Turnava meets representatives of Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, June 10
During her presentation, Minister talked about some of the most important directions of the Georgian economy, such as poverty reduction, quick and effective solutions in investment policy, strengthening regional approaches, supporting Georgian production and providing economic prosperity to every Georgian citizen.
"Among those issues that are important for not only the members of the committee, but also for the Georgian people, I have chosen two priorities on which we are currently working on: the first one is related to one of the biggest challenges - this is to overcome poverty and what we do and what we plan to do in the future. The second priority is more efficiency, better-coordinated investment policy, more rapid, transparent, and effective decisions with investors and businesses," noted the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development.
At the sitting, Turnava also talked about the development of large public projects such as gasification, internetization, solving the problems for existing regions without electricity, a 10-year plan of development of power transmission network, etc.
"The indicators of Georgia's economic growth are one of the most dynamic in the region, and in 10 years it should exceed 5%, which is very high. It has been mentioned on many occasions, that this is not enough and our team plans to take measures to involve every unused resource to ensure the economic growth," said the Minister.
After the presentation, Turnava answered the questions of the MPs.
Answering the question regarding the Anaklia Port project, Minister said that Anaklia is "our priority, we will not make any decisions that will damage the project." As she said, negotiations with different investors and banks are currently in process.
Turnava once again talked about the misunderstanding over Poti Deep Sea Port. According to the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, the construction of the port is not planned, and the document that caused the controversy was not the permission of construction; therefore, Anaklia Port project will not face any problems. According to Turnava, there is an internal inquiry on the issue, which will help the Ministry find out what went wrong, and what was the reason behind the lack of communication.
Turnava also talked about the national currency, saying "none of the fundamental macroeconomic indicators allow us to expect depreciation."
During her speech, Turnava addressed the May 21, 2019 events of Pankisi gorge. As she said, the lack of communication showed the Ministry of Economy how important the implementation of the new reforms is. "What happened, of course, was an unfortunate misunderstanding and when such things happen, the main responsibility is on the state," said Turnava. As she noted, she feels "responsibility for the problem." But, at the same time, she "saw a great challenge and a need to reform the energy sector fully."
While talking about Pankisi gorge, Turnava noted that "the government will keep the security of everyone, and I urge you to be sensitive when talking about such cases." As she said, the government was able to achieve peace, and anyone trying to damage the situation "does not serve the interests of the country."
At the end of the meeting, Roman Kakulia, Chairman of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, expressed his gratitude towards Turnava and her team.
As he said, the report represents a "good guide for the supervisory function for [the committee] in the future."
Natia Turnava was appointed as the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development on April 18 by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mamuka Bakhtadze. Before that, she was working as the Deputy Minister.