By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, November 7
The annual regional conference dedicated to the topical aspects of public procurement was opened on November 6 in Tbilisi at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel.
The conference was attended by the Vice-Premier and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, Maia Tskitishvili. In her opening speech Infrastructure Minister said:
Probably the main result of my ministry is that today we have no conversations and arguments or questions about procurement, we have changed a lot in the Ministry of Infrastructure in this regard, we have made the information equally accessible and the process is very transparent.
The conference is attended by representatives from 40 different countries. According to Tskitishvili, they share the best procurement experience to help us protect the system from further competitive and corruption risks. Our Ministry is one of the largest procuring entities in Georgia and therefore working in this field is vital, explained the minister.
We conduct open meetings with businesses regularly, and we consider any issues that may be a factor in the procurement process. We have about 250 new purchasers in the region’s project fund alone, and this certainly indicates that the procurement process is transparent and competitive. Such an approach enables our business to create more jobs, to be strengthened, and to buy in other countries as well To participate, said Tskitishvili.
According to the Vice Premier, Georgia needs to become a full member of the large EU public procurement system on the way to European integration.
Infrastructure Minister also made comments with the media regarding Anaklia Port issues yesterday.
The state cannot afford to cover a commercial investor, commercial risks, insurance guarantee or any other way, I think this issue is already over, she said.
As Tskitishvili noted, she had recently met with representatives of the Anaklia Consortium and though no meeting of a similar format was planned, this did not mean that communication with them had ceased.
As for the guarantee, we have talked about this issue many times and we have repeatedly explained that the state cannot afford to cover a commercial investor, commercial risks, insurance guarantee or any other and I think this issue is already exhausted. We have already discussed this issue many times, noted Tskitishvili.
According to her, the consortium has not yet introduced a new investor.
