|
Wednesday,
July 25,
2007, #140 (1407)
The Georgian Finance Minister and the German ambassador signed two contracts July 24, which will together be worth over EUR 27 million for Georgia. Following those, Finance Minister Aleksi Aleksishvili put pen to paper on an agreement with Germany’s Reconstruction Credit Bank (KfW) on restructuring Georgia’s debts. The two agreements signed by Aleksishvili and German Ambassador Patricia Flor concerned financial and technical cooperation between the countries. For technical assistance, Georgia will be getting EUR 7 million to support projects in the legal system, the state auditing agency, local government, wine-making, food processing and other agriculture development, both private and public. Another EUR 20 million is earmarked for the financial cooperation contract. EUR 13 million will be spent on upgrading Batumi’s infrastructure, adding to EUR 18.6 million already granted for the first phase of the project. The other EUR 7 million is a grant for a loan guarantee fund for small and medium-sized businesses. KfW, for its part, is prepared to write off EUR 1.5 million in Georgian debt if Tbilisi spends at least half that amount on an international school of economics in the capital, a condition dating back to a Paris Club decision in 2004. Germany has been a long-time backer for Georgia, helping to the tune of nearly EUR 300 million in financing since 1992. According to the German Foreign Office, Berlin is the second-largest foreign development aid donor for Georgia, after the US. |
Germany Invests Another EUR 27 Million in Georgia’s Future
