The FINANCIAL — “EBRD will be very much focused on real SMEs, which are neither the large companies, nor the micro companies that there are large numbers of in Georgia. This is really for the companies that have between 20 to 200 employees and which are not very common in Georgia,” Bruno Balvanera, the new Director of EBRD in Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
Improving the living conditions of the average Georgian person is a challenge for the new Director of EBRD in Georgia who is working on a new strategy to achieve this. The strategy is about developing the private sector in Georgia, the regions and hydro possibilities of the country, which will be approved in September of this year.
Balvanera was the EBRD Head of Regional Development, based in Moscow, responsible for the network of offices the EBRD has in each of the seven Federal Districts. For the past two years, he was the Head of the St. Petersburg office.
Before moving to Russia, Balvanera was Head of Business Development. Balvanera has been working for the EBRD for fifteen years. His experience covers a wide variety of sectors, countries and products.
“Georgia is creating conditions to develop a market economy and increase the standard of living for people in this country. The challenge is how to translate all these very strong reforms into quality of life,” Bruno Balvanera told The FINANCIAL. “Georgia is at the highest level of performance in accordance with the rules of the international world, but at the same time the GDP per capita in the country is very low and distribution is very bad. I think that the challenge is really how to improve the living conditions of the average Georgian person,” he added.
“EBRD will be very much focused on real SMEs, which are neither large companies nor the micro companies that there are large numbers of in Georgia. This is really for the companies that have between 20 to 200 employees that are not very common in Georgia. EBRD is focused on agriculture because more than half of the population works in agriculture and contributes 5-6 percent to the GDP. It is addressed to bringing in technologies and foreign direct investments, and to developing an entrepreneurial culture,” Balvanera said.
“Developing the hydro possibilities of Georgia is another challenge for EBRD. Georgia has to develop its resources not only to satisfy its own needs but also to export. It requires fiscal investments as well as changes in law and regulations and in the transparency of the system and the economic model. EBRD’s vision that we have shared with the Government is to convert Georgia into a valuated transit location. This will be a guidebook on how we are going to work hand in hand with the Government and Georgia’s international institution friends,” Balvanera added.
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