Post-Crackdown, Georgia Keeps Eye on Foreign Investment

As Georgia scrambles to restore a sense of normalcy following the November 7 crackdown on opposition protestors, chief among the government's concerns is the country's image among foreign investors.

The concern is critical for the country's economic health. Between 2005 and 2006, foreign direct investment in Georgia more than doubled, to stand at $1.147 billion, roughly 15 percent of its 2006 Gross Domestic Product. In its Doing Business 2007 report, a document that grades international business climates, the World Bank ranked Georgia as the top reformer in the Commonwealth of Independent States. For 2008, Georgia entered the list's top 25 countries worldwide.

At a November 10 gathering with Georgian business people in Tbilisi, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was quick to step in with damage control, laying the blame for any souring in investor interest squarely on opposition supporter Badri Patarkatsishvili, who recently declared his intention to run for president. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Since the November 7 clash between police and protestors, the government has consistently portrayed the tycoon – who in late October announced his intention to temporarily transfer his controlling interest in the country's largest pro-opposition media company to Rupert Murdoch-led News Corp. – as a lead character in an alleged plot with Russian intelligence to overthrow the government. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Speaking of Patarkatsishvili's activities at a recent Invest in Georgia conference in London, Saakashvili claimed that "a certain Russian oligarch remade as a Georgian went from investor to investor saying