MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development hosted a workshop of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) in Tbilisi.

Dedicated to the development of financial technologies (Fintech) in the region, the meeting was opened by Levan Davitashvili, who spoke about the importance of financial technologies in the process of creating and developing modern economic trends of the CAREC countries.

“As the region and its respective economies grow, capital reallocation becomes one of the prominent task of our reforms, be that on the country or regional level. Financial technology has a catalyst role to play at amplify these trends, where there is increased demand and mobilization of capital. It can lift and set our regional economies towards a more sustainable path and we governments must support these efforts. Regional cooperation where financial technology is championed is not an isolated task,” – Levan Davitashvili stated. 

The workshop was held on February 21-22. In addition to the representatives of the countries of the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation Program, the heads of the National Bank of Georgia, the Asian Development Bank and other representatives of the financial and banking sector were participants of the event.
As the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development stated, today's financial technologies, innovations and modern applications significantly simplify financial relations between the partner countries and economies. Relevant initiatives are real platforms for providing real-time international payments between the partners. Therefore, they should be used as instruments of real economic growth.

“Government of Georgia has been taking several measures to stay on top of this transformative path. Our government has highlighted the importance of knowledge-based, innovation-driven, private sector-oriented economic development and started building the innovation ecosystem. Since 2014 we have stimulated innovation, modern technologies, supported innovative start-ups, their competitive growth and facilitated cooperation between the representatives of scientists and businesses,” – Davitashvili explained. 

First Vice Prime Minister informed the participants of the event about the activities of the Innovation and Technology Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, which, in addition to the development of the IT sector in general, provides access to financial programs to its beneficiaries. He also talked about the activity of the financial sector of Georgia in this regard.

 “We expect Fintech products to increase competitiveness in the real economy and bring retail customers closer to the businesses. Benefits in these fields are immense and Georgia, being an EU candidate (and SEPA country by the same token) is uniquely positioned to be a bridge between Europe and Asia. It all relies on how we cooperate and choose to move forward” – Levan Davitashvili added.