Half-way milestone in the project implementation was achieved on 27 May 2025 with a successfully completed Inventory validation meeting held in the Rooms Hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia. The meeting was supported by the GEF project 10785 (Global Review and Update of the National Implementation Plans under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants) and organized in collaboration with the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus), Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA) and the Stockholm Convention Regional Centre hosted at RECETOX.
The 41 participants covering country stakeholders have reviewed the prepared inventories and consolidated data for persistent organic pollutants listed in the Stockholm Convention until 2022 - pesticides, industrial chemicals and unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants. From the collected evidence, the experts suggest to focus the action plans in the upcoming National implementation plan on PCB management, remediation of old pesticide burial site, management of dioxins and furans and addressing releases of brominated flame retardants in the transport sector, hexabromocyclododecane in the construction sector, perfluorinated chemicals in textile sector and further investigate short-chain chlorinated paraffins.
Next steps in the project will include finalization of the inventories and technical reports and prioritization of the proposed themes so that they are compatible with broader national strategies and plans and can successfully accelerate prevention and have implementable legislative measures.
Mr. Alverd Chankseliani, Head of the Waste and Chemicals Management Department at MEPA thanked all for their participation and outlined that prioritization discussion on the proposed topics would take place in September 2025 and the draft updated NIP will be provided to stakeholders in the autumn to finalize its content during the autumn. He also outlined that his office currently needs to work on the Waste Management and Packaging Act and engages in consultation on technical regulations for vehicles. Finally, he thanked all the experts of the RECC who presented the inventories Mr. Irakli Legashvili, Ms. Anano Peikrishvili as well as all the team Ana Berejiani (MEPA), Ms Sophiko Akhobadze (RECC) and Kateřina Šebková (RECETOX) for their support in the project implementation.
Summer School took place at the RECETOX facilities and brought together experts, researchers, and young professionals from different countries. The programme consisted of two complementary modules addressing key topics related to the assessment and management of chemical risks.
