What is Georgia’s strategy to fight unemployment?

"Raising employment and creating a number of new jobs in Georgia is one of the top priorities for our Government,” underlined Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili at a regional conference on employment which started today in Tbilisi.

The leader of the country summed up the steps Georgia’s Government had taken over the past three years to address the issue of unemployment. The latest data published by Georgia’s National Statistics Department, Geostat, showed Georgia’s unemployment rate was at 12.4 in 2014, which was the lowest rate for the past nine years.

In front of 130 professionals from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and various international organisations, PM Garibashvili stressed the state's support for businesses, stating that investments were the key to solving the country’s unemployment problem, and this was why the Government was doing its best to create a healthy, free and competitive business environment in the country.

Data from the second quarter of 2015 showed an increase of 12 percent for new jobs in business in comparison with the same period of last year; 61,000 more people were employed in private businesses. “We started state programs to support the development of producers and create new manufacturing, such as Produce in Georgia, Cheap Agro Loan and Strong Region for Strong Georgia schemes,” noted Garibashvili in his speech today.

He stressed his thanks to the new initiatives; in the agricultural sector alone, 10,000 people had found jobs, as the programs encouraged the creation of new manufacturing businesses.

“Business is operating freely and it feels secure today in Georgia, investors are totally assured. As a result, last year the volume of Foreign Direct Investments grew by 87 percent in comparison with the same period of the previous year. 1.7 million USD in investments is the highest pick after the year 2007,” he said, after explaining the initiatives his Government had implemented in recent years.

Georgia’s Prime Minister also emphasized that for the first time in the country, a comprehensive survey was conducted that analyzed the real unemployment situation: the qualifications of employees were assessed, influencing factors for unemployment were identified and the possibilities for employment were studied in each geographic region.

He also named education as the top priority for the country, as "we need a highly qualified, educated new generation which can satisfy the present standards and will be competitive in the modern world”.

Tbilisi is hosting the two-day forum, which will look into ways to boost employment in the region, ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth of the national labour markets.

The event has brought together more than 130 delegates from nearby nations including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. The conference was being organised by a group of international organisations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank Group, International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Swiss Cooperation Office (SCO). (agenda.ge)