First Business House opens in Georgia

Georgia is introducing a completely new model for effective state-business relations by opening the first Business House, which will unite more than 600 state services needed for the business community.

Soon business people and legal entities can visit the new Business House or go online and access the services via a new electronic platform.

This is a revolutionary project that will significantly change the landscape for state-business relations,” said Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili today at the opening of the new business centre, located in Tbilisi’s Ortachala district.

The Georgian authorities have laid the foundation for building the first Business House in Georgia.

The new centre will provide the following services:

State property management and privatisation

Natural Resources Licenses

Construction permissions

Energy projects

Agriculture assistance state programs

‘Produce in Georgia’ services

Partnership Fund services

Kvirikashvili said the Business House will improve the quality of services offered to the business community, will make it easier to do business in Georgia and reduce service time and costs.

The idea to establish a Business House was part of the Government’s four-point reform agenda that aimed to support Georgia’s developing economy. Overhauling the governance system was one of the major four reforms the Government introduced to stimulate Georgia’s investment environment.

“Opening the Business House was the first step forward in improving and simplifying business processes in Georgia,” said Kvirikashvili.

“We are starting to implement the Governance reform, which is an important part of our four-point reform agenda. I hope this project will further improve the business climate in Georgia. The Business House will significantly reduce corruption-related risks in Georgia,” he said.

The Business House concept was created based on the needs of the business community.

Spaces inside the Business House were divided into several areas including immediate service area, general service area and consultation service area.

The space was a one-stop place for all business-related queries and it offered new services as well as existing services.

One of the new services is a ‘Once Only’ tool, in which business people provide their information to the public administration only once. Their information will be saved on a universal database so any time they visit a state institution, their data can be quickly and easily accessed from the Business House, thus removing the need for clients to reenter their details.

Other commercial services will also be available such as banks, legal advice, real estate assistance and more.

About 250 people will be employed at the new Business House, which will have the capacity to provide more than 600 services to about 1,200 customers daily. (Agenda.ge)