Youth Forum for Sustainable Development and European Integration"

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Otar Shamugia, opened the "Youth Forum - for Sustainable Development and European Integration" with a welcome speech.

The minister spoke about the importance of the European integration process and sustainable development for the country and focused on the need to popularise education in the fields of environmental protection and agriculture among young people.

"Education is the main weapon that can be used to overcome global challenges. As you know, Georgia has been given a European perspective. Our goal is to obtain the status of a candidate country for the European Union. The maximum involvement of young people is extremely important in this process. One of the priorities of the Ministry's activity is to raise awareness of educational programmes in the areas of environmental protection and agriculture. I hope that in the future more young people will want to receive education in the mentioned direction", said Otar Shamugia.

As Maya Bitadze, chairperson of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, pointed out, for an in-depth analysis of the goals of European integration and sustainable development, the youth forum has the most important function in terms of its content.

Students from twelve educational institutions in Georgia took part in the forum, the aim of which was to increase the involvement of young people in the process of fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the process of European integration and share innovative visions.

It should be noted that within the forum, the students held panel discussions on the topics of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, as well as the fulfilment of the obligations assumed by the association agreement between Georgia and the European Union and the economic development of the country.

The youth forum was organised by the Green Movement of Georgia/Friends of the Earth—Georgia and supported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Georgia.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Solomon Pavliashvili,. by students and interested parties.