Minister of Education and Science of Georgia Giorgi Amilakhvari is on a working visit in the Kingdom of Belgium. 

The Minister held meetings with director of the European Research Council (ERCEA) Lawrence Morea, the director of the European Research Executive Agency (REA) Mark Tachelet and the director of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) - Jean David Malo. During the meetings, Minister Amilakhvari discussed the prospects of deepening cooperation in the fields of science, research, innovation and technology 

Giorgi Amilakhvari particularly emphasized the support to scientific-research institutes in Georgia and the steps taken in this direction. According to the Minister, the Ministry of Education and Science is working actively to stimulate scientific research and to promote internationalization with the aim to bring it even closer to the European standards. 

Giorgi Amilakhvari emphasized the importance of partnership with the European Union in terms of strengthening scientific-research institutes and innovation ecosystem in Georgia and expressed hope that the parties will continue active cooperation in the direction of conducting joint scientific research and supporting the implementation of various innovative projects.

Minister Amilakhvari noted that modernization of the electronic system for submission and monitoring of scientific-research grants in Georgia, as well as the development of the e-service for grant management similar to that of the European Research Executive Agency (REA) is a priority. 

According to the Minister, cooperation between Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia and REA is particularly important in terms of sharing experience on the topics of grant competition administration and monitoring of the funded projects. The parties expressed readiness for close partnership. It was noted in the course of the meeting, that the REA will grant access to the expert-evaluators database to Georgia. 

Giorgi Amilakhvari expressed the initiative of establishing the dedicated EU-Georgia dialogue format on innovation, which will contribute to harmonization of the innovation ecosystem of the country with the regional innovation ecosystems of the European Union. He also focused on the importance of the work of the Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA) under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. 

In the course of the meeting, he participants also discussed the issues of encouraging greater involvement of Georgian scientists in the EU research and innovation program “Horizon Europe”. 

The heads of the EC agencies responsible for science and research expressed their readiness to cooperate with the Ministry and offered specific support mechanisms to Georgia.