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The recent resetting of Georgian-Iranian bilateral relations was in the focus of a seminar organized by ISET and the Austrian Institute for Caucasus Studies as part of the Vienna Forum for the Modernization of the Black Sea Region. Held on Tuesday, March 22nd, the seminar covered both historical and current – political and economic – aspects of cooperation between the two countries. The expert panel included Professor Hans-Georg Heinrich, Austrian Institute for Caucasus Studies; Prof. George Sanikidze, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at Ilia State University; Iva Khokhlov, Ernst & Young-Georgia; and ISET President Eric Livny, who also moderated the discussion.
Speakers focused on the opportunities related to Georgia’s reopening towards Iran’s investment and tourism. Georgia can offer Iran several important advantages: easier access to the EU market and infrastructure connecting Iran to the Black Sea region: sea ports, rail and road, pipelines and fiber optic. Georgia should certainly expect a sharp increase in the number of Iranian tourists following the lifting of the visa requirement for Iranian visitors. Whether or not this would be followed by foreign direct investment from Iran will depend on the quality of Georgia’s business environment, its openness to qualified Iranian labor, and access to agricultural land.
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The Investor Council (IC), coordinated by the EBRD, has been established in 2015 to provide a dialog platform between Georgia’s major business associations and government. Co-chaired by Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili and EBRD Director for the South Caucasus, Belarus and Moldova, Bruno Balvanera, IC’s February 17 meeting focused on three key issues:
- mechanisms for (sufficiently early) public disclosure and discussion of draft legislation;
- improvements in the tax administration system (e.g. the possibility to limit the Georgian Revenue Service’s ability to freeze business assets and accounts) and the impending introduction of the so-called Estonian model of corporate taxation;
- steps to increase the attractiveness of investing in Georgia (e.g. creating an effective system for investor after-care).
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