The meeting of the Government of Georgia was held on 27 July 2010. The agenda consisted of 38 items.
Before the beginning of the Meeting, Prime Minister Nika Gilauri focused on a number of issues.
The Prime Minister said:
"I have some information for the public and government members that will be particularly interesting for private sector representatives, businessmen and investors. First of all, it's about our successful visit to Azerbaijan that was held a few days ago.
We reached agreement on two major issues in Azerbaijan. One is about the transit corridor. There are a number of independent players in the transit corridor such as Baku Port, Railway, Caspian Carrier, Georgian Railway as well as Georgian ports.
The private sector representatives interested in the corridor found it very difficult to coordinate matters and sign contracts. An agreement was reached on a top level during Ilham Aliev's visit to Batumi. It was decided to set up a joint commission. The joint commission was set up and a memorandum of understanding was signed during the visit.
The commission will serve as a body coordinating matters among a number of companies. Georgia and Azerbaijan will form a uniform policy for the transport corridor.
This is very important in order to attract additional cargo to the corridor. Additional cargo is a source of creation of additional jobs and additional revenues for companies and the state alike.
It is critically important to make sure that Georgia and Azerbaijan in general and the corridor in particular do not lose the competitiveness that they have now. On the contrary, more cargo must be attracted towards Georgia and Azerbaijan than what goes to these corridors (the Iranian Corridor and the Russian Corridor).
The other piece of information that I have for the private sector and investors is about the activity of international financial organizations in Georgia. Kakha Baindurashvili arrived from the Black Sea Development Bank Board Meeting today. Substantial financial resources have been allocated, including for Georgia that the Georgian business can or does not draw down.
This is a financial instrument, the founder of which is Georgia. Therefore, Georgian companies are fully entitled to apply to it for soft loans.
Besides, there are a number of other organizations increasing their portfolio in respect of Georgia. For instance, such is IFC, a World Bank subsidiary working specifically on the private sector. They have a new portfolio that is much bigger in respect of Georgia. If Georgian businesses apply to these international financial organizations, they can get more soft loans.
I'd like to tell Kakha Baindurashvili to get private sector representatives together within the next few days to inform them on the means, by which they can raise additional funds.
This is the resource that can freely flow into Georgia but, disappointingly, it has not been fully made use of.
We need much more projects to qualify for financing. OPIC, IVC, Asian Development Bank and Black Sea Development Bank - all the four financial institutions have a great multitude of facilities and have allocated huge capital for Georgia. Any project can be financed by these international financial institutions.
I'd like to say that financing covers agrarian projects, telecommunication projects and transport and infrastructure projects as well. Any project can be financed by these international financial institutions. I'd like to ask all of you, private sector representatives: if you have any question, apply to the Ministry of Finance, as it is the Ministry of Finance that is a signatory to these international agreements."
Press Service of the Prime Minister