The French-British investment fund Rothschild & Co does not comment on the multi-million dollar contract with the Georgian government. The former Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili, signed a contract with the company in 2021.
The purpose of the agreement was to prepare a strategy that would transform Georgia into a financial hub. There is no strategy document after the utilization of funds of GEL 10 million - because of this, BMG addressed both the government administration and Rothschild & Co with questions.
Until now, BMG has not received a clear answer from the government administration, if any valuable document has been prepared, which would transform Georgia into an international financial hub. It should be noted that Rothschild & Co. itself does not comment on this.
As of the Minister of Economy Levan Davitashvili, the Ministry was not the leading structure in this purchase and it was a project of the government administration.
The Minister of Economy does not say clearly whether this agreement will continue or not. However, regarding the work done by Rothschild & Co, the Minister states that "there are certain reports" published by Rothschild & Co.
MP Roman Gotsiridze also asked Levan Davitashvili a question about this contract.
"Our ministry has not received this contract, we cannot tell you about the specific studies of the consulting company hired by the government, we have seen and participated in the working process. There are reports and you can request public information.
The Ministry has an important work in this direction and this process will continue. I have repeatedly talked about the fact that in order to create a financial hub, there must be financial instruments, the capital market must be significantly developed, and the relevant legislation must be established, which we are also working on," said Levan Davitashvili.
3.8 million GEL was paid to Rothschild & Co in 2022, and 6 million GEL was spent in 2023. Accordingly, 10 million GEL has been paid for the preparation of the strategy document so far. But, it should be noted that the strategy document has not been publicly published yet.
