This report summarises the work carried out by the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme (ECP) under the authority of the OECD Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Initiative Steering Committee, in consultation with the Government of Georgia and with participation of private sector and international organisations in Georgia. The project component on “Designing Georgia’s SME Development Strategy 2021-2025” was implemented in close co-operation with the European Union and GIZ Georgia.
Representatives of several Georgian ministries, government agencies, private sector associations, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders should be acknowledged for their active participation in working group meetings and their availability to exchange with the OECD team and share valuable insights for the development of this note.
In particular, the OECD would like to extend its gratitude to the following representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development: Ekaterine Mikabadze (former Deputy Minister), Guram Guramishvili and Irakli Nadareishvili (Deputy Ministers), Tsisnami Sabadze (Head of Economic Policy Department), Eka Kubusidze (Head of Telecommunications, Information and Modern Technologies Department), and Giorgi Dapkviashvili (Head of Electronic Communications and Information Technologies Development Division).
The OECD is also very grateful to other representatives of the Government of Georgia, government agencies and other public institutions for their important contributions to the project, notably to Tamar Kitiashvili (Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport); Mikhail Khidureli (CEO), Tornike Zirakishvili (Deputy Director), Irakli Gabriadze (Deputy Director), all three from Enterprise Georgia; Avtandil Kasradze (Chairman, Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency); and Eka Gordadze (Manager of Digital Governance and Cyber Security Strategic Directions, Digital Governance Agency).
The report, as well as working group discussions, benefitted from very insightful inputs by representatives of the private sector: Nana Tsertsvadze (Deputy CEO of the Business Association of Georgia), Magda Bolotashvili (Deputy General Director, Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Gvantsa Meladze (Supervisory Board Member, Export Development Association (EDA)), and Nino Elizbarashvili (Georgian Association Women in Business).
A number of international experts provided valuable contributions to the report and working group discussions, including Janez Šušteršič (expert on monitoring, evaluation and costing), Jesus Lozano (IT entrepreneur and senior expert on SME digitalisation), and, from GIZ Georgia, Hans-Jürgen Cassens (Programme Director), Philipp Steinheim (Team Leader, Clusters4Development), Marina Avalishvili-de Boer (Programme expert) , Selma Ulrichs (Team Leader Georgia), and Ketevan Gorgoshidze (former Co-ordinator of costing of SME Action Plan). Some of the working group meetings saw the participation of additional experts, including Isae Spinu (Head of SMEs digitalisation and IT support, Organisation for SME Sector Development of Moldova) and Elif Koksal-Oudot (Economist, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation).
The European Union provided financial support for this project as part of the EU4Business initiative. Hoa-Binh Adjemian (Head of Sector, Economic Development), Michaela Hauf (former Team Leader for Georgia), and Michael Rupp (current Team Leader for Georgia), all from DG NEAR, European Commission, and Dominik Papenheim (Team Leader, Economic Development and Market opportunities, Budget Support Co-ordination, Delegation of the European Union to Georgia) provided important guidance and support for this project.
This report was written under the guidance of Andreas Schaal, Director of the OECD Global Relations Secretariat, and William Tompson, Head of the OECD Eurasia Division.
The project was managed by Daniel Quadbeck, Senior Policy Analyst and Head of the Eastern European and South Caucasus Unit, and Francesco Alfonso, Economist and Deputy Head of Unit, both from the OECD Eurasia Division.
The main author of this report is Salomé Will, with valuable support provided by Anna-Maria Ghersi (both OECD Eurasia Division).
The report was reviewed by Jorge Gálvez Mendéz (Economist in the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs) and Gerhard Laga (Head of e-Center and SME Digital Initiative at the Austrian Economic Chamber), and benefitted from additional inputs by Krzysztof Michalak (Senior Programme Manager) and Guy Halpern (Policy Analyst) both from the OECD Environment Directorate.
Very valuable administrative support was provided by Eugenia Klimenka, Mariana Tanova and Elisa Larrakoetxea (OECD Eurasia Division).