UAE top foreign investor in Georgia in first quarter

The UAE has been ranked as the top foreign investor in Georgia, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the total in the first quarter.

With overall foreign investment in Georgia plummeting, companies from Arab countries – despite having few historical or cultural links with the country – are bucking the trend.

Total foreign direct investment in Georgia fell by nearly 80 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year, to $124.7 million (Dh457m), the statistics office said.

Mohammed Refat, vice-chairman of Egyptian home appliances firm Fresh, said Georgia's location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, making it an ideal export hub.

"We studied Georgia's geography and its history and found a lot of advantages."

Refat said the project in Kutaisi will see $1.2 billion invested in transforming parts of the derelict Kutaisi Automotive Plant, which once employed 20,000 workers but was shut down after the collapse of the Soviet Union, by the end of 2010.

Fresh will use the plant to assemble home appliances for export and has lined up "three or four" other Egyptian companies to set up shop in the factory in order to feed it with materials, Refat said.

A local subsidiary, Fresh Georgia, will be set up with a Georgian partner and production is due to start in August. The Kutaisi project will be designated a free industrial zone, meaning Fresh and other companies operating there will pay neither taxes nor customs duties on exports.

The Fresh project follows on a series of enormous investment announcements by companies from the UAE.

The Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (Rakia) announced plans in February to invest about $2bn in Georgia over the next five years.

Other Emirati companies, such as the Abu Dhabi Group and Dubai-based Vtel Holdings, have also announced multi-million-dollar investments in Georgia.

 

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