USAID and Enterprise Georgia have launched a two-year partnership to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Georgia’s economy.  The initiative will promote high-value opportunities for international investors, helping Georgia’s private sector recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build a more innovative economy that creates higher-value jobs for Georgian workers.

With financial support from USAID, Enterprise Georgia’s investment team will work closely with OCO Global, a foreign investment advisory firm, to identify and promote high-value investment opportunities in Georgia’s economy, raising awareness about the country’s economic potential among major international investors.  The initiative will prioritize investment in greenfield and export-oriented projects, focusing on innovative, high-value manufacturing including electronics, medical instruments, aerospace parts, and automotive parts.

“This new partnership will help move Georgia’s economic recovery forward, channelling investment into innovative industries that create higher-paying jobs and make Georgia competitive on international markets,” said USAID/Georgia Mission Director Peter Wiebler.  “The partnership advances one of the key goals of USAID’s new strategy for Georgia: empowering the private sector to create higher-value employment opportunities and contribute to enterprise-driven economic growth that benefits all Georgians.”

“Working with OCO Global, a renowned foreign investment advisory firm, will broaden our investment attraction area to a global scale,” added Enterprise Georgia CEO Mikheil Khidureli. 

USAID’s Evolving Approach to Empowering the Private Sector

The partnership with Enterprise Georgia is exemplary of USAID’s approach under its new 2020-2025 Country Cooperation Development Strategy guiding its assistance to Georgia.  Over the next five years, USAID will increase its support for private sector innovation, investment attraction, and linkages with lucrative markets, helping Georgian firms earn higher revenues and create higher-paying jobs across the country.

USAID programming will further enable economic growth by helping Georgia fully implement Euro-Atlantic-oriented economic reforms and support key sectors of the economy to become more competitive.  That includes efforts to ensure that Georgian firms have access to lucrative markets, diverse sources of investment, sustainably-managed natural resources, and a workforce trained to meet the needs of the labor market.