Gilauri: Poland Example Shows How Georgia Can Become Financial Center

Last week, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri, participated in a seminar held at TBC Bank. The activities of the Warsaw stock exchange and prospects of equity market development in Georgia were discussed at the seminar.

"This year is a very important year for Georgia and its economy. The world's economy is going downwards, while we have increased our parameters of economic growth. We think that Georgia's economy will grow by 6%. This is very important that more investors are arriving in Georgia. The number of international investments was at a record high in the third quarter. Apart from direct investments, there are so called portfolio investors, who are interested in making investments in Georgia. The mechanism for this is frequently on a stock exchange. Today, Georgian companies cannot reach London stock exchange. Instead, the Warsaw stock exchange is one of the most important, largest and leading stock exchanges in Eastern Europe. It enables Georgian companies to bring additional hundreds of millions of dollars into Georgia. The development of the Warsaw stock exchange is very interesting. We have reached the stage where we can move to new economic development, which concerns development of stock exchange. Unfortunately, the development of the Georgian stock exchange is only at a basic stage. We would like to share Warsaw's experience. Warsaw has become a leader in Eastern Europe with a view to stock exchange development in a very short period. I think that if such direction is developed in Tbilisi, Georgia will become not only a tourist and trade center, but also a financial center of the region. Our aim is Georgia to become a tourism, trade, logistics, energy and financial center of this region. Sharing this experience will be a great step forward for Georgia in the future," pointed out the Prime Minister after the seminar.