PM: my gov’t strategy is to turn Georgia into regional Center

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that the strategy of his government is to transform Georgia into a regional center of business, trade, finance, logistics, tourism and education.

“My government's strategy is to turn Georgia into a center of the region in the fields of business, trade, finance, logistics, tourism and education. We try to make very creative reforms in order to attract more investments in Georgia,” he said.

The PM made the comment in his interview with Deutsche Welle while answering questions of the leading German media outlets on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Bakhtadze underlined that Georgia is the hub, connecting east and west and the gateway for eight countries, which do not have access to the sea.

“We consider our country as a bridge from Asia to Europe because we are the shortest route. We want to support the growing trade turnover between Asia and Europe. For this reason, we are making huge amounts of investments in our infrastructure and I am very pleased to see in Davos that more and more companies are interested in investing in Georgia,” he stated.

The World Economic Forum in Davos is underway on January 22-25. During the event, Bakhtadze held many important meetings, including with the Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan.

The sides discussed mutual relations and the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) Project, along with the transit potential of the countries and need of its greater utilization. It was noted that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project has an instrumental role to play towards this end.

At the meeting with Lyu Benxian, President of China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG), potential areas of cooperation were discussed at the meeting along with the possible investment projects, which may be implemented by the largest Chinese private investment group.

Moreover, one of the largest marine shipping companies - Stena Rederi - got interested in forwarding cargo from Georgia to Europe and Asia. It was mentioned by Carl Hagman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stena Rederi at the meeting with the Prime Minister of Georgia.

In the opinion of Stena Rederi CEO, Georgia has a great potential of marine transportation and a very suitable geographic position.

Georgia's investment opportunities and possible avenues of cooperation were discussed by Georgian Bakhtadze and Chairman Xu Lirong of the COSCO Shipping Corporation.

As it was pointed out, the Government of Georgia pays special attention to the development of new transport corridors to provide the fastest and safest alternative cargo movement route between Europe and Asia.

Moreover, Georgian PM met Head of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis. The meeting also emphasized Georgia's substantial educational reform seeking to develop human capital.

Head of Government of Georgia and Minister of International Trade Diversification of Canada Jim Carr discussed potential cooperation of the two countries in various sectors of the economy. Key topics of discussion were the recent success stories of Georgia, including the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and rich hydro resources of the country.