Former President Mikheil Saakashvili Presents 9-point Economic Development Plan
By Khatia Bzhalava
Friday, February 4, 2022
The third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has published the main theses of his economic development vision. The economic plan has nine main objectives, including, judicial reform, English law, arbitration, decriminalization of economic crimes; energetic development, Bureaucracy for the people and the elimination of irrelevant spending; Introduction of a single tax principle; Infrastructure and transport development; Lazika construction, agricultural development, and the Georgian silicon valley.
According to the former president, less bureaucracy, stable and democratic change of government, non-corrupt and competent court, and less state intervention in the economy are crucial for achieving economic development.
As he notes, the current judicial system in Georgia is incapable of protecting the rights of investors because it is dependent on a particular "financial clan", claiming that in such an environment, attracting investments is unrealistic. In his opinion, the judiciary needs to change radically and the practice of delaying cases for many years needs to be abolished, because, according to him, it harms citizens and investors no less than the unfair decision itself. He stresses that Georgia should allow the unrestricted use of English law throughout the country for all kinds of commercial transactions and the parties themselves should be able to choose how to continue the disputes.
Regarding ‘the law of de-oligarchization’, Saakashvili believes that any individual whose property exceeds 5 percent of the country's GDP must be prohibited from establishing and financing a political party or participating in its activity in any other way.
Saakashvili’s economic plan also focuses on energy development, stressing that hydroelectric power plants (HPP) should be built in the country, but this must be done based on a complete, in-depth, and qualified analysis. “The HPPs must be completely safe and the negative impact on the environment must be minimized,” reads the former president’s statement.
According to the plan, Georgia must become the logistical center of the region by implementing large-scale infrastructure projects, including building a high-speed railway and small airports in all cities, especially in the resort areas. The former president also reviews the agricultural sector, stressing that new technologies play a major role in this direction.
The construction of Lazika also plays an important role in the economic vision program and according to Saakashvili, in a maximum of 10 years, it will be possible to create 200 thousand jobs via this project, noting that the idea of building a new big city on the Black Sea coast of Georgia is more relevant than ever.
