Vice Speaker Kakhaber Kuchava attended the Business for Gender Equality 2020 award ceremony at the invitation of the Millennium Foundation and addressed the participants with a welcoming speech - "As the Vice Speaker of the Parliament, I am honored to be here today for the Business for Gender Equality Award ceremony. A legislative framework that promotes women's equality is very important, and one of the main directions of the Permanent Parliamentary Council for Gender Equality is to achieve this goal. The Council's responsibilities are to have a strategy in this regard, as well as to implement promotional measures that indorse gender equality for women”.

According to him, the contribution of women in the economy is very important and great not only in Georgia but all over the world.

"Supporting women, their professional empowerment promotes inclusiveness, growth and a stronger contribution to the economy. Therefore, I am glad that the private sector in Georgia is actively involved and working in this direction. Since 2016, 150 companies have expressed their support and led the way for gender equality and women's empowerment," -  said the Deputy Speaker of Parliament.

Kakhaber Kuchava thanked the organizers of the award ceremony and also all the companies for promoting the empowerment of women and their policies on gender equality.

"I hope that these principles will be more widely established in our society and I wish everyone to make an even greater and stronger contribution to the Georgian economy”, - the Vice Speaker noted.

Kakhaber Kuchava also expressed his gratitude toward the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, for the assistance provided by the US to Georgia - "The US plays a leading role in strengthening Georgia's democracy, promoting our country's aspirations to join the European Union and NATO, and in strengthening the rule of law in general. We thank them for that”.

Welcoming remarks were also made by: Millennium Foundation Executive Director Magda Magradze, US Ambassador Kelly Degnan, Chair of the Board of the Business Leaders’ Federation “Women for Future”, Nina Kobakhidze, Deputy Representative of the UN Women, Tamar Sabedashvili.

The winner of the "Business for Gender Equality 2020" - "Crystal" was awarded by the Chair of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament, Nino Tsilosani.

The company "GePRA" took second place in the competition, and the group "Adjara" took third place.

The competition - "Business for Gender Equality" was announced by the Millennium Foundation in cooperation with the UN Women and the Federation of Business Leaders "Women for the Future". In 2016, the Millennium Foundation launched the annual competition, which aims to promote the principles of women's empowerment in Georgia, established by the United Nations Women and the United Nations Global Compact. In the 2020 competition, different companies operating in the local market participated and submitted the applications, which were reviewed by the Selection Commission consisting of representatives of the public and private sectors, as well as international organizations.