Enterprise Georgia fund purchase of fishing vessels
Thursday, December 31
“At the initiative of the Prime Minister, we were able to support 10 fishing vessels in the shortest possible time," stated Mikheil Khidureli, head of the Economic Agency Enterprise Georgia.
According to him, the agency continues to actively work on the development of the sector and new projects.
As of December 30, 2020, the agency "Enterprise Georgia" has funded the purchase of a total of 10 fishing vessels in the field of marine fishing. The loan volume of these projects is more than GEL37.6 million, and the total investment exceeds GEL38 million. A total of 161 additional jobs will be created under the projects.
The companies will benefit from the loan co-financing component, as well as the 6 companies with a credit-guarantee mechanism. In particular, during the first 3 years, the loan interest will be co-financed by the agency and also the state will guarantee 90% of the loan principal.
With the new vessels, fishermen will be able to maximize the annual fishing quota when it is not fully utilized today. It should also be taken into account that according to the existing practice, Georgian licensees rent foreign ships and carry out their activities in such a way that Georgian ships are in a deplorable condition. Today we have 30 seiners (fishing vessels), which employ about 500 fishermen-sailors, but the vessels are outdated and can not meet modern requirements. Even due to the low reliability and productivity of the vessels, it is not possible to train the fishermen at the proper level and technology.
