The East of Turkey has had delayed progress compared to the economic development of other regions in Turkey. In this context, the Eastern Anatolia Development Programme was a regional development programme aimed at building capacity for sustainable development by implementing innovative and participatory local policy and planning approaches.

While tourism has been, and continues to be, important to the local economy, it has not matched its potential. To remedy this and attract more tourists, local government and businesses in the city decided to ensure that the standard of services offered to visitors met internationally accepted standards

Rize has the best reserves of tea in Turkey, however, the SMEs in the Tea region is not qualified enough to compete. Hence, the general purpose of the project was to increase the competitiveness of the tea sector concentrated in Rize and its surroundings. More specifically, it wanted