More Japanese assistance to Georgia

On 8 June the opening ceremony of the Project for the Improvement of Agricultural Machinery in Mestia District, implemented within the framework of Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme of the Government of Japan, was held. The Ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr. Masayoshi Kamohara, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Georgia, representatives of the local authority and members of related organisations.

The grant contract for the above-mentioned project was signed on 3 July 2008 by the Embassy of Japan and NGO the Zemo Svaneti Development Fund. The aim of the project is to improve the Farmers’ Cooperative in Mestia District by providing agricultural machinery and animal food production equipment and a potato processing unit and rehabilitating machinery storage. It is expected that about 1,500 households will directly benefit from the project, which is worth 84,635 USD.

Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme grants are provided to relatively small-scale projects undertaken by municipalities, medical institutions, academic institutions and NGOs which directly aim to improve the living standards of Georgian people suffering from hardship. Such projects might be implemented in the fields of public health, medicine, elementary and secondary education, social protection and environment, poverty reduction and increase of incomes. This grant programme began in 1998 and so far 94 projects worth 6,987,354 USD have been implemented under it in Georgia.

The total amount of Japan’s Official Development Assistance to Georgia is 337.6 million USD. It covers a wide range of areas, such as improvement of the economic infrastructure and the agricultural sector, social sector development and cultural and human resource development.