Twinning project with Georgia again gathers pace

After delays caused by the pandemic, the Twinning project with Georgia is entering the next phase of development. The mid-term conference on 7 April 2022 in Tbilisi marks the beginning of the second half of the project, which was extended by nine months due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the lead partner in the German-Italian consortium, Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS) is heavily involved in the implementation of the Twinning project “Strengthening Georgian Accreditation System with the Focus on EU Technical Regulations”.

The one-day event in Tbilisi brought together key Georgian socio-political stakeholders with representatives of the German-Italian consortium and the European Union. The focus was on sharing information on the role and importance of accreditation and its impact on the economy and facilitation of international trade. There was also a presentation of the results achieved to date in the project and further steps and plans for the remainder of the project.

High profile attendance at event

The opening and welcoming speeches were given by Genadi Arveladze, Deputy Minister of the Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ambassador of the European Union in Georgia Carl Hartzell, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Georgia Hubert Knirsch and Nicola Iorio representing the Embassy of Italy in Georgia.

The event continued with a focus on presentations on quality infrastructure, the benefits of accreditation for international trade and Georgia’s path to developing an accreditation system. These were presented by Dr.-Ing. Stephan Finke, Chief Executive Officer of DAkkS and project leader, Filippo Trifiletti, Director General of ACCREDIA and Natia Mikeladze, Director General of the Georgian Accreditation Centre (GAC).

In their presentations, Dr.-Ing. Stephan Finke and Filippo Trifiletti drew attention the many benefits of accreditation for the national quality infrastructure as a reliable instrument for the confirmation of competence, emphasising that the international recognition of accredited services is a fundamental step for the national accreditation body of Georgia and for the country itself.

Study visit at the beginning of May

In the course of a study trip from 3 to 5 May in Berlin, representatives of DAkkS and the GAC exchanged views on numerous practical issues and horizontal topics of accreditation. Topics of the exchange of expertise within the framework of the Twinning project included the accreditation of notified bodies, the evaluation of conformity assessment schemes and the quality and assessor management systems in place at the DAkkS.