Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 30

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Frontera turns down Georgia's

call to settle dispute

GEORGIA TEXAS oil company Frontera Resources has stressed that Georgia had the legal right to ask
accused Georgian authorities of spreading dis- Frontera to return all the land including plots
Frontera had a contract information “after years of threats and harass- falling under operations, but had refused to ini-
to develop gas in ment”. It made the claim in response to officials tiate the procedures “because the investment
Georgia. saying they had agreed not to terminate a con- climate of Georgia and its business environment
tract with the enterprise despite a legal right is extremely important for us and we should not
to do so. allow anyone to question this investment envi-
The government’s call for an amicable settle- ronment by spreading false information”.
ment of the dispute with Frontera “was packed Gakharia also said that there were Georgian
with slanderous statements, which only served people employed at Frontera and “we had to pro-
to tarnish our company name and spread false tect their interests as well”.
statements about our activities”, the company Georgia’s minister of economy, Natia Tur-
said in a press release quoted by Business Media. nava, announced on July 23 that the government
It stressed once again that there was never any had agreed to not break its concession contract
legal basis for the unilateral termination of the with Frontera though it was entitled to do so
contract. by an arbitration ruling. However, she said that
“The constant slander of the Georgian gov- Frontera should accept the disclosure of the
ernment is wrong and is deliberate harassment. ruling that she implied was favourable to the
It is aimed at misleading and creating the impres- government.
sion of generosity and benevolence when, in fact, Frontera would be returned exploration and
it is a continuation of dishonest behavior aimed production rights for only 1% of the area initially
at insidiously obstructing the inflow of foreign under contract, namely the areas where opera-
direct investment from the US.,” the release tions have been carried out since during the
added. Soviet era, Turnava said. Frontera has already
The tough response to the government came returned the rest of the land that the company
after US ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Deg- promised to explore, but never did, in line with a
nan, welcomed the decision of the government government request, she added.
regarding the Frontera case. "After the arbitration award, Frontera, in
“This is a good sign that the Georgian govern- order to maintain ambiguity in the Georgian
ment is open to communication with the com- and international communities, rejected the
pany. Therefore, it would be good if this issue is Georgian side's offer to make the arbitration
resolved through dialogue and agreement", Deg- award public and launched an information cam-
nan said. paign damaging the image of the Georgian state,"
Commenting on the case, prior to Fron- Turnava said in a statement quoted by Business
tera’s response, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia Media. ™

Week 30 29•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15