First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili spoke at the ministerial panel session of Istanbul Energy Forum. The panel session focused on the importance of regional cooperation in the process of solving them.
As the First Deputy Prime Minister stated, regional cooperation is important for ensuring energy sustainability and strengthening energy security. He emphasized developing cross-border transmission infrastructure and promoting energy trade between countries.
“We are already working on harmonizing relevant legislation between countries in the region, which will also promote energy trade in the region. The balance between energy supply and energy availability is a fundamental factor in the competitiveness of our economy, which will directly affect the well-being of our population and countries,” – noted Levan Davitashvili.
The First Deputy Prime Minister spoke extensively about the government’s policy of promoting electricity production from renewable sources.
“It might be ambitious, but we feel pretty realistic about the goal we set – to double our energy capacity by 2030. This is important to keep track of our economic growth. In the last 3-4 years we have almost doubled our economy. This year our economic growth index is 9.8%, which is the result of the important structural reforms that we have implemented and are the foundation of our country’s economic growth,” Levan Davitashvili noted.
According to the first deputy minister, there is a very favorable business environment in Georgia with minimal bureaucracy and various mechanisms to encourage investors in the energy sector. There are 26,000 mountain rivers in Georgia and therefore there is a huge potential for hydropower production and 20% of it is not used at this stage, which is far behind the European average.
“Therefore, our goal is to increase the number of hydro plants and expand the use of wind and solar energy. I think wind and solar energy production will develop more in the next 4-5 years. However, we are aware of the need for thermal power plants before the full switch to green energy and we are implementing relevant projects, “- noted Levan Davitashvili.
The first Deputy Prime Minister also talked about large investment projects, in which PPP is implemented by the mechanism of public-private cooperation, which is in full compliance with EU directives.
