Tbilisi, September 15, 2015, 13:00 pm. A Memorandum of Cooperation between members of the Economic Policy Advocacy Coalition was held at Tbilisi Museum of Modern Art – MOMA, 27 Rustaveli Ave.  Facilitated by USAID G4G, the EPAC is promoting business enabling environment through a constructive dialogue between the public and private sectors. The goal of EPAC is to identify common objectives and initiate policy reforms which will meet Georgia’s civil society needs, requirements and challenges.    Thirty-three key civil society institutions consisting of business associations, chambers of commerce, and think-tanks working on strategic economic and business issues are members of the coalition. International Investors Association of Georgia is also a Member of the Coalition.  Attended  included Ms. Irma Kavtaradze, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development and Mr. LashaKhutsishvili, Deputy Minister of Finance. About USAID in Georgia: During the past 23years, the American people, through USAID, have invested over $1.5 billion in Georgia. USAID projects are designed to support Georgia’s transition to a free and prosperous democracy and include initiatives to accelerate economic growth, develop democratic institutions, and improve health and education. USAID provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries.  For more information, please visit http://georgia.usaid.gov. About G4G: G4G is a 5-year $19.3 million project funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP. G4G aims to support the Georgian government to create a better business enabling environment in which legal and regulatory reforms are fairly and transparently conceived, implemented and enforced through consultative process.

International Investment Forum - Batumi 2015 has launched in Batumi. Over 250 representatives of investors from 15 states participate in the Forum. International Investors Association and its member companies’ representatives also attended at the International Investment Forum- “Batumi 2015. Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Dimitry Kumsishvili welcomed the Forum participants and expressed gratefulness to the organizers of Batumi 2015 for holding such a large-scale event. Special thanks were addressed to the supporters of the Forum, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and its representative to Georgia – Bruno Balvanera and investment organizations operation in Georgia including Partnership and Co-investment Funds.  According to the Minister, in the terms of tourism, Adjara is the region of one of the prime interests and requires special the development of the investment projects and therefore, attraction of the investors.   Dimitri Kumsishvili stressed on the importance of the Investment Forum in Batumi – “We find any forum of outmost importance. At this Forum we shall offer interested investors the instruments we have in the country on this field. Issues related to the access to finance and the potential capacity of Adjara as well as the whole country shall also be discussed in details”.  Dimitry Kumsishvili discussed current business environment in Georgia and positive trend in this direction at the meeting with the investors. Namely, Georgia was ranked 15th place within 189 states in doing business while international rating agency Moody's Investors Service changed the status of sovereign rating of Georgia from stable to positive. As the Minister stated, despite external challenges, in 2014 Georgia’s economic growth was estimated as 4.7%. Georgian Government expects at least 2% growth of this indicator in 2015.  Dimitry Kumsishvili paid special attention to the volume of the direct investments. According to the data of the first two quarters of 2015 foreign direct investment amounted to 530 million US dollars, which is 5% higher than the same indicators in the previous year. The transportation, communication, finance and industry sectors have the largest contribution in those indicators.  The Minister also stresses on the growing number of international travels. In particular, according the data of 8 months, in 2015 almost 4 000 000 visitors visited Georgia and this number is 6% greater than the same indicator last year.  Investors participating in the Forum became especially interested in the government’s initiative aiming to support private entrepreneurs in different ways. The Minister noted a new initiative targeting on assisting hotel-development in the regions.  Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development also discussed the importance of the upcoming forums to be held in Georgia. Silk Road Forum that shall take place in Tbilisi on 15-16 October and will host about 600 participants from different countries was particularly stressed by the Minister.  Chairman of Adjara Government Archil Khabadze, Minister of Economy and Finance of Adjara A.R. Davit Baladze and the Director of Georgian National Investment Agency Giorgi Pertaia also addressed the Forum participant with welcoming speeches.

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Invitation Batumi 2015

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On 11^th of August, 2015. The Secretary General of IIA Osman Chalishkan met with the newly appointed Consul of Iran Hosein Mashhadi. The sides talked about economic, Agriculture, trade and tourism spheres on the introductory meeting. They have discussed plans of future cooperation in Business sphere, Secretary General of IIA provided all the information about IIA and its member companies to Consul of Iran. Also several issues were discussed at the introductory meeting. Among them were issues on deepening cooperation in economic, Agriculture, trade and tourism spheres. The Consul expressed his interest on Iranian investments in Ajara. Also he expressed desire to bring Iranian businessmen to Ajara in order to study the region's tourism potential.  At the end of the meeting the sides have exchanged the gifts and expressed that fruitful business cooperation with General Consul of Iran and International Investors Association will continue in the future.

On 6^th of August, 2015 The Secretary General of IIA Osman Chalishkan met with the representatives of the company “ALETEX “ at the Office of IIA. The introductory meeting was focused on economic and investment environment of the region, particularly in the textile sphere. Secretary General of IIA provided all the information about investment environment of the region. The representatives of “ALETEX” are interested to carry out the investment in the textile field in our region. About this issue the representatives of “ALETEX” met with the Chairman of Ajara Archil Khabadze, visited alternative places for the investment. During the meeting, it was announced that in the first stage a textile factory is planning to employ 350 local staff.