The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) established a thematic group for the municipalities of the mountainous regions.
The purpose of this platform is to hold discussions and multi-level dialogue regarding the challenges, problems, needs, and current issues of the municipalities in the highland regions.
The first session of the thematic group was held in Oni municipality. It was opened by the executive director of NALAG, Nino Rukhadze, together with the mayor of Oni municipality, Sergi Khidesheli, and the deputy state representative of Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, Kristine Kobakhidze.
According to the association’s executive director, highland settlements differ significantly from each other and from the residential areas of the plains. Therefore, NALAG aimed to create a thematic group to facilitate dialogue with relevant government agencies. This group focuses on establishing practices for finding joint and unified solutions to each municipality’s relevant problems.
Sergi Khidesheli and Kristine Kobakhidze emphasised the importance of practical cooperation between local and central governments and highlighted NALAG’s active involvement in this process.
The mayors of Mestia and Keda municipalities, heads of relevant services from various central government agencies, NALAG representatives, and the mayor of Oni participated in a thematic group meeting organised for highland municipalities. During the first session, the thematic group members were informed in detail of the mechanisms for accessing and adapting economic support programs for high mountain municipalities. Lasha Bostashvili, head of the small and medium business development department of the “Enterprise Georgia” agency, and Mariam Gelashvili, head of the project development department of the LEPL Rural Development Agency, presented these directions to the participants.
The next session was dedicated to presentations on the availability of healthcare programs in mountainous municipalities. These were presented by the Ministry of Labor, Health, and Social Protection Departments, specifically by the heads of the Primary Health Care and IDPs from the Occupied Territories Infrastructure Division and Health Protection Programs Division, Gvantsa Gasviani and Lela Tsotsoria.
At the end of the meeting, the session members agreed on the working principles of the thematic group and made plans for future cooperation.

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