Georgia signed the EU Association Agreement including provisions for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area on 18 July 2014, and it has been applied since 1 September 2014. The Association Agreement came fully into force on 1 July 2016.
On 3 March 2022, Georgia officially applied for EU membership and in June 2022 the European Council indicated that it is ready to grant candidate country status to Georgia once the priorities specified in the European Commission’s opinion on Georgia’s application have been addressed. On 8 November 2023 the European Commission recommended that Georgia be granted the status of a candidate country and this was endorsed by European Council on 14 December 2023 with Georgia granted candidate status on the understanding that the relevant steps are taken.
In agreement with the EC and the Georgian authorities, SIGMA is currently supporting:
- The Administration of the Government on strengthening monitoring and reporting on the new Public Administration Reform Strategy as well as the management and co-ordination of its implementation.
- The Administration of the Government on developing the methodology underpinning the Policy Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation handbook
- The Civil Service Bureau on developing the civil service legal framework and the Law on Legal Entities of Public Law.
- The Ministry of Finance on the further development of the public internal financial management and control systems, with a specific focus on developing internal audit certification.
- The State Procurement Agency on implementing the new public procurement law and the procurement -related Dispute Resolution Council with developing its activities.
