“Today we’re putting forward an ambitious Economic and Investment Plan that will through mobilization of around €17 billion in investments help stimulate growth and bring prosperity to the region. The Plan includes country flagships for all Eastern Partners”, - European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said during the meeting with Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili.
According to Oliver Varhelyi, Georgia will be able to attract at least 3.9 billion EUR of investment from this amount.
“As you have seen, the EU stands by your side. We have been extremely proud to provide assistance last year. We have helped to preserve over 400 000 jobs. We provided support to 78 000 families in Georgia and we have raised a number of intensive care unit beds to over 1400. But I do hope that it is a thing of the past by now. And we can now the next phase of our cooperation in overcoming the aftermath of the crisis.
Just a few days ago, on July 2 - basically last Friday - we presented a very ambitious Economic and Investment Plan for the entire region of the Eastern Partnership countries. We are dedicated to mobilize at least 17 billion Euros for the economic recovery of the region. Out of this we will have 2.3 billion Euros in grants and the rest would be projects put together - investments put together with our financial partners like EIB or EBRD. Our aim is to contribute, to help the economic recovery, also the social recovery after the COVID crisis and to help Georgia to build a more resilient, stronger economy after the crisis. In this we have been working together with the Georgian Government - the previous government, this government - to find priorities, the main challenges in front of the country. And the five flagship initiatives that you see put forward and tailor-made for Georgia are the fruits of this cooperation. We don't want to offer anything you don't need, but only what you need. And discussing with you, we have found that the main bottleneck and the main vulnerability of the economy and the society of Georgia is the lack of connectivity, be it rails and roads, be it unused potential of the Black Sea, be it connectivity to mainland, electricity and internet broadband. All these have a major potential to boost the economy of Georgia and to shift it into another dimension. It is for that reason that we have put forward a plan that would address connectivity, would help to create the fine fabric of the economy by supporting SMEs, the local communities, improve access to digital services via broadband internet throughout the country, and also to introduce Georgia to our Green Deal and our digital plans. And maybe Georgia can skip some of the development stages we are through and join us immediately where we are now.
This plan dedicated to Georgia should bring at least 3.9 billion Euros of investments. It reaches almost one third of the peacetime GDP of the country - pre-crisis GDP of the country. This is a meaningful, big package, but it is a huge task to implement it. This is a possibility, but we will have to work together very hard to make it happen.
So, we discussed with the Prime Minister that we need strong structures in Georgia who are able to deliver. We think that these projects are capable of delivering change on the ground for the people. In four to five years from now the realities on the ground for the people, who want to make business, who want to trade, who want to get a job, who want to get the right skills, is going to be very much different - very much more like what we have in our own member states”, - European Commissioner said.
