2019-01-29
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!
I welcome Cabinet and Parliament members, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and our entrepreneurs!
I especially welcome the European Commission's Director General for Mobility and Transport Henrik Hololei, a good friend of Georgia.
I am grateful to everyone for organizing the Economic Conference. I am convinced that we will have productive discussions and exchange of ideas about the current state of our economy and possible additional opportunities of further accelerating Georgia's evident development in the past few years.
It would be no exaggeration to say that our reforms in the recent years have yielded very tangible results. A few days ago, we returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, where I felt very proud because practically every panel dedicated to emerging markets singled out Georgia as a role model for other countries to emulate in terms of democratic transformation and economic development, thanks to the aggressive reforms implemented by us.
At the same time, we all must bear in mind that it is not enough while poverty remains Georgia's most problematic and painful challenge. Accordingly, we are sparing no effort to achieve inclusive growth in Georgia, a type of growth that reaches out to every citizen. Regional development is vitally important to us to ensure against the country's economic development concentrating on a couple of large cities, and Georgia is not the only country plagued by this problem-inclusive growth in general is a global issue. However, I believe that the steps taken so far and to be taken by us will help us put in place this type of growth. Inclusive growth is unimaginable without the development of SMEs, which is why SMEs make up my Government's key priority.
Georgia boasts a unique geographic location, yet the approach making use of this advantage to benefit our national economy was often fragmented. But now I believe we have succeeded in forging a solid policy. The key message I received at the World Economic Forum was that Georgia has every precondition to become the wider region's economic hub. We offer a gateway to eight landlocked countries, which stands for enormous potential and enormous responsibility at the same time. And that is why, in the recent years, we have been investing heavily in infrastructure; that is why we are so committed to having relevant infrastructure and a deep-sea port in the shortest possible time. I would like to underline ongoing globally important projects. I am convinced that, through joint efforts with our partners, we will implement more than one far-reaching project.
Our society, our citizens are our country's main asset. I have pointed out repeatedly that our economic policy will enable us to reduce poverty in the country, but we will never be able to advance Georgia to the category of developed economies unless we as a state invest heavily in the sector of education to transform it into the dominant component of our economy as a whole. Once achieved, it will be the major robust precondition advancing Georgia as a developed economy. That means at least 10-11% of our GDP that absolutely must be allocated every year to the sector of education from both public and private sectors. And that will bring us the success each of us is striving to achieve. Knowledge-based economy and human capital development are our Government's paramount priorities.
I would like to than all of us for attending the Economic Conference. I am grateful to the organizers, and I am convinced that we will have very positive, exciting, and productive discussions.
Thank you!