Black Sea Business Day Hosted by BSTDB
The Messenger, Georgia
June 17 2005
According to the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), the
Black Sea regional economy is expanding, although further development
demands a more stable investment climate and a wider range of social
services for low income populations.
On June 6 BSTDB hosted Black Sea Business Day in Yerevan, Armenia.
An annual event, participants used this year’s meeting to explore
the investment potential of the Caucasus, the role of international
institutions, assistance to SME (small and medium enterprise) sector
development, and financial sector development.
According to Mustafa Gurtin, the chairman of the board of directors and
president of BSTDB, business prospects in the region are expanding. He
added, however, that the region needs to take steps toward “more
liberal agriculture,” develop intellectual property rights and improve
access to textile and other commodity markets.
He underlined that the government should act as a facilitator
that “encourages dynamism in the private sector and structures
their financial systems to make them more attractive for foreign
investments.”
In an interview with The Messenger, Gurtin highlighted that assistance
rendered to different countries does not depend on the amount of shares
owned by these countries. The priority is given to the viability of the
projects submitted by the countries – including regional cooperation
which complies with the BSTDB’s principles.
Representatives of Georgia at the conference included Philip Sigwart,
the CEO of ProCredit Bank. The bank also received a USD 5 million
loan from BSTDB in January this year and is successfully implementing
a SME assisting program in Georgia.
In an interview with The Messenger, Sigwart said the meeting was
primarily a chance to talk shop with businesses and international
donor organizations active in the Black Sea region.
He also praised the BSTDB for “offering an alternative to IFC, EBRD,
with sometimes more flexible conditions.”
As for the potential of cross-border economic development in the Black
Sea region, he said this is “very good, but many obstacles remain.”
Also attending the meeting, Georgian Deputy Minister of Finance Lasha
Gotsiridze said he supported the BSTDB’s activities in Georgia. He
added that Georgian financial organizations should further promote
cooperation with the bank.
BSTDB is an international financial institution established by Albania,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania,
Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Next year the annual meeting will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
IMF, World Bank meet in Georgia Leading figures from the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank met in Tbilisi over the weekend to discuss
the current processes in these financial institutions as well as the
organizations’ work within the scope of the European Union.
Representatives of the member countries of the Netherlands Constituency
Group also participated in the meeting.
Jeroen Kremers, an IMF Executive Director who represents the interests
of the twelve Netherlands Constituency countries (including Georgia),
underlined to President of the National Bank Roman Gotsiridze the
importance of the fact that such a senior-level meeting was held
in Tbilisi.
Participants included IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato, World
Bank Vice President of the Europe and Central Asia Region Shigeo
Katsu as well as governmental representatives from Israel, Romania,
Bulgaria, Ukraine, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia,
Moldova and Cyprus.
Gotsiridze reminded journalists that the Georgian government is
expecting a USD 20 million loan from the IMF by the end of the year
as part of the Poverty Reduction Program.
He said the next IMF mission delegation would arrive in Georgia in
October and that a decision would be made on allotting the loan after
the next round of monitoring.
“We hope that the economy will develop in a healthy way over the year,
that the GDP will increase by more than 8 percent, that inflation
will be a single-digit number and that macroeconomic parameters will
satisfy the IMF,” said Gotsiridze.
In April the level of 12-month inflation rose to 10.3 percent, the
highest level of inflation in over three years. However according to
statistics released last week, in May inflation fell 1.3 percent.
The Department of State Statistics reported that this was due to
decreased prices of food because of the start of the seasonal harvest,
the decreased price of fuel due to the decline of oil prices on
international markets and the strengthening of the lari in comparison
with the dollar.
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli, who participated in the meeting,
commented on Sunday that Georgia will receive the IMF loans “even
earlier than previously planned,” although he added that what was
most important was that “we do not depend on this assistance.”
Noghaideli said the government has already structured the parameters
for future cooperation with the World Bank.