Georgia had been developing a draft Environmental Assessment Code to introduce the EIA and SEA procedures following the international standards since August 2014 in order to fulfill the obligations of the Association Agreement between the EU and Georgia signed on 27th of June 2014. According to the Association Agreement Georgia took the commitment to approximate its national legislation related to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to the EU Directives, the UNECE Convention on the Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (the Espoo Convention) and its Protocol on SEA.

The aim of the round table meeting was to review the draft Environmental Assessment Code and prepare relevant recommendations for further improvement of the draft.

The meeting gathered representatives from the sectoral ministries and authorities, in particular those responsible for economics, industry, energy, transport, agriculture, tourism, mining, forestry, and health, as well as the representatives and specialists from civil society organizations, donor agencies/international financial institutions, and environmental authorities as well as national and international experts who had been involved in the preparation of a new law.

It was organized by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia with support of the Secretariat to the UNECE Secretariat to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) and its Protocol on SEA in the framework of the EU funded Programme Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighbourhood (EaP-GREEN).