PM meets with the Business Association of Georgia

Head of the government of Georgia, PM Giorgi Gakharia held a meeting with the members of the Business Association Georgia (BAG) on November 19 at Rooms Hotel, presenting newly appointed business ombudsman Mikheil Daushvili, stressing that he will be the effective liaison between the authorities and businesses.

“It is very important to have a direct and efficient link, which will definitely be held by Mikheil Daushvili. Each and every problem that reaches him will end up on my desk within a matter of minutes or an hour,” he added, noting that a stable environment is one of the most significant factors for the economy and businesses.

“We do everything to let this election year flow in a peaceful manner to let the investments flow, create new jobs and push for many legislative amendments. Predominantly, it should all be foreseeable," the PM said.

In addition, Gakharia said the government plans to tackle "bureaucratic traffic jams" that exist in various agencies in the nearest future. PM also spoke about the expected changes by the end of the year regarding the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the Dispute Resolution Board and other agencies.

During a meeting with BAG members, the business ombudsman said that his mandate was "to raise business problems and undermine bureaucracy." He said that since the meeting was introductory, there were no specific issues discussed today, though Daushvili assures one of his main plans is to solve bureaucratic problems.

"We have not done any work on this issue. Our goal is to find a balanced middle ground, obviously not reducing quality and reducing business efficiency," Daushvili told reporters on changes to public health and the business process. He also noted that the meetings with clinics continue.

Soso Pkhakadze, president of the BAG urged the government and the opposition to think more about maintaining stability in the country.

“The BAG is a non-political, non-profit organization. We are working 24 hours a day to employ more people, invest more in the country and further strengthen our economy. I want to make it very clear that I believe in the end the cornerstone of success is a strong business. Because strong business equals a strong economy, in order for the country to move forward, the population will be better off and have more income for any of our families. In this situation, political instability has a very bad effect on each of us, on our perceptions.” – announced Pkhakadze.

Gia Kvaratskhelia, CEO of Lilo Mall, said the meeting that they have received assurances from the Prime Minister that the Lilo metro project will be implemented.

“Many rumors have been circulated about a historic project involving the construction of eight subways and we have received assurances from the Prime Minister that this project will be implemented. These are the new metro stations, the last of which is in Lilo Mall. This is a very important issue, the people of the East of Tbilisi are waiting for this project to be implemented, "said Lilo Mall CEO.

As for the larger scale of the challenges in business, Kvaratskhelia says that "the only major problem and challenge for business is the (state of) Gel, that we should all consider together - the business and the state."