The Meeting of the Government of Georgia was held on 17 May 2006. The Agenda consisted of 14 items.
At the beginning of the Meeting, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli informed the audience that the privatization of Batumi Port and United Telecommunications Company had finished on 12 May. He stressed the fact that the companies that had not hitherto been present on the Georgian market had taken part in the process. He said that 92 million US dollars would be paid for a 49-year leasehold and 90 million US dollars - for privatization of 90% shares of United Telecommunications Company. Besides, more important were the investment package that the investors were considering to implement in Batumi Port and United Telecommunications Company that would create new jobs in Georgia and further accelerate the pace of the economic development of the country. The Prime Minister of Georgia said that it was a very successful outcome and thanked the economic team of the Government of Georgia as well as all who had been involved in the process.
After that the Prime Minister of Georgia said: Tbilgas bankruptcy proceedings finished on 12 May and Tbilgas was purchased by TransGaz, a Kazakh company. In about a year and a half, 80 million US dollars will be invested in Tbilgas, as a result of which gas supply for Tbilisi residents will be much more stable and safer.
The Prime Minister of Georgia also said that the privatization process was continuing. In particular, 16 June was the deadline for accepting applications for privatization of energy facilities (three distribution companies and six hydropower plants). He said that a 24-hour power supply had been brought about but it was necessary to make it much more stable and safer, for which it was important to attract investments to that sector exactly. The Prime Minister called on the heads of the ministries concerned to ratchet up efforts to that end.
Press Center of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia