Armenian business in Georgia

In 2010, 103 Armenian companies registered their business in Georgia. In the public registry agency in 2010, there were registered 25 individual entrepreneurs, 2 non commercial legal entities, one affiliation for foreign enterprise and 75 organizations of limited liability. As the agency Regnum informs, based on non official data for the last two years, around 4 000 entrepreneurs have moved their businesses from Armenia to Georgia. More and more businesses are slowly transferring their activities from Armenia into Georgia. The Armenian media actively discuss this trend regularly. For several years, Georgia has become a very attractive location for Armenian investors. Former head of the Armenian Central Bank, Bagrat Asatrian, stated that Georgia has distinct rules which are followed stably. He also mentioned that money goes into directions where there are better conditions. He thinks that there is significantly less corruption in Georgia. Armenian capital has been moving to Georgia for several years, however this process currently receive high scrutiny, thinks Asatrian. According to him, taxation procedures are transparent in Georgia and business is secured from different types of surprises whereas the situation in Armenia is not similar. Different businessman such as Grant Vardanian and Gurgen Arsenian think that the business environment in Georgia is perfect.

During a recent meeting in Yerevan on January 24, Saakashvili told his counterpart Sarkisian of the possibility of transparent borders between the two countries and deeper integration of economies between the two countries. “We are very small countries and depend on each other. Therefore we have to work in this direction,” stated Saakashvili.

The Armenian state registration office does not possess precise data on Armenian companies moving into Georgia.