Dimitry Kumsishvili Opened South Caucasus Energy Summit in Tbilisi

First Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Dimitry Kumsishvili opened the South Caucasus Energy Summit in Tbilisi. Georgian, Azerbaijan and Armenian high-rank officials as well as the representatives of the international donor organizations, the NGOs and the private sectors participated in the event.

The South Caucasus Energy Summit is a high-level political talk that discusses positive outcomes of the energy cooperation in the South Caucasus region. The current forum focused on the development of the energy infrastructure and connectivity within the South Caucasus region as well as the ways of improving the regional energy ties, strengthen energy security and sustainability of the natural gas/electricity supply.

Dimitry Kumsishvili delivered a speech on the regional cooperation that envisages both technical and regulatory issues and is of great importance in terms of ensuring energy stability for the South Caucasus and the neighboring countries. “South Caucasus high-level talk – Europe for Energy, is a platform where we talk with the our neighboring countries about integration of our energy markets, as well as the harmonization of our legislation with the EU legislation. The whole content of this platform is that our energy markets are small and therefore, only if we have good connectivity and harmonized legislation, investors will invest more effectively in our energy markets. Consequently, the consumer will enjoy energy carriers and electricity of much more competitive price,” – Dimitry Kumsishvili stated.

First Vice Prime Minister named the topical issues which include the ways of infrastructure development and harmonization of the existing legislation with the EU regulations. “We, unlike our neighbors, have an obligation to harmonize the legislation with the EU. As you are well informed, Georgia is a member of the energy community and therefore, the implementation of the reforms that is scheduled within the following 2 years is out of importance. Afterwards, the process will be developing in the following 5 years which will lead to the full liberalization of the market. This means that common consumers will be provide with the energy resources on more competitive price and, accordingly, through correct distribution,” – Kumsishvili explained.

The high-level of political talks were organized by the EU4Energy project with the support of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia and the G4G project of the USAID. The EU4Energy initiative allows for all kind of EU assistance including improving of the energy supply, security and connectivity, as well as promoting energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources in the countries of the Eastern Partnership and namely Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. The initiative is implemented through financing of relevant projects and programs that help to reform energy sector and reduce energy dependence and consumption. In the longer term, this process will make energy supply more reliable, transparent and affordable, thus reducing energy poverty and the energy price for the citizens as well as the private sector.