C ONT INUE D ...
GEORGIA’S GROWTH NAVIG ATING A CAREFUL PATH TO PROSP E RIT Y
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collaboration with the government of Georgia) involves 11 investment projects with total commitments of US$699 million, of which about 60 per cent is concentrated on the ongoing East-West Highway and secondary roads projects. Still, Georgia’s economy is more than
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→ NATO. Former NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated in March that since “Georgia fulfils almost all criteria to become a member of NATO… the way to move beyond that stalemate is to discuss in Georgia whether you will accept an arrangement where NATO’s Article 5 covers only that Georgian territory where the Georgian government has full sovereignty.” As Georgia’s president, Salome Zourabichvili, puts it, the country is both blessed and cursed by its geography. Te positive side of this is that the west, whether the US, NATO or the World Bank, has a vested interest in ensuring that Georgia succeeds. Te negative side is obvious, with two regions of the country currently occupied. Since 2014, Georgia has been part of
the European Union’s Free Trade Area, with the EU continuing to be the country’s largest trading partner, accounting for more than a quarter of Georgia’s total trade turnover. Zourabichvili is firm that Georgia is aiming for eventual EU membership as well, even in the face of the reluctance of the EU to expand further. As an example of “thinking outside the box”, he said that Georgia would “knock on every door… open every door, and by the time we are finishing opening all the doors, you will discover that Georgia has become an EU member”. Natalie Sabanadze, Georgia’s ambassador in Brussels, says: “We know the EU is not ready to offer us membership… but we want to be prepared for when they are.” In the meantime, more money needs
to be spent on infrastructure. Te World Bank’s new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for 2019-22 (in
NOV EMB E R 20 19
transit and transport. Te mountains and their rivers provide the raw materials for hydropower, with electricity exported to Turkey in the summers. Agriculture also plays a part. Te whole of the South Caucasus is a wonderful place for food production, as anyone who has tried Armenian or Georgian cuisine will tell you (the tomatoes are the best I have ever tasted). Te Black Sea coast is perfect for hazelnut production, with Ferrero buying a large part for its Nutella and Ferrero Rocher production. And then there is
trekking, and you can stay with local communities in home stays while visiting monasteries and local winemakers. For special interest holidays, there’s horse riding and raſting. Te aim is for high-spending tourists to be attracted by these remote areas as much as by a city break in Tbilisi. But as for getting around, far from having the network for charging electric cars, the country still runs on poor-quality diesel and petrol, increasing pollution. Georgia is business-friendly, however. In
‘We know the EU is not ready to offer us membership… but we want to be prepared for when they are’
tourism, which is growing quickly but will present challenges for a country where the infrastructure is poor. Te only useful railway goes between Tbilisi and Batumi, and the generally poor roads are congested by minivans and taxis ferrying workers around, as well as huge trucks crossing the border to and from Russia. Te growth rate of the economy is about
5 per cent, which sounds good until you consider that if it were to continue at that rate, it would take Georgia 20 years to reach the level of Bulgaria, the poorest country in the EU, and that’s only if Bulgaria stopped developing. Tourists will tell you what good value Georgia is, but that’s because 80 per cent of people earn less than US$370 a month and a fiſth live in poverty. Unemployment is officially around 15 per cent, and education suffers from a lack of investment. As with the wine industry, Georgia
is trying to position itself as a high-end destination, with its lack of big factories and industrial production, unspoiled nature (37 per cent of the country is forest), and organic fruit and vegetables all fitting the bill for eco-tourism. Te Caucasus Mountains are great for
the centre of many towns you will find a large, out-of-place modern building – the public service hall – that, in the words of Lonely Planet, is a “one-stop shop for citizens to deal quickly with government bureaucracy in an open, corruption-deterring environment”. It’s also where you would go to set up a business, which is a quick, efficient
thing to do, a legacy of the policies of previous president Mikheil
Saakashvili. Te largest
example of one of these halls in Tbilisi was designed by Italian architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas (also responsible for Terminal 3
of Shenzhen Bao’an International airport). It looks like white mushrooms growing by the Mtkvari river, but the examples in Telavi and Tianeti are also worth noting as you tour the country. Widespread language skills among
the young population in Tbilisi will obviously help, but then many of these people are mobile and are willing to look outside their borders if the country does not offer opportunities. It’s an example of how trying to predict the future for Georgia is impossible, but given how far it has come since 1991, despite significant setbacks, there are grounds for optimism. I’ll be raising a glass of amber wine to that when I pop open the bottles I brought back with me. BT
n For information visit the Georgia National Tourism Administration site:
gnta.ge For tours visit
traffictravel.ge
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
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