One year on from the establishment of the Produce in Georgia program, 90 new projects with a collective investment portfolio of $252 million USD have been implemented in the country, says Georgia’s Economy Ministry.

Today the Economy Ministry and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili summarised the first annual report of the Produce in Georgia scheme, which aimed to stimulate Georgia’s agricultural sector, and the achievements reached during the past 12 months.

PM Garibashvili said since the program launched, commercial banks in Georgia had issued loans to private sector entrepreneurs worth 122 million GEL. He added the 90 new enterprises, when operating at full capacity, would provide jobs for more than 5,000 people.

We know for sure our economy’s main challenge is unemployment, developing of local production and agriculture. Today more than 130 enterprises are financed and more than 600 enterprises are further supported. We invested a total of 900 million GEL in during the past two years in the agriculture sector,” said Prime Minister Garibashvili.

He stressed it was very important for Georgia to replace imported products with locally produced ones, as this would create jobs and help to solve the country’s unemployment problem.

In one or two years Georgia will be able to replace imported agricultural products. I do not mean tropical fruit; I am talking about products that grow in Georgia. We are not against importing products … but our main concern is to develop local production and employ our citizens,” Garibashvili said.

"Georgia has huge potential. It is wrong to believe that Georgia is a poor country and does not have the natural resources. Several months ago I created a program ‘Strong Region for Strong Georgia’ where we learnt the potential of each of Georgia’s regions. I assure you the potential of Georgia is really unique. We found several resources are not being utilised yet,” Garibashvili said.

The Georgian official noted it was shameful that 50 percent of the Georgian population lived in poverty but the Government was doing its best to address this by developing the country’s agricultural sector. However people must also help themselves, he said.

"Not a single inch of land should be left untreated in Georgia. Georgia cannot have a better offer than the Produce in Georgia program or cheap agro-credit. We created unique conditions for entrepreneurs and now it is their turn to be more active,” said Garibashvili.

See the full article about produce in Georgia on agenda.ge by clicking here.

Source:commersant.ge