Georgia has long been one of Estonia's priority countries for development cooperation, said Mariin Ratnik, undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Next year, the amount of funding allocated will be considerably smaller than before.

"Democratic processes in Georgia have been in decline for some time now. People are protesting in the streets and are dissatisfied with their current government, which came into power after the elections. Even earlier, we assessed our projects and concluded that there are areas where we are no longer prepared to continue cooperation. This primarily concerns areas involving the Georgian government," Ratnik explained.

For example, a €60,000 project described on the website of the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV) was intended to assist Georgia in developing a web-policing service.

Margus Gering, head of the ESDTEV's Eastern Partnership department, said funding for this project was allocated to Estonian NGO Mondo earlier this year.

"One of the participants in this project was Estonia's Police and Border Guard Board (PPA). Unfortunately, it turned out that the internal situation in Georgia had become so tense that, by mutual agreement, it was decided that the project could not be implemented in its intended form. Consequently, the project was canceled in that format, and the funds had to be redirected," he said.

Over the years, Estonia has also collaborated extensively with Georgia's Ministry of Education, Gering added.

"This is one of our success stories. Georgia's general education system, from first to 12th grade, has essentially been reformed and guided by Estonian experts and practitioners. This extends to the bachelor's and master's teacher training curricula at Georgian universities, which have also been designed and advised by Estonian experts," the official explained.

But Ratnik confirmed that Estonia will no longer continue cooperation with Georgia's Ministry of Education.

The largest ongoing project in the education sector focuses on regions of Georgia where Armenians and Azeris are in the majority. In cooperation with UNICEF, Estonia has been helping to implement a bilingual education model in these areas. Gering said the project will conclude at the end of this year.

Ratnik noted that future efforts will focus on projects supporting free media and civil society. For instance, a project valued at nearly €100,000 providing scholarships and journalism awards to Georgian journalists is set to run until mid-2025.

"Our primary task is to monitor political developments in Georgia. We will certainly continue with the projects we are currently prepared to maintain. Whether we take on new ones will depend on time and circumstances," Ratnik added.

As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' budget has yet to be approved, neither Ratnik nor Gering could specify how much funding will be allocated to Georgia next year.

"But if we consider that we have allocated about €1 million annually to development cooperation in Georgia for years, then certainly, these funds will certainly be many times smaller next year," Ratnik said.

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