Georgia's Acting PM announces $548 mln investment for business support over next 4 years

Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgia’s Acting Prime Minister, on Thursday said ₾1.5 billion ($548 mln) would be invested from the state budget over the next four years to support business development, adding the initiative would also help generate 70,000 new jobs.

Speaking at a plenary session of Parliament, Kobakhidze noted supporting business development represented “one of the important initiatives” of the ruling Georgian Dream party since 2012, and had  seen the creation of 700 new enterprises and expansion and re-equipment of 800 existing ones over the recent years.

Special attention will also be paid to innovations and technologies. Special tax incentives will be introduced, 160 annual new startups will be financed, 12,000 professionals will be retrained, [and investments will also involve] artificial intelligence, phages [and] agrotechnologies”, he said.

We have already made a presentation of the Kutaisi Technology Hub project [last month], which is one of the most important initiatives for our country and the [western] city of Kutaisi”, he added.

The PM added the implementation of the initiative would create “numerous” jobs and promote development of business and technology.