Saakashvili: Enguri HPP Deal with Inter RAO will be Perfect

President Saakashvili said the government had no timetable for concluding the contract with Russia’s electricity trader Inter RAO on Enguri hydro power plant and added: “We’re working with the Russians to get the best deal.”

“We both have an interest in Georgia exporting power, and Georgia will gain extra revenue. I think the Enguri deal will be perfect,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg in Batumi on March 12.

“We’re not going to hinder Russian companies from coming to Georgia,” Saakashvili was quoted. “The more business interest we get, the less political pressure there will be. I’ve never said that Georgia doesn’t need Russian business… The Russians are trying to replace Georgian wine with Italian or Spanish. But there’s no way they can replace Georgian electricity.”

Georgia has signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s state-controlled Inter RAO on joint management of the largest hydro power plant in the region – a source of the opposition’s criticism. A legally binding contract, however, has yet to be signed.

Saakashvili said in late February that economic cooperation could only bring prosperity and stability and for that reason “we need to cooperate about Enguri” hydro power plant with Russia.

“Now, against the background of the economic crisis, when our economy suffers difficulties and when Russia’s economy is practically under the conditions of full collapse, we invite Russian businessmen to Georgia to let them see with their own eyes that nobody will demand a bribe or a share from them in this country,” Saakashvili said on February 25.

The memorandum signed between the Georgian government and Inter RAO in late December remains classified. The government has showed the document to only a group of lawmakers from the parliamentary minority.

PM Nika Gilauri said recently that the fact that this document was revealed to a group of lawmakers had already “hindered” signing of the contract.

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