Georgia's First Vice Prime Minister Discusses Relations with USA, Stresses Need for Enhanced Outcomes
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Levan Davitashvili, the First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, addressed Georgia's relations with the USA, underscoring the necessity for greater outcomes.
Davitashvili emphasized ongoing efforts to attract increased quality investment from the United States, including a commitment to facilitating direct flights by implementing necessary infrastructural changes at airports. He acknowledged potential challenges but stressed the importance of initiating new direct flights for fostering trade, economic collaboration, tourism, and people-to-people relations. Davitashvili highlighted the significance of US government support in this endeavor, particularly given the strategic partnership between the two countries and mutual desire to deepen economic relations.
"We continue our efforts to attract increased quality investment from the United States. This includes our commitment to facilitating direct flights by being prepared to implement necessary infrastructural changes at our airports. While acknowledging the challenges we may encounter and recognizing that our efforts alone may not be sufficient, we remain proactive. We understand that initiating new direct flights might initially be challenging commercially, but it holds significant importance in fostering trade, economic collaboration, tourism, and people-to-people relations. In this regard, the US government's support would be appropriate and valuable. This collaboration is particularly crucial as we are strategic partners, and there is a mutual desire to deepen these relations, emphasizing economic aspects," Davitashvili stated.
Davitashvili highlighted significant progress in the IT sector, which contributed over a billion dollars to Georgia's revenue last year. He credited the involvement of American companies for this success but emphasized the need to further enhance the relationship, not only in the IT sector but also across other domains. Davitashvili expressed readiness and anticipation for future steps to strengthen collaboration between Georgia and the United States.
"We have achieved notable progress in the IT sector, contributing more than a billion dollars to our country's revenue last year. The involvement of American companies has been instrumental in this success. However, we aim to level-up our relationship, including the IT sector and other domains. Consequently, we have expressed our readiness and anticipation for forthcoming steps," he added.
