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President Ilves: Adjara is awakening from its hibernation

Wednesday, 09 May 2007 18:38

“Adjara, which was reunited with Georgia three years ago, is awakening from its hibernation and becoming an attractive region,” said the Estonian Head of State at today’s meeting with the leaders of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara in Batumi.

President Ilves, who opened an Estonian-Adjaran business seminar, acknowledged that economic and trade relations between Tallinn and Batumi could provide momentum for the passage of the Estonian-Georgian agreement to prevent double taxation, as well as for the conclusion of an agreement to protect and promote investments and a highway transport agreement.

“All three agreements would help to create a better framework for mutual economic relations,” said President Ilves. “Estonian companies have also shown active interest in the first two agreements.”

After the Estonian-Adjaran business seminar, the business delegation accompanying President Ilves participated in an excursion to business and development objects organized by the hosts.

“We are glad that Estonian entrepreneurs are very interested in Georgia as a whole, and Adjara more specifically, and we hope that the contacts that develop during such visits will help to achieve concrete results—the creation of new companies and joint investments,” said President Ilves.

The Estonian entrepreneurs were interested in Adjara as a tourist area, emphasizing to their local colleagues that the tourism and recreational enterprise can also be promoted year round, not just from May to September.

Adjara is an economically rapidly developing region, where the Poti and Batumi ports are also the hubs for transit routes passing through Georgia. In the near future, the new Batumi airport will be completed and new air routes will be opened to Europe.

During the past few years, investment totaling over a half a billion US dollars have been made in Adjara, primarily from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Denmark.

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