The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili

I would like to welcome everyone – Georgian and Armenian colleagues, acquaintances and friends, those who have arrived here for the first time.

First of all, I welcome our friend Serzh Sargsyan.

I think that every single one of our meetings are friendly, despite the fact that this is his official visit to Georgia.

In any case, we do give new impetus to our relations every time we meet.

I have to note that our ministers have contact on a monthly basis, especially in the sphere of economy.

We have relations on the level of international forums and overall the integration of our economies has moved on to an important stage.

We are simplifying the customs and border procedures; we are working so that our tax systems’ work is synchronized and this process is going on successfully.

I think that we are part of each other and without integration our economies cannot move forward.

I believe that eventually the process of integration has to affect the economies of the entire Caucasus – this is the only future for the Caucasus in terms of economy, as well as in terms of a long term policy perspective.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is a very painful issue for all of us, for the whole Caucasus, yet primarily for Georgia.  

Against this background, it is necessary to develop bilateral relations, including between our states.

I would like to briefly inform you about where Georgia and its economic indicators stand as of today.

You are aware that we have inherited a devastated economy. In 2003, the population would only have electricity for 3-4 hours; all construction was suspended; the level of corruption was one of the highest in the world – people were being abducted.

Now, everything has radically changed and I would like to mention some specific indicators.

In terms of ease of doing business and the business environment, based on the World Bank figures we are in first place across the Eastern Europe and the post-soviet space.

With an aim of popularization of the Georgian experience, based on the studies, the World Bank is even going to publish a book – this organization has recognized Georgia as the first economic reformer country throughout a 5 year period. 

The presentation of this book will be held at the end of January, in Washington. They want to show the whole world, what this once practically hopeless and a country with no perspective has achieved.

How did Georgia earn this? The World Bank has certain evaluation criteria.

In Georgia, the registration procedure of a property and a company is the fastest in the world; the quickest customs’ procedures are here; international centers of democracy and human rights together with “Transparency International” have conducted studies in 148 countries and rated Georgia to have the most transparent and efficient state apparatus after New Zealand; with this indicator our country is in second place in the entire world.

In terms of corruption...according to “Transparency International” for a period of 5 years none of the countries in the world has had so much progress in the fight against corruption as Georgia. That is why we are the number one country in terms of fighting corruption. Also, as confirmed by the studies, our police are in second or third place in the world in terms of the absence of corruption.  

If 6 years ago, 98 percent of the population of our country would say to have known cases of corruption, today, according to all of the recent studies this indicator is steadily below 0.5 percent. 

In terms of crime… The crime rate in our country had been among the highest, however according to four recent studies the European Union has recognized Georgia as the safest state in Europe. We have the lowest crime rate; 4-5 times less than that of Russia; 60 percent less than that of France, Germany. The only country to compete with us was Iceland. Yet, even if Iceland was ahead of us as a country, Tbilisi was much safer than Reykjavik.  

We are among the leaders around the world in terms of number of indicators in other spheres. 

Besides, we should not forget that we had a double attack in 2008 – military intervention and the world crisis. The economic downturn during that period hit 3 percent. This year, the indicator of economic growth has reached 6-7 percent. We forecast that 7 percent growth is likely, while next year, if the world economy does not collapse, we will go back to double digit growth. Yet we will have growth in any case.

When I became the President, the national debt of the country per the GDP was much higher than today. Today, it has reached 35 percent, however the bulk is attributed to  institutional debt to international financial organizations.   

Our budget deficit has decreased by 3-5 percent for next year, which is a very good indicator. 

While “Standard and Poor” and other agencies are downgrading the credit ratings of a number of countries around the world, e.g. the United States of America, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and other countries, our credit rating has been upgraded by one level and moved to a BB category. Only Georgia’s and Kazakhstan’s credit ratings have been upgraded across the world.

In the case of Kazakhstan it is clear that it is doing fine in terms of resources, but Georgia achieved this through its reforms. This indeed is the great success of our economic reforms.

I have already talked about the customs procedure and would add that we have terminals where the clearance of goods takes 7 minutes, if this procedure takes more than an hour then the employee is fired from the job. All of this promotes Georgia towards becoming a business hub.

We should understand that we do not have as much oil and gas as our neighbors do, however we do not have bureaucracy, corruption, crime and Georgia is a very interesting country.

When I became a President, 120 thousand people would visit Georgia. While last year this figure was 2 million, this year – 3 million and next year it will increase respectively. I think that in the next 5-6 years we will even reach 10 million – this obviously is the boom of tourism.

This is the state that our economy is in, which means that we have a large development potential in terms of hotels and restaurants. Based on our goals, the more we build the busier they will be.

Currently, we are building two airports in Poti and Kutaisi. The Poti airport is being built by private investments, while the one in Kutaisi is sponsored by the state. Both will be the size of Tbilisi airport, yet with a newer infrastructure. We agreed that the flights will be operated by affordable air companies.

In Batumi, for the first time the largest cruising company “Royal Caribbean” has entered the Black Sea, which from the year 2013-2014 on will additionally attract approximately one million tourists annually. This company’s only hub is in Istanbul and now already in Batumi.

We are building new mountain-ski resorts, including the one in Mestia, which according to the findings of French specialists, is equal to the 5 Kurshavels in terms of size and preference potential. The modernization work on the ski routes have been conducted in Gudauri as well.

Likewise, a new sea resort Anaklia has been refurbished as well, which is distinguished by the driest climate across the Black Sea coast.

Similarly, Batumi, Kutaisi and the places around the city are developing very rapidly. Sairme has been developed; we have already begun the rehabilitation of Tskaltubo.

A large construction project has been launched in Borjomi. Construction of Kemspinski and other large hotels are being completed. Great opportunities have been created for tourism in this regard.

Certainly, I am not saying anything regarding our eagerness to always see you in Georgia.  

We are following with great pleasure the steps that Serzh Sargyan is taking in order for Armenia to continue its own history of success.

You have many things that are amazing.

We had been examining the Armenian experience, e.g. in terms of agriculture and its means of intensification, introduction of new technologies and IT.  We wanted to do many things in the way you are doing it.

In this regard, we are very much anxious about you. 

Currently 1500 American, English teachers have arrived to Georgia. They teach the English language at schools and Georgian pupils have to a large extent become bilingual. We give computers to every first year pupil; we introduce new information technologies in the schools.  We are building a new institute of technology in Batumi.

All of this is being done in order for us to be competitive in high technology.

In this regard, cooperation is very important, as the small nation will not achieve much alone. Armenia, for that matter, has a unique opportunity to do this.

In other words, there are many spheres in which our countries should cooperate.

The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan

I welcome everyone once again,

It is a great pleasure for me to be here in Georgia.

I welcome our meeting today, as this meeting is very important for the development of our relations and states.

Certainly, it is very pleasant for me to take notice of those achievements, which Georgia has accomplished during the last several years.

Many Armenians, including the ordinary citizens, in a sense are wishfully looking towards the Georgian citizens for the successes of recent years.

Yet, I would like to say that we are heading towards one direction.

Our economies are similar in the sense that we do not have natural resources and we must achieve success in the expanse of steady and good management, as well as the capacities of our citizens.

In this sense, I have to note that we are also struggling to overcome the tough consequences of the world financial crises and this year we are expecting a 5 percent growth of GDP, including an 11-12 percent growth in industry, as well as in agriculture. The only sphere in which we are lagging and are concerned about is construction.

I am proud that the spheres of high technology and digital technology are rapidly developing in Armenia.

In various circles, many are often interested why the Armenians have started to actively invest in the Georgian economy and businesses.  

I would like to note that this is natural. I believe that capital must be invested where it brings the largest profit.  

We of course, have a great desire to see Georgian capital in Armenia as well. This will enhance the ties between the two countries and strengthen the friendship.

If there is no good, friendly attitude between the people then the development of the economies of these countries is not possible either.

I think that these types of meetings are very important and fruitful.

I want to stress that in case of any problems I encourage those Georgians, who have businesses in Armenia to address my apparatus.

Armenia is a small country and there are still certain things that need to be addressed. That is why we often personally supervise concrete issues.

I would like to personally thank your President - Mikheil Saakashvili.

He always expresses a readiness to cooperate with us and quite often gives an example that is a model as for us, as well as for others.