Mikheil Khidureli, the CEO of Enterprise Georgia, the state agency promoting entrepreneurship, investment and exports, on Tuesday highlighted 25 international projects, 6,000 new jobs and ₾1 billion ($0.37bln) investment created between 2020-2023 through efforts of its Invest in Georgia department.

Khidureli told an event for the presentation of the department’s work that investment agencies in developed countries had “only 10 percent of total foreign direct investments, and our agency fully meets this data”.

Photo: Enterprise Georgia

He said the agency had overachieved in its three-year strategy, and announced work was underway on a new strategy to attract new investments and target new sectors. “We are sure, together with our international partners, that we will soon have more results", he added.

Within the three-year strategy, Invest in Georgia developed a list of potential investor companies, contacted more than 2,700 companies and held over 300 meetings, the Enterprise Georgia said, adding a project search programme had also been started in cooperation with international consulting companies as part of the strategy.

Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili, Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili attended the presentation. Photo: Enterprise Georgia

The department also started cooperation with location consultants and hosted more than 25 experts over the last three years to help potential investors make a decision to invest in the country.

It also runs international media campaigns to raise awareness of Georgia's business environment. Enterprise Georgia said more than 50 articles and reports on Georgia's investment potential were published in various global media during the reporting period, including in Bloomberg, fDi Intelligence and Global Finance.

Photo: Enterprise Georgia

A state FDI grant programme, which gave international companies an opportunity to recoup up to 15 percent of the invested amounts, was also developed, with two multinational companies, Lineate and Girteka, already taking part.

Khidureli said, large international companies Indorama, Girteka, Teleperformance, Concentrix, TEPCO and others had made investments in Georgia as a result of the activities carried out in the reporting period.

The Agency is successfully sharing its experience with partner countries in attracting investments”, he added

International partners, including the International Finance Corporation, the United States Agency for International Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, _ German Society for International Cooperation, the United Nations Global Compact Network Georgia, UN Women, the Austrian Development Agency, the EU Delegation to Georgia, also assisted in the implementation of the agency's investment attraction strategy.