The FINANCIAL -- According to Civil Georgia, an Egypt-based home appliances producer company, Fresh Electric, intends to create a free industrial zone in Georgia’s second largest town of Kutaisi, Lasha Zhvania, the Georgian economy minister, said on April 2.

A memorandum of intent between Fresh Electric and the Georgian government, he said, would be signed on April 6, according to which the company will establish the free zone on a 27-hectare plot of land. The Minister said that the company would build about dozen of textile, ceramics and home appliances producing factories in the zone.

Lasha Zhvania said that the company planned “unprecedented investments for Georgia.”

“Total of USD 1.28 billion will be invested this year and on the second stage, after year and half, a second stage of investment will be launched and over USD 2 billion will be invested. 2,500 people will be employed this year as a result of this project and on the next stage – after year and a half, from 12,500 to 15,000 people will be employed,” Zhvania said. “No such investment has ever been carried out in Georgia.”

He also said that a New York-based Georgian businessman, Mikheil Tigishvili, would be a local partner of the Egyptian company.

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