First meeting of Investors’ Council held in Tbilisi
By Messenger Staff
Tuesday, November 3
The first meeting of the Investors’ Council has been held in Tbilisi through the participation of business field representatives, state officials and representatives from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The Council - created in May 2015 through the Government’s initiative and the EBRD’s support - put together all the participants to discuss Georgia’s investment prospects and ways of how to make Georgia more attractive for foreign investors.
“We created the Council - that is a step forward in itself. The Council will help the Government, investors, businessmen and the Non-Governmental sector to exchange views to make current Georgia’s business environment more attractive.
“I hope that the Council’s activities will put the relationship between the Government and business sector to a new, advanced level,” Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated.
On this note, Bruno Balvanera, the EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus, spoke about the necessity of making Georgian legislation in full compliance with European law, since Georgia signed an Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU) in June 2014.
The sides touched on the main challenges hindering the country’s investment potential and stressed that a dialogue between the Government and the private sector, as well as certain reforms, were necessary.
The participants concluded that large-scaled cooperation among various business players and the state leadership would promote better business and investments options for the country.
The members of the Council are Georgian and foreign business associations, the Georgian Business Ombudsman and donor organisations who are active in the sphere of developing the private sector.
