Georgia’s Defence Ministry saves 40m GEL in food costs

Georgia's Ministry of Defence has saved tens of millions of GEL by reducing the amount of food imported for the Georgian Army and feeding them with locally made products.

Providing the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF) with locally produced food has saved the Ministry of Defence 40 million GEL (about $17 million USD/€15 million*) in costs. This money will now stay inside the country's coffers in an attempt to increase the amount of funds in Georgia and support economic development.

Today Georgia’s Minister of Defence Tinatin Khidasheli said creating more jobs and employing more people was one of the top priorities for her.

Under my term of office the Ministry of Defence has made very important steps in terms of employment and generating more income in Georgia,” said Khidasheli.

When we started providing the Georgian Army with locally produced food we left 40 million GEL inside the country, while earlier this money was spent on frozen meat, which was imported from Argentina or other countries,” she added.

The Minister said the Government was implementing various projects to reduce unemployment in Georgia but it needed time for this problem to be resolved.

Meanwhile, she added the military was not the main sector that would boost for business although the military sector still had responsibility to do its best to aleviate the problem and support the process.

If there is stability in the country it helps to attract more investments,” Khidasheli said.

*Currencies are equivalent with the latest exchange rate of the National Bank of Georgia.