Azerbaijan Tops Foreign Investor In Georgia

Azerbaijan is currently the biggest foreign investor in Georgia with the Netherlands in second place.

Last year, $1.8 billion in foreign investments were made in the Georgian economy, which is 20.6% more than in 2016.  

$465 million of foreign investments or 24.6 % of total investments in the economy of Georgia is from Azerbaijan alone, and the Netherlands stands at $ 356.7 million, taking second place amongst biggest investors in Georgia. Third is Turkey with $ 286.3 million total of investments.

Foreign investments in the Georgian economy in amounted to 12.5% of the country's GPD in 2017. In the just the first quarter, Azerbaijan’s direct investments in Georgia already amounted to $127.2 million. Moreover, Azerbaijan is one of the main trade partners of Georgia among the CIS countries. Georgia mostly imported from Azerbaijan oil and oil products, gypsum, anhydrite, plaster, as well as broadly cooperates in regional energy development, transportation and economic partnership projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway (BTK), the TRACECA, and the BSEC.

SOCAR is also involved in the energy market in Georgia, dealing with retail and bulk selling of fuel, importing of petroleum and liquid gas, and construction of oil terminals and warehouses.

By Shawn Wayne