French billionaire visits Georgia to explore investment opportunities

A French billionaire dubbed ‘World Entrepreneur of the Year 2015’ is visiting Georgia to explore the business environment and investigate possible projects to invest in.

Businessman Mohed Altrad was invited to Georgia by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the Entrepreneurship Development Agency and Ernst &Young Georgia.

The reason for his two-day visit was so he could learn about Georgia’s investment opportunities and report back to the French business community.

Today Altrad met representatives of Georgia’s business society and Government officials including Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.

The sides talked about the vast reforms recently implemented in Georgia and the now favourable investment climate Georgia offers investors.

Prime Minister Kvirikashvili noted the Government of Georgia strongly welcomed French investors.

During his visit Altrad will conduct a lecture on the spirit of entrepreneurship for Georgian students. He was expected to talk about his experience of founding French firm Altrad Group, which is now one of the world leaders in the construction business with an annual turnover of €1.6 billion.

Altrad is also a writer and the president of elite French rugby club Montpellier.

Also today Altrad signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Georgian National Rugby Union and AIA rugby club, based in Georgia’s second largest city Kutaisi.

Within the Memorandum the French billionaire will help Georgian rugby teams to be better trained, to better organise matches and contribute to developing the sport in in Georgia.