Page 33 - GEORptSep22

EU Commission increases assistance package for Eastern Partnership countries from €40mn to €75mn
Georgia signs MoU with US on 5G security
The EU Commission has increased the assistance package for the six Eastern Partnership countries from €40mn to €75mn in order to “deploy safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines and speed up the vaccination campaigns.”
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will receive the additional €35mn “to substantially increase access to vaccines in the Eastern Partnership region amid the global vaccine shortage.”
This assistance complements the EU's support to the Covax initiative, the world facility to ensure fair and universal access to Covid-19 vaccines and work towards an equitable and transparent distribution of vaccines over the Eastern Partner countries,” says the statement.
The EU Commission announced that €35mn comes in addition to the first package of support worth €40mn, launched in February, which aimed to “strengthen preparedness and local readiness for safe and effective vaccination of the population” in the six Eastern Partnership countries.
A Commission statement also said that the EU support includes the training of health managers and medical staff who are involved in the vaccination campaign.
Georgia and the US have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strengthening cooperation in fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications networks.
At the core of the MoU is a set of agreed good practices that the two sides should implement in the development of their 5G networks with a view to avoiding security risks. More specifically, the good practices are broadly interpreted as a way of banning Huawei and other companies controlled by Chinese government, defined as “malign actors”, and providing the necessary technology used by telecom operators to develop their 5G networks.
The US and Georgia emphasised a statement from the Prague 5G Security Conference – framing the “Prague Proposals” – as an important step towards developing a common approach to 5G network security, and ensuring a secure, resilient, and trustworthy 5G ecosystem. The Prague Proposals stress the need to develop, deploy, and commercialise 5G networks based on free and fair competition, transparency and the rule of law.
More specifically, under the MoU, Georgia agrees that in order to promote a vibrant and robust 5G ecosystem, “a rigorous evaluation of suppliers [of 5G hardware and software] should take into account the rule of law; the security environment; ethical supplier practices; and a supplier’s compliance with secure standards and industry best practices.”
6.0 Public Sector 6.1 Budget
Georgia revises 2022 budget in line with higher GDP forecast
The government of Georgia has revised its 2022 budget planning in line with higher expected GDP, and also to include lawmakers’ remarks. The revised planning has been submitted to parliament, according to the chairman of the parliamentary committee for finance and budget, Irakli Kovzanadze.
The government revised the budget in line with 10% GDP growth this year, compared to the 9.5% assumed previously. In nominal terms, GDP is expected to hit GEL65bn this year.
33 GEORGIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com