The President of Georgia toured a new milk reproduction facility in Tbilisi today, which was built as a result of Georgian-Austrian investment and is equipped with the newest technologies. Mikheil Saakashvili learned about the production process and technologies. The Head of State also spoke with the personnel and expressed interest in their conditions.

“Up to 700 persons now have specific jobs. We should definitely export cheese. If France and Holland are exporting cheese why can’t we do so? There were only terminals around Lilo – we did not have production in the past and we don’t have it now. We had a base for agricultural production in the past and it later fell apart. Opening this factory has given people hope for employment. The suburbs of Tbilisi were always the most abandoned. This is why it is important to open such facilities in the suburbs. If 30 such factories are opened in the suburbs the employment situation would change drastically. We now have a chance to create such jobs. If a person has 600-800 GEL salary people will exhale with relief and they won’t have to fight for their existence anymore. The situation is changing towards the good in this sense.” - noted the President of Georgia.

The new facility of EcoFood - “CheeseCo” is producing 10 types of cheese. The factory satisfies modern standards and has microbiological and chemical labs equipped with the newest technologies. The total worth of the Georgian-Austrian investment project is 6 million euro. The construction of the facility began in fall 2011 and ended in April 2012. It has employed 700 people across the country.