The planned revival of Georgia’s Investment Agency would be a waste of budget resources, according to Nikoloz Alavidze, former Deputy Minister of Economy. The initiative, recently announced by the ruling Georgian Dream party, provides re-establishing the agency as a separate body within the Ministry of Economy, after it was abolished in 2017.
Speaking on the program “Business Course”, Alavidze said that while such agencies exist in many countries, Georgia’s current conditions make the move ineffective. He argued that without a fundamentally sound legal and institutional environment, a standalone investment promotion body would fail to attract meaningful capital.
“In principle, such agencies exist in normal countries and the idea itself is correct. However, in this specific format, it will be completely wrong and a waste of public resources and time,” he said. “The starting point for any investment climate is a healthy legal environment, and that does not exist here. Human rights are not properly protected either.”
Alavidze added that the initiative would likely have no real economic impact and would only increase administrative costs. He warned that the agency would function as an ineffective bureaucratic structure focused on presentations rather than results.
“It will just be another budget-funded structure that produces PowerPoint presentations and no tangible outcomes,” he concluded.
