Welcome remarks by UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton at the Rural Development Conference 2019

Madame President Salome Zourabichvili

Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Levan Davitashvili

EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends

• On behalf of the United Nations Development Programme and the entire UN family in the country, it is a privilege to welcome you all to today’s conference on rural development.

• The presence of the President and so many members of the Government (including the Ministers of Environmental Protection and Agriculture; Regional Development and Infrastructure; and Economy and Sustainable Development) underlines the importance and timeliness of this topic for Georgia and its people.

• Rural development offers a solution to the country’s biggest socio-economic puzzle: namely, that the 43 percent of the workforce who work as farmers generate just 8 percent of GDP.

• And it offers a remedy for the glaring disparity that the 42 percent of the population who live in rural areas face levels of poverty (of almost 30 percent) that run double those in urban areas.

• Overcoming this “economic dualism,” as the World Bank calls it, will take a major transformation.

• But a successful outcome will fulfil our shared commitment under the Sustainable Development Goals “to leave no one behind,” by ensuring equal opportunities for 1.6 million rural residents.

• The challenge looks very daunting, but it is a path that many countries have already trodden.

• Many of the most recent new members of the European Union have joined with a large share of the population employed in agriculture, and also huge urban-rural divides in living standards.

• When Romania joined the EU, for example, nearly one-third of its workforce were farmers.

• So there is a rich history of European experience to build on.

• We are pleased that colleagues from Austria and Hungary with decades of experience in leading rural development in an EU context are here today to share their advice and wisdom.

• In addition to tried-and-tested experience, there is also support in the form of funding.

• On top of its own resources, Georgia can draw on the 179.5 million euro that have been allocated under the European Neighbourhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development – better-known (and loved) as ENPARD – for the ten-year period that ends in 2022, with fresh allocations set to follow.

• But to make rural development a success, fresh thinking is also needed.

• Let me point to five ideas here:

• First off, rural development needs to be seen as something much broader than agriculture, focusing on the social and economic well-being of rural communities rather than on farming as a sector alone. This is where the more advanced European economies are headed: for example, it is intriguing to note that Austria for the first time in its history has no ministry with “agriculture” in its name.

• Second, it’s important to professionalize agriculture, and to treat it as a vocation to be learned, like every other, rather than as something where skills come as part of the family inheritance.

• But then, third, promoting non-farm jobs in rural areas is as important as making farm jobs better.

• And, fourth, environmental protection and climate change need to come increasingly into focus, as rural dwellers come to see themselves less as farmers and more as stewards of the countryside.

• Finally, serious investments need to be directed at closing the civilizational gaps between urban and rural areas.

• We hope that these considerations will help to shape the design of a new rural development strategy for Georgia for the coming seven-year period, starting from 2020.

• The United Nations, through UNDP and the Food and Agriculture Organization, has been privileged to contribute to many of the achievements made under the first strategy, launched in 2017.

• And we remain committed to continuing to assist in the development and implementation of the new strategy, as we work together to deliver on our shared commitment “to leave no one behind.”

We thank you for joining us today, and we look forward to a spirited discussion.