Page 56 - GEORptOct21

9.1.4 Automobile sector news
Promised production of electric cars with Chinese partner in Georgia delayed another year
The planned production of the first electric cars in Georgia has been postponed to 2022, Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava has said. A plant for the manufacture of electric vehicles, to be located in Kutaisi, western Georgia, is to be run by the Georgian aigroup in partnership with Chinese state-owned automobile maker Chang’an Automobile. Land was awarded for the factory and it was supposed to start operations as soon as 2020, with plans to sell the electric cars coming off its production lines domestically and in European Union member states.
However, in a perhaps worrying sign, the website of Aigroup has been suspended.
“Industrial holding aigroup brings together aicar, aienergy, aipower and aiproduction. aigroup focuses on environmentally friendly projects and gives them the priority,” the company’s Linkedin account reads.
There is scarce information on Big Service Ltd, the project company set up by aigroup Chang’an Automobile.
Under a contract signed with authorities, when the land was passed over for the factory in return for a symbolic fee of one Georgian lari in July 2019, the investors promised to start production by April 27, 2021 at the latest. The fine set for failing to meet the deadline was equally symbolic, though: 550 lari ($18) per day.
Turnava said that the coronavirus pandemic prevented the investor from starting production and that the company would be given extra time to fulfil its obligations.
“It is so important for us to develop a green economy and at the same time strengthen Kutaisi as an industrial centre. We will support the investor to fulfil this task", Turnava said.
“Big Service Ltd was given land and buildings located on it worth [Georgian lari] GEL68.23mn ($23mn) for GEL1 in 2019 with investment commitments to set up an electric car manufacturing factory within no more than two years (no later than 27.05.2021) and then produce at least 5,000 units of electric cars within no more than 18 months,” Agenda.ge recapped.
In addition, the company was obliged to employ at least 300 people for at least 18 months within a period of not more than one year after fulfilling the obligation to launch the factory.
9.1.5 Tourism sector news
Georgia’s international arrivals up 510% y/y in Aug
International arrivals in Georgia were up more than 500% y/y in August, while Q2 FDI was down 2.6% y/y, Galt&Taggart reported.
Total international arrivals (tourists and same-day arrivals) to Georgia increased by 510.5% y/y to 266.5k persons (accounting for 24.5% of the August 2019 level) in August, according to GNTA. This growth was mostly driven by 615.2% y/y growth in tourist arrivals from last year’s low base, followed by a 112.5% y/y growth in same-day arrivals. The largest contributions to international visitor growth came from Russia (+809.1% y/y), followed by Ukraine (+28.5x y/y), Turkey (+113.6% y/y) and Saudi Arabia (+16,436x y/y) in August. Overall, in 8M21 total international arrivals stood at 961.6k (-27.1% y/y, 18.5% of 2019 level), of which tourist arrivals reached 883.1k (-3.9% y/y, 25.6% of 2019 level) persons. Meanwhile, tourism revenues were estimated at $752.7mn (+55.7% y/y, 33.2% of 2019 level) in 8M21.
56 GEORGIA Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com