On 02-03 March, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli was on a working visit to the United States of America. As part of the visit, the Prime Minister attended the Georgia-American Business Forum "Investing in Georgia", and held meetings at the New-York Stock Exchange and with the representatives of the American business circles. The Prime Minister of Georgia also met Kofi Anan, the General Secretary of the United Nations Organization.
On the first day of the visit, the Primer Minister took part in Georgia-American Business Forum and held meetings with the American businessmen.
The organizers of the Investing in Georgia forum were the Government of Georgia, America-Georgian Business Council, and International Finance Corporation. The goal of the forum was to brief the businessmen operating in the United States of America on the opportunities to invest in Georgia.
Special attention was placed on energy, transport and communications and banking sectors. The speakers, including the businessmen operating in Georgia and the representatives of the Government of Georgia, talked about the reforms taking place in the Georgian economy and the investment environment in Georgia. They put forward specific proposals in connection with the privatization process in Georgia.
Together with the Prime Minister of Georgia, State Minister for Coordination of Reforms Kakha Bendukidze, Minister of Energy Nika Gilauri and Minister of Economic Development Irakli Chogovadze took part in the work of the forum.
Zurab Noghaideli also held meetings with major American businessmen and representatives of the US financial sector.
The Prime Minister of Georgia also met Edward Nasim, the Coordinator of Eastern and Central European Countries of International Finance Corporation.
At the meeting, the American party expressed satisfaction with the dynamic development of the Georgian economy and improvement of the investment environment in Georgia. It became known that International Finance Corporation intends to invest 44 mln US dollars in Georgia. Mr. Nasim appreciated the importance of the Georgia-American Forum, saying the presence of the American businessmen at the forum was unprecedentedly high.
As part of the visit, the parties signed an agreement between the Government of Georgia and United States Trade and Development Agency. Under the agreement, the Agency will allocate the necessary funds to conduct a feasibility study towards building a 500-kilowatt power transmission line. Besides, a contract was made with Canargo. The company was authorized to extract natural gas in Georgia (Gardabani Region).
On the second day of the visit, the Prime Minister of Georgia held meetings in New-York Stock Exchange and United Nations Organizations.
At the meeting with Catherine Keen, the President of NYSE, Zurab Noghaideli sort of summed up the results of the visit and discussed the success of the business forum held on Thursday. At the meeting, the parties reached a decision important for the Georgian business, namely the decision to privatize the state-owned assets of Georgia through New-York Stock Exchange. Besides, the opportunity arose to sell the shares of Georgian companies at NISE in agreement with the Government of Georgia.
At the end of the visit, the Prime Minister met UN General Secretary Kofi Anan. The parties talked about the situation in terms of settlement of the Abkhazian conflict and discussed the UN involvement in the process. The Prime Minister underscored that the Government of Georgia is seeking only a peaceful solution to the conflicts with the territory of Georgia. He stressed the issue of security and human rights for the Georgian population living in Gali Region. The General Secretary expressed satisfaction with the peaceful steps of the Georgian side and reaffirmed his support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.
Prime Minister's Press Service