MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili held a meeting with the private energy sector. Representatives of public agencies and private businesses working in the energy sector, profiled non-governmental organizations and the banking sector participated in the event organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Business Association.

In his speech, Levan Davitashvili highlighted the vision and policy of the development of the energy sector in Georgia and the importance of the cooperation with the private sector in this process. Davitashvili informed the audience about the current situation in the sector, the dynamics of development, the ongoing process of reforms and important projects, and talked about the mechanisms supporting the development of the sector.

"Dialogue with the private sector is very important for us. It is important that we constantly receive their opinions that may be relevant in terms of the development of the energy sector. In recent years, the priority of energy in the country has increased, and we see that already last year and this year, more than one hundred megawatts of new installed capacity is added to our energy system. To ensure rapid economic growth, we need even higher local generation, so we need to encourage the energy sector even more," – the First Vice Prime Minister noted.

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development noted that the energy sector and higher local generation, plays a crutial role in the process of high economic growth in Georgia in recent years. Levan Davitashvili emphasizes that energy consumption in the country increases in proportion to economic growth, and this should be followed by the addition of generation facilities and the general increase in generation in the country.

"So our projections are that we're going to need up to 20 billion kW/h of energy by 2030, which means we're going to have to add significant capacity in terms of generation. Considering its own resources, Georgia has resources in the energy direction from renewable sources. I think that it is adequate to the world trends – to get energy resources from green renewable sources. This is also very important in the process of our European integration," – the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development stated.

In addition, according to the First Vice Prime Minister, in parallel to the generation development, the energy network should be strengthened as well, which implies not only the strengthening of the internal transmission infrastructure of the country, but also the development of the cross-border transmission infrastructure. According to Davitashvili, direct connectivity with Europe is also an important priority. In this regard, the Minister focused on the Black Sea submarine cable project.

"The Black Sea High Power Cable Project is a reality, a plan that we are steadily following. By 2030, it is quite realistic that the country will have direct connectivity to the largest European market and not only to the immediate neighborhood, the country will be able to export local electricity between them. However, we understand that a number of industries will consume more electricity in the future, the energy structure is changing, and the structure of consumption itself is changing. We understand that we are living in the era of digital development, and this means that more digital data requires more electricity consumption," – Levan Davitashvili said.

With the initiative of Levan Davitashvili, regular meetings will be held with the sector in order to discuss current issues of the energy sector and effectively manage the processes. This format periodically consists of dialogue and discussion on the current and strategic issues.