Bendukidze: Fear towards Russian Investments Over-Exaggerated

In an interview with the Ukrainian business daily Ekonomicheskie Izvestia published on May 18, Georgian State Minister for Economic Reforms Kakha Bendukidze said that fears over Russian investments are “over-exaggerated.” 

“It would have been very strange if Russian capital went to Indonesia, without paying attention to Georgia or Ukraine… I think there is an over-exaggerated fear of Russian capital… The same happens in Estonia, which thinks that it would be better to nationalize the railway, otherwise it might be bought by a Russian company. In reality, the best way of protecting is to maximally open the economy: the more transparent the privatization process is the more chances there are for non-Russian companies to buy facilities,” Bendukidze said.

He said that by the next year all the major state-run facilities in Georgia, except the railway, high-voltage power lines, Enguri hydro power plant and trunk gas pipeline, will be privatized.
 
“But I think that some of our [Georgian] politicians are fixated on the idea [that these facilities should not be privatized]. Why shouldn’t we sell them?” Bendukidze said.

He said shares of the privatization process in Georgia’s mid-term budget for 2008-2010 will total 0.1% of GDP.

He hailed the ongoing privatization process as a success, but also noted the failure to privatize Chiaturmanganumi, the manganese mining factory. “But I think in two months, Chiaturmanganumi will find an owner,” Bendukidze said.