Minister of Tolerance of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan will double the amount of investments in Georgia during the next several years. The member of the country’s Cabinet of Ministers, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, is considering entering seaport and airport business in Georgia.
Up to date, Sheikh has made investments of several hundreds of millions in Georgia and he is a holder of such important assets as Biltmore Hotel and Terabank.
– You know the Georgian business environment very well; you have been to our country many times – what has changed in the recent years?
– Many things have changed in Georgia in the last several years. I would particularly emphasize transparency and corruption parameters. Legislation is business-friendly – Georgia is now a three times better country and it holds leading positions in various ratings. Absence of corruption and transparent governance has been very beneficial and profitable for my business. Georgian government wants to protect investors. I am planning to double my investments in Georgia and the reason for that is that my current investments proved to be quite successful.
– In which fields are you planning to double your investments specifically?
– Real property market in the first place. We are also negotiating with the government the issue of airport management. The government may have a different opinion, but we have presented our wishes to it. The request concerns the management of existing airports. We are interested in agriculture, construction of hotels and seaport issues. We talked to the government about different sectors. We can see that number of tourists increases in the country. Two years ago, their number was 5 mln and now you already have almost 7 mln tourists. Therefore, we see great potential in the field of tourism. Georgia has the potential to become a regional hub and a crossroad between East and West.
– You mentioned agricultural sector, however, now a new draft law is being developed, according to which foreign investors may not be allowed to buy agricultural land any more. In your opinion, will this create an obstacle for foreign investors like yourself?
– You are right – this issue is under consideration now and the ways of regulation of agricultural land ownership is being discussed. We are waiting for the decision of the government. There are a lot of opportunities and we are quite optimistic.
– In Georgia, you are investing in financial sector, namely Terabank, against which legal proceedings were executed. Several months ago, information was spread that due to protracted litigation you were considering selling of your assets. What is the situation today in this regard?
– No, we are not selling our assets. Quite the opposite – we are planning to double investments during the next several years. Presently, we have no plans regarding financial sector, however, we are not thinking to sell our assets. The problem was regulated in legal and transparent manner. The rule of law concerns everybody, which is very good for investors.
– You mentioned that for investors well-established judiciary system is very important for investors. International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) was even planning to circulate a special warning letter to ICC member investors due to possible corruption in courts. Have you encountered problems with this regard?
– To answer your question I will tell you about Georgia’s position in corruption parameters. Georgia has quite good results being one of the top ten countries. We are interested in this issue with respect to the progress of all our activities. We haven’t has problems with this. That is exactly why I keep on investing in Georgia.
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