia, GIP, Intellect and GLOBSEC are implementing a project “Georgia on European Way: Creation of Effective Model for DCFTA and SME Strategy Implementation”, which was launched in April 2017 and to be fully implemented by spring 2019. This project addresses the lack of awareness in Georgia about opportunities afforded by the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), an integral part of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement signed in 2014. According to a nationwide survey conducted within the project activities in summer 2017, the majority of interviewed small- and medium-sized Georgian enterprises (SMEs) currently do not export their production to the EU single market.

The project aims to address these issues by organizing capacity building trainings for Civil Society organizations (CSO). The aim of these trainings is to enable CSO’s to independently lead public information campaigns about DCFTA implementation in Georgia. Following these events Capacity building trainings and seminars for small medium enterprises (SME) and public officials will also be organized. In addition, “DCFTA Local Advisory Council” and “DCFTA Central Advisory Council” will be created. Finally, a comprehensive project study will be prepared including results of consecutive mappings of CSOs and SMEs conducted at the beginning and end of the project with the addition of recommendations from the meetings of the Advisory Councils. Currently we are sharing our initial study about CSOs and SMEs in English and Georgian languages.

The project is funded under the European Neighbourhood Instrument of the European Union.