President Mikheil Saakashvili said he’s made several trips to the United Arab Emirates this year, netting as much as $1 billion in investment “within the next two to three years.” The Georgian leader returned recently from Kuwait and goes next to Qatar, he said in an interview in the capital Tbilisi today.

Rakeen, the developer owned by the Gulf emirate of Ras al- Khaimah, will begin “in a few months” to build “the biggest airport in the Caucasus” at the Black Sea port of Poti, which it acquired last December, Saakashvili said. “That will be a major hub for the region. Consider also that it’s midway between most of the Gulf destinations and Europe.”

Georgia’s $12.8 billion economy suffered about $1 billion in damage when its U.S.-trained army was routed by Russia in the August 2008 war over the Georgian region of South Ossetia. The former Soviet republic won pledges of $4.55 billion in international aid in the wake of the conflict, including a two- year $1 billion offer by the U.S.

The International Monetary Fund said in May that Georgia’s economic performance this year largely depends on donor money. The government forecasts a contraction of 1.5 percent in 2009 and 2 percent growth in 2010.

Georgia’s economy may rebound in the fourth quarter, though 2009 foreign investment won’t exceed $1 billion, compared with $2 billion initially forecast by the government, Finance Minister Kakha Baindurashvili said on Oct. 6.

Dubai, Singapore

Saakashvili said the government’s 2 percent 2010 growth forecast is “conservative,” and growth may reach much as 6 percent as his Economic Liberty Act, which includes caps on budget deficits and state spending and debt, takes effect. Foreign investment may also rise as a result, he said.

The president said he plans to turn Georgia into a center for financial services and commerce, similar to Dubai and Singapore, in addition to tourism and energy transit.

In addition to the development at Poti, Saakashvili said the government is seeking investors to develop a port at Anaklia, “the deepest natural port” in the Black Sea area that would provide “the shortest way from China to most European destinations.”

A delegation of Iranian investors arrived in Tbilisi yesterday to pursue about $300 million possible projects in infrastructure, tourism and banking, Economic Development Ministry spokeswoman Nino Daraseli said by telephone.

Special Economic Zone

Sophie Mamardashvili, a Tbilisi-based Rakeen spokeswoman, said the company is completing plans for the Poti airport and “the project will go ahead in the near future.”

Rakeen paid $65 million for 49 percent of the Poti port last December after previously winning a government competition to develop the port and acquiring a 51 percent stake. Saakashvili opened the country’s first special economic zone at Poti in April 2008.

The company also has two development projects in Tbilisi, including a 72,836-square-meter residential and office complex on the outskirts of Tbilisi, according to the its Web site. 

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