Draft Concept and Agenda

The "Greening Economies in the European Union's Eastern Neighbourhood" (EaP GREEN) Programme funded by the European Union assists six countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in progressing faster towards a green economy framework. This includes in particular decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation which should result in higher productivity and competitiveness, better natural capital management, enhanced environmental quality of life, and more resilient economies.

Within the framework of EaP GREEN UNIDO implements a Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) Demonstration project in Georgia. RECP is a globally proven preventive approach aimed at improving productivity and reducing the environmental impact of enterprises, which is good for business, the environment and climate, and economy and society at large.

The objective of the UNIDO-led demonstration project of the EaP GREEN has been to support Georgia in improving the resource productivity and environmental performance of enterprises in order to put the green economy into practice. To achieve this objective the project activities are focused on:

• The creation of human and institutional capacities for RECP;
• Raising awareness on the RECP methodology and the benefits of its application;
• The demonstration, dissemination and replication of RECP in priority sectors (chemicals, food and construction materials);
• Transfer of and investment in RECP technologies.

The results and experiences of the EaP GREEN RECP Demonstration Project in Georgia will be presented along with perspectives of further work on RECP in Georgia.

The Conference will gather the key stakeholders engaged in promoting the green economic development in Georgia including the representatives of central and local governments, enterprises, professional organisations, experts, donor organisations, representatives of academic sector and general public.

The Conference is expected to further raise awareness about resource efficiency and cleaner production methods, to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of RECP implementation in selected Georgian companies, and to provide guidance to SMEs, experts, municipalities, central Government and academia on how to introduce RECP in manufacturing sector of the country.