Biosecurity and the Republic of Georgia: Maintaining Progress in an Uncertain Future

The document details Georgia's evolution into a regional biosecurity leader through long-term partnerships with the US Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, specifically the Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP). It highlights the establishment of the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research as a critical hub for disease surveillance and pathogen security in the Caucasus. However, the authors warn that recent domestic political turmoil—including a contested 2024 election, the 'foreign agents' bill, and the suspension of EU accession—combined with persistent Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Georgian labs, jeopardizes these security gains and global health security.

• The US Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, specifically the Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP), has been fundamental in evolving Georgia's biosecurity from the destruction of Soviet-era infrastructure to advanced capacity-building in pathogen early warning and laboratory safety.
• The Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research, opened in 2013 in Tbilisi, is the only BSL-3 laboratory in the Caucasus region and serves as the national repository for especially dangerous pathogens to prevent theft or accidents.
• Georgia has established regional biosecurity leadership through the Biosurveillance Network of the Silk Road (BNSR) and by hosting the Biosecurity Agency for Central Asia and the Caucuses (BACAC).
• Russia has conducted a sustained disinformation campaign to discredit Georgian biosecurity efforts, including false claims that the Lugar Center is involved in 'bioterrorism' or the production of Novichok nerve agents.
• Recent political developments in Georgia, including the 2024 parliamentary election, the enactment of a 'foreign agents' law, and the suspension of EU accession, create uncertainty that may undermine international biosecurity cooperation.
• Georgia's technical biosecurity capabilities include the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) and the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for rapid data sharing, as evidenced by uploading 2,316 full genome sequences to GISAID by September 2022.

APA

du Pont, J., & Parthemore, C. (2025). Biosecurity and the Republic of Georgia: Maintaining Progress in an Uncertain Future. The Council on Strategic Risks. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/72-Biosecurity.pdf

Chicago

du Pont, Jackson, and Christine Parthemore. Biosecurity and the Republic of Georgia: Maintaining Progress in an Uncertain Future. The Council on Strategic Risks, 2025. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/72-Biosecurity.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=du Pont |first1=Jackson |last2=Parthemore |first2=Christine |title=Biosecurity and the Republic of Georgia: Maintaining Progress in an Uncertain Future |publisher=The Council on Strategic Risks |date=12 March 2025 |url=https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/72-Biosecurity.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dupont2025biosecurity, author = {du Pont, Jackson and Parthemore, Christine}, title = {{Biosecurity and the Republic of Georgia: Maintaining Progress in an Uncertain Future}}, institution = {The Council on Strategic Risks}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/72-Biosecurity.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }