The FINANCIAL — Tbilisi is to host a two-day Israeli Business Forum this week. According to Yuval Fuchs, the Ambassador of Israel to Georgia, the Forum will involve agriculture, traditional industry and telecommunication sectors.
Leading Israeli businessmen and Georgian governmental bodies will be taking part in the event. “I don’t expect that after a two-day forum there will be USD 2 billion worth of business signed already, but I do think that it will be a good starting point. I am sure that many of the companies will keep coming here and I hope that the companies which work here will come to Israel as well. ,” Mr. Fuchs told The FINANCIAL in exclusive interview last Friday.
“The idea to arrange the Business Forum in Georgia first came about more than half a year ago. I had two days of meetings with Israeli companies in the Export Institute, an Israeli institution which helps Israeli exporters and companies to do business abroad. They arranged a two-day meeting for me with Israeli companies. One of the meetings was with BDO and another meeting with TBC which has representation in Israel. We have been having discussions on arranging a Forum for the last couple of months and after New Year started the practical preparations for the Forum,” said Mr. Fuchs.
“We are focusing on agriculture; there will be some companies in the field of agriculture, dairy production, vegetables, poultry, and irrigation. Another sector is traditional industry, such as refrigerators and air conditioners. And the last sector is telecommunications. We will have a two-day conference, which will be partly joint and partly sectorial. One of the sectorial parts will be a round table on agriculture.
“Economic relations is what we are focusing on, at least next week. There is big interest on the one hand and you see that 50-60 Israeli businessmen are coming to Georgia for the Forum, many of them were here in recent weeks and many others will come in the future. There is great interest, every day I receive a lot of phone calls from companies who are interested, who would like to have some information or contacts. At the same time we are far from exhausting the potential. I don’t have the numbers yet for 2012, but in 2011 our total trade volume, mutual trade was about USD 85 million. This is far from reflecting the potential.
“Five years previously it already stood at USD 132 million. You have to remember that during these five years both economies grew. There was growth here and there was growth in Israel. There are many explanations as there was crisis, there was a war in 2008, but there is no reason why Israel wouldn’t be among the top ten trade partners of Georgia. I believe that to be in the top ten, we need about USD 240 million trade exchange. It has not been done in one or two years but it might be done in a couple of years. You have a very ambitious Prime Minister who is focusing on the economy and some specific fields such as agriculture. These are places where Israel can play a role.
On a political level I think that we are doing very well. There will soon be a new government in Israel and soon after we will restart bilateral visits on ministerial level. Dialogue consultations on a working level are going on all the time. We met many delegations here during the last couple of months and we are planning several more. On a ministerial level I believe it will be renewed soon after a new government will be chosen in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu has sent an invitation to Mr. Ivanishvili. I think we will soon start working on this visit and on many others as well.
Q. How do you think Georgia can attract more investors from Israel and what should be done to develop the relations between these two countries.
A. To attract more investors people should know more about the possibilities here; they should know more about Georgia in general. One of the means to do this is to bring people together. Government to government we are planning a joint economic commission to convene this year. I hope to start working on the group in the agricultural field. We are more than ready to work together with business and government representatives to host as well as to cooperate on some business delegations to Israel and vice versa, to bring a business delegation to Georgia. I think that the Forum which is going to be held will send out a good message of friendship, of mutual interests.
Q. You mentioned that there is big interest in Israel about Georgia. Have any new Israeli companies entered Georgia in the last few months?
A. They are here all the time. Business can’t be done in a day or two. But there are many examples of businesses that have been done in the fields of agriculture and electronics. Things are going on all the time. People are coming to Tbilisi on a regular basis. Last week I met some Israeli businessmen who want to start exploring new possibilities. Some companies are active and are already on the Georgian market such as Agrotop which is engaged in poultry, and also some others. You also find Israeli products in normal supermarkets.
Q. What is the key point that attracts Israeli investors to Georgia?
A. I think that what is important for Georgian-Israeli economic relations is the fact that we are not competing but we are completing. Georgia does not have a huge economy, it doesn’t have a huge market but it is geographically very interesting. Today it could be more interesting to produce refrigerators or air conditioners or any other production here rather than in China, especially if you want products to be exported to the European market at the end of the day. Another thing is that Georgia needs production. You need to produce more and you need to create more working places. I think this can be interesting for Israeli companies who would like to start an initiative such as an Industry Park. It is a concept which is quite common in Israel; it’s a big area where you have many factories in one zone. You should also start producing your own products and Israeli investors might be interested in assisting with the technologies and know-how.
Q. We only recently had elections and the government changed. How has the change of government affected, or will affect, the relations with Israel?
A. The last year, 2012, was in general a very good year for bilateral relations. There were several very important bilateral visits from your side, former speaker of the parliament Mr. Bakradze, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Vashadze and former Minister of Economy Vera Kobalia visited Israel. From our side there were several ministerial visits, the Ministry of Transportation was here last summer and signed a new aviation agreement, renewed and improved this agreement. Our Minister of Agriculture was here, our Minister of Diaspora was here, our Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs also. The two main political parties in Georgia support good relations with Israel.
Q. How has the fact that Georgia recognized the change of status of Palestine in the UN Parliamentary Assembly recently affected relations between Israel and Georgia?
A. I look toward the future. We are here in March 2013, there is much more that should be done in the political field. There are certainly big challenges ahead. I think that the biggest challenge today not only for Israel but for the whole international community is Iran. Iran is developing a nuclear programme. They are today nearer than ever to the level of enriched uranium where you need only stretch to have one bomb. We can’t let this and the international community cannot let them reach such a level that it will be up to their decision whether to have a bomb or not to have a bomb. This is something which the international community cannot tolerate. Georgia and Israel are within the range of Iranian missiles.
I think that the whole international community should send a very clear message and signal to Iran that all the options are now on the table. For this we all need friends. This is only one challenge, look at what is going on in Syria, look at what is going on in the Middle East, there are many challenges in the world today. There are challenges in your region. We all need friends. What we should do is focus on the challenges on the mutuality in common interests, look ahead, this is what we are doing. We have very good dialogue. First and foremost with the Prime Minister, I appreciate very much his friendly stance towards Israel and the Israeli people. We have excellent dialogue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, with all the economic ministries, with the Ministry of Education and Culture. So there is much work to be done and I am looking ahead.
Q. Do you consider it likely that you might simplify the visa regime for Georgians at any time in the near future?
A. At the moment we are ready to sign the agreement for no visas for diplomats. On other issues we are working very closely with the Ministry of Interior in Israel and the Ministry of Economy here on how to improve communication to see the problems which happened in the past, especially around Easter. There were some issues to be solved. We are working on it. I cannot tell you that we have done all the necessary work.
Early next week I have one more meeting here with the Ministry of Economy. We have already introduced and improved the mechanism, and we will keep working on it. There are many Israeli tourists coming to Georgia, we would like to see many Israeli tourists coming to Israel, of course according to the regulations and specificities of Israeli law.
I would like to stress that there has never been a problem with issuing a visa for any individuals. The consular department of the embassy here in Tbilisi is open every week, is issuing visas every week, and is open for every Georgian citizen and every request is considered very carefully.
Q. What about military cooperation between Georgia and Israel?
A. I don’t think that military cooperation is the right term. There are contacts between the Ministry here and our government. Your Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze met in Munich with outgoing Minister of Defense of our former government. I don’t think that at any point there was a lack of communication. As for the future I do not have anything to add at the moment.
Q. Is there any chance that Israel will change its position toward the territorial integrity of Georgia by supporting the independence of Abkhazia or South Ossetia?
A. No chance, our position is clear. It was clear from the very first day of the August War of 2008. Our position is that we fully support the territorial integrity of Georgia and we do not recognize South Ossetia.
Q. How would you forecast the year 2013, how will it be successful in terms of the bilateral relations between our two countries?
A. I think that there is a new government here and there will be a new government in Israel. I think that this creates a new opening. It creates an opportunity for a new beginning. As I said, there is growing interest and growing understanding in Israel and Georgia about mutual political and economic importance of other fields. It’s only the beginning. What we have to do is to create improved formats such as joint economic commissions, agricultural working groups, and consultations on specific issues which are interesting for both sides, and in political or economic fields create new mechanisms.
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