ADB annual meeting theme ‘Bridge to Future’ best reflects course of Georgia - PM

The theme of the 57th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank - Bridge to the Future best reflects the course of Georgia, the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Saturday in his speech at the official opening ceremony of the event in Tbilisi.

Kobakhidze noted this course was strengthened by Georgia’s “strategic geographical location” - a connecting bridge between Europe and Asia, and emphasised “our unique location allows us to be part of Europe and simultaneously, we can proudly hold the status of one of the heirs of the historic Silk Road”.

He highlighted the country’s important role in developing the Middle Corridor, a logistics route connecting Central Asia and China to Europe via the South Caucasus, established as a “stable, safe and reliable alternative” to other routes.

The main priority in the [Georgian] Government's agenda is connectivity. We continue to invest in transforming Georgia into a multidimensional regional hub to fully exploit the potential of the country's strategic location”, the PM emphasised, adding the alternative energy and trade transport routes were “crucial” for the international stability, energy and food security, amid the ongoing crises.

"With this in mind, we expect closer engagement from our partners to move forward in the direction of such key strategic projects as the Black Sea submarine cable international project [a new transmission route to deliver green energy from the South Caucasus to Europe], the Black Sea ferry traffic services and other [projects]”, Kobakhidze said.

He also pointed out that his Government would continue to offer the “best business environment” for Asian businesses and investors and provide the possibility for their expansion in the region, adding his country was creating opportunities both for Georgia and the South Caucasus region.

With the Government’s “properly planned policies”, Georgia's position continues to improve in international rankings, which attracts more institutional and private investors to the country, the PM stressed, citing indicators from the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom that ranked Georgia 19th in Europe, rating from a global financial firm Fitch, which affirmed the country’s positive financial outlook for financial developments and the International Monetary Fund’s forecast, which listed Georgia among top three countries in three different categories of the 10-year growth forecast.

The Head of the Government said these results were achieved owing to the “great efforts” of his Government by ensuring peace and properly planning institutional reforms for further economic growth, elimination of poverty and improvement of the quality of well-being of the population.