Parliament Hears Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development
Today, the Parliament hears the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natia Turnava talking about several important issues and answering the questions asked by the opposition MPs, including the construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port, the miners' strike in Chiatura, April 21 developments in Pankisi Gorge related to the construction of a hydropower plant, and Georgia-Gazprom Agreement on Gas Transit.
In addition to the questions asked by the opposition MPs, Natia Turnava also talked about issues related to poverty reduction, investment policy, and decision-making acceleration.
The Minister emphasized the importance of Anaklia Deep Sea Port. According to her, the Port has been and still will be the strategic priority for the Georgian Government. She noted that the Government’s support towards the project has been practically confirmed several times by various benefits, including flexible terms.
“The summer of 2017 was the first deadline for the Anaklia Development Consortium to start its work. Since that time, the government has several times took into consideration the request of the investor and delayed the deadline. The State has waived the penal sum of the investor in the amount of more than $ 11 million due to violation of deadlines. But it’s not of utmost importance now, implementation of the Project is the most important thing,” the Minister said.
She also spoke about the miners’ strike in Chiatura and noted that Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development will still stay involved in the process of achieving better results in Chiatura, mostly in solving the issues such as inadequate social conditions, food and health problems.
“I’m never afraid of arriving on the spot, getting in the mine and directly learning more about people’s labor conditions”, she said.
According to the Minister, she fully realizes her responsibility towards April 21 developments in Pankisi Gorge related to the construction of a hydropower plant.
“What happened was, of course, a very sad misunderstanding and when such an accident occurs, the main responsibility belongs to the state, the Ministry of Economy and the Minister of Economy as well. I also feel my responsibility for the problem. I have seen a great challenge and need for reforming the field of Energy. The case of Pankisi and a few several cases showed us that our Energy sector needs quick reforming, including the communication part. Better communication is necessary, and we’ve seen a lack of it in this specific case”, she said.
Speaking about Georgia-Gazprom Agreement on Gas Transit, Natia Turnava noted that only a small amount of Russian gas is presented in the commercial sector in Georgia and there’s no need and reason to talk about Gazprom’s dominance in this field.
As a reminder, a new two-year agreement between Gazprom-export and Georgia on the transit of gas from Armenia to Russia is already in force. The agreement represents a commercial secret.
By Ana Dumbadze