On 4-5 February, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli was on a working visit to Turkey.
As part of the visit, the Prime Minister held meetings with Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. State Minister Kurshad Tuzmen, Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbash, President of the Union of Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Stock Exchanges Mr. Rifat Hisarjiklioglu. The Prime Minister met the representatives of large businesses in Turkey and took part in the Georgia-Turkish Business Forum.
The core objective of the Prime Minister's visit was to encourage further development of the economic relations between Georgia and Turkey. At the meetings, the Turkish side demonstrated interest in supporting the Turkish businesses in Georgia. The parties set the goal that the trade volume between the two countries and the amount of Turkish investments in Georgia will reach 2 billion US dollars in 2008. As the Prime Minister of Georgia said, his primary objective in connection with Turkey is to turn the two countries into a unified economic zone.
When delivering a speech at the business forum, Zurab Noghaideli discussed the recent achievements in the Georgian economy, for which the country is becoming ever more attractive for foreign investors. First of all, Zurab Noghaideli singled out the stability of the Georgian economy, liberalization of the fiscal laws, and touched upon infrastructure development projects and the privatization process in Georgia. The Prime Minister placed special focus on the privatization process in the energy sector, and unveiled a tender plan of large energy facilities and hydropower plants. The Prime Minister cited the examples of successful Turkish businesses operating in Georgia and called on the Turkish businessmen to invest vigorously in the Georgian economy. The Prime Minister also invited the businessmen to Georgia to learn the actual situation and investment opportunities in Georgia.
At the business forum, the Union of Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Stock Exchanges presented a Sarpi Customs Checkpoint Project to modernize both Georgian and Turkish customs. The project cost is estimated at 25 million US dollars, though it does not call for any additional allocations from the Georgian budget. Nor will its implementation hamper the traffic of passengers. It was noted that the initiative had been raised during the Prime Minister's visit in Turkey back in October 2005 and had found a real reflection within just four months.
State Minister of Turkey Kurshad Tuzmen commented appreciatively that another agreement reached during Zurab Noghaideli's previous visit in Turkey had been rapidly realized. Under the decision made in October 2005 by the Prime Minister of Georgia and his Turkish colleague, from 10 February on a VISA-free regime would be launched for the Georgian and Turkish citizens.
At the dinner organized in honour of Zurab Noghaideli, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered the Georgian party to make a bolder step - namely to issue 1-year free VISAs for the businessmen of the two countries.
At the meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and State Minister Kushard Tusmen, special attention was placed on the situation in the Georgian energy sector. It was noted that Georgia and the entire Europe needed to diversify energy sources and develop a pan-European energy strategy. In this respect, Georgia and Turkey may serve as a "corridor" to transit energy carriers from Central Asia to Europe. The Georgia and Turkish sides agreed to continue work towards increasing the purchase quota of the natural gas extracted from Shah-Deniz Field. They also discussed the opportunity to build a power transmission line between Turkey and Georgia to make it possible to export electricity from Turkey in winter and from Georgia in summer.
Zurab Noghaideli devoted much of his time to Turkish businessmen. He personally met many of them and talked about the best conditions for them to invest in Georgia. Specific decisions were made to involve Turkish companies in construction projects.
A special meeting was organized for the Prime Minister of Georgia in Sabanji Holding, the second-largest Turkish company with equities over 232 billion US dollars. The representatives of the company expressed interest in making investments in the Georgian energy sector and infrastructure development projects.
The Prime Minister also met Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbash. The parties agreed that to share experience, a delegation from Georgian cities, primarily from Tbilisi, would be dispatched to Turkey to learn the work of various municipal systems. They parties also discussed the activities of the Georgian Cultural Center in Istanbul. The representatives of the Georgian Diaspora organized an especially warm reception for the Prime Minister of Georgian. At the dinner held in honour of Zurab Noghaideli, they sang Georgian songs for the Prime Minister. The meeting lasted longer than it had been planned. The representatives of the Georgian Diaspora gave Zurab Noghaideli a present with an inscription made in the Georgian language.
At the end of the visit, the Prime Minister of Georgia met the top officials of Marmana Group, one of the most influential non-governmental organizations in Turkey. Its members are the former political figures, resigned high-ranking militaries and influential businessmen. At the meeting, Zurab Noghaideli sort of summed up the results of the visit and discussed the perspectives of cooperation with Turkey. The members of the organization voiced satisfaction with the development of the relations between the two countries and pledged their support to the Prime Minister of Georgia in every way.
Prime Minister's Press Service