Green light to Russian business from Georgia

Bloomberg

"We’re not going to hinder Russian companies from coming to Georgia," Saakashvili said in an interview in the Black Sea port of Batumi on Thursday. "The more business interest we get, the less political pressure there will be. I’ve never said that Georgia doesn’t need Russian business."

Georgia’s $12.8 billion economy is still recovering from about $1 billion in damage from a five-day August war with Russia over separatist South Ossetia.

A proposed agreement with Inter RAO, a utility controlled by Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom, would give it "management control" of the 1,300 megawatt Inguri hydropower plant on the border with Abkhazia for 10 years. The deal has met with criticism from opposition leaders, who say it would violate a law on the "occupied territories" of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and damage Georgia’s national interests.

"We’ve never said we’re against Russian business or investors," opposition lawmaker Levan Vepkhvadze said by telephone. "But privatizing crucial assets like water systems, power stations and God knows what else, is different. And selling Inguri to a Russian state company? This is a terrible idea, and more than that, it’s dangerous."

Saakashvili said the government has no timetable for concluding the handover of Inguri to Inter RAO. "We’re working with the Russians to get the best deal," he said.

"The Russians are trying to replace Georgian wine with Italian or Spanish," Saakashvili said, referring to a Russian ban on wine imports from Georgia, part of an economic embargo imposed in 2006. "But there’s no way they can replace Georgian electricity. We both have an interest in Georgia exporting power, and Georgia will gain extra revenue."

Inter RAO owns or controls several Georgian utilities including Telasi, the former Soviet republic’s largest electricity provider.