Georgian PM holds meetings in Davos
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, January 22
“BP will allocate 150 million U.S. Dollars for the purpose of modernizing certain parts of the Baku-Supsa Pipeline and improving ecological standards,” the press centre of the Georgian government wrote after the meeting of Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and the executive director of BP, Robert Dudley. The meeting was held within the frames of the Davos World Economic Forum.
Robert Dudley provided the Georgian party with detailed information regarding projects that are being carried out in Georgia by BP. Pursuant to the executive director of the company, notwithstanding the fluctuation of oil prices, the construction of the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline is being implemented in line with its schedule and will be finished by 2018. Roughly 2000 people are employed in the process of implementation of the project.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili also met with the chairman of TATA SONS LTD, Cyrus P. Mistry. Tata Sons Ltd, which operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, intends to increase the volume of investments made in Georgia.
During the meeting it was decided that Cyrus Mistry will visit Georgia with the working group of networks of Indian hotels to study the investment environment on the ground.
The TATA group has already launched several major projects in Georgia. Currently, the total amount of the investments made by the respective company alongside with its partners in Georgia is 650 million U.S. Dollars.
A working group of the Washington State Investment Board (the WSIB) - a leading American investment company - will visit Georgia. The decision was made during a meeting held between the Georgian PM and the Executive Director of the WSIB, Theresa J. Whitmarsh.
The Georgian PM also met with the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair. The main topics of the meeting encompassed the ongoing democratic reforms in Georgia and recent developments in the region. It was decided that Tony Blair will visit Georgia in the near future.
As reported by Kvirikashvili’s administration, the Georgian PM also met with his counterpart from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Throughout the meeting, Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Mark Rutte emphasized the prospects of deepening cooperation between their respective countries. The parties agreed to exchange high-level visits.
The Netherlands represents one of the most important partners of Georgia. It is noteworthy that in the list of the 50 largest investors in Georgia, 11 investors were residents of the Netherlands in 2014 and 10 in the first two quarters of 2015.
Moreover, the Georgian PM met with the assistant of the US State Secretary-Victoria Nuland. During the meeting, the sides discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and the political situation in Georgia.
Prime Giorgi Kvirikashvili also took part in the world economic forum. He delivered a speech at the session, entitled Eurasia and the Modern Silk Road, in which he spoke about the reforms and projects implemented in Georgia.
“Georgia tries to strengthen economic ties not only with European Union and countries in the region, but with Russia too,” he stated during his address.
The Georgian delegation will leave Switzerland on January 22.
