On February 20, the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) and the Union of Communities of Armenia (CAA) organized the UNDP-supported Local Economic Development Forum for Armenian-Georgian Cross-Border Municipalities, which took place at the hotel “Holiday Inn Tbilisi.”

 Ms. Mzia Giorgobiani – Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, Ms. Luísa Vinton – UNDP Permanent representative to Georgia, Mrs. Tamar Taliashvili, Vice-president of NALAG, Vice-President of the congress of CoE, Vice-president of CEMR and Mr. Emin Yeretsian, President of CAA, Vice-President of the congress of CoE, addressed the audience with welcoming remarks.

In her speech, Ms. Taliashvili thanked Ms. Louisa Vinton on behalf of the Association and assessed the cooperation between NALAG and UNPD in local municipalities as highly efficient.

Ms. Taliashvili stated that: “As a result of the reform in 2018, one of the most important constitutional principles was introduced in local government – the principle of subsidiarity. Based on this principle, local self-government will be further promoted in our country.”

Mr. David Melua, Executive Director of NALAG made a presentation of the study on Cross-border cooperation Between Georgia and Armenia and discussed the importance of LED forum.

During the LED forum Georgian and Armenian participants presented their experience in local economic development. After the plenary sessions participants worked in three thematic groups on municipal services, tourism, SME, and green economy.  These thematic groups identified ways of future cooperation between Georgian and Armenian municipalities and developed ideas for future joint projects.