"Azerbaijan is the first or second largest investor in Georgia or the first or second largest taxpayer. I say the first and the second because one year Turkey is the first, the next year Azerbaijan."
This was stated by President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro.
Fakt Yoxla examined whether the president's claim was true.
According to the report of the National Statistics Office of Georgia, Azerbaijan has been investing in Georgia since 2003. It is noteworthy that during the construction of major infrastructure projects related to oil and gas pipelines, a significant increase was observed in the amount of Azerbaijani investment in Georgia. This happened during the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (2003-2006) and the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (2014-2018).
Although Turkey has been investing in Georgia since 1997, there has been a significant increase in investment since 2006. In general, between 2003 and 2019, Azerbaijan invested $ 2.801 billion in Georgia and Turkey $ 1.72 billion.
|
Azerbaijan |
Turkey |
|||
| The amount of investment | Its share in total | The amount of investment | Its share in total | |
|
2003 |
27,481.7 |
8.20% |
16,673.8 |
4.90% |
|
2004 |
66,883.6 |
13.60% |
33,326.0 |
6.70% |
|
2005 |
64,704.4 |
14.20% |
21,519.9 |
4.70% |
|
2006 |
71,021.0 |
6.00% |
126,790.3 |
10.80% |
|
2007 |
19,766.9 |
1.10% |
79,510.2 |
4.50% |
|
2008 |
23,371.9 |
1.50% |
167,403.1 |
10.60% |
|
2009 |
29,923.3 |
4.50% |
97,984.2 |
14.70% |
|
2010 |
62,859.6 |
7.30% |
91,786.5 |
10.60% |
|
2011 |
69,454.6 |
6.10% |
77,708.8 |
6.90% |
|
2012 |
61,287.4 |
5.80% |
107,222.4 |
10.20% |
|
2013 |
84,620.4 |
8.10% |
51,433.8 |
4.90% |
|
2014 |
340,549.8 |
18.50% |
72,306.0 |
3.90% |
|
2015 |
581,739.1 |
33.70% |
74,893.8 |
4.30% |
|
2016 |
555,138.2 |
33.60% |
220,272.2 |
13.30% |
|
2017 |
460,499.0 |
23.30% |
256,215.3 |
13.00% |
|
2018 |
246,384.7 |
18.90% |
49,909.1 |
3.80% |
|
2019 |
35,788.9 |
2.70% |
175,319.2 |
13.40% |
As for the claim that Azerbaijan and Turkey are the first and second largest investors in Georgia, the data for 2003-2019 show that for the last 16 years, Azerbaijan has the largest investment portfolio in Georgia.
The countries that invested the most in Georgia in 2003-2019 were:
| Country | Amount (thousand dollars) | |
| 1 | Azerbaijan | 2,801,474 |
| 2 | The Netherlands | 2,357,320 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 2,313,596 |
| 4 | Turkey | 1,720,274 |
| 5 | USA | 1,322,712 |
| 6 | UAE | 1,102,055 |
| 7 | Czech Republic | 807,191 |
| 8 | Russia | 754,954 |
As can be seen from the table, according to the results of 16 years, the first place in the foreign investment portfolio formed in Georgia belongs to Azerbaijan. For information, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom close the top three. Turkey ranks fourth in terms of total investment.
The results of the study on the fact that Azerbaijan and Turkey are the largest taxpayers in Georgia are as follows.
SOCAR Energy Georgia, the subsidiary of SOCAR in Georgia, has repeatedly been named the country's highest taxpayer in recent years. The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia said that about 700 Azerbaijani companies operate in Georgia. The Turkish side notes that along with 27 Turkish companies with a capital of more than $ 1 million, more than 500 small and medium-sized businesses operate in Georgia. However, since the Georgian side did not disclose the indicators of the countries to which the taxpayers belong, it is impossible to investigate the claim that Azerbaijan and Turkey are the largest taxpayers in Georgia.
Thus, Ilham Aliyev's claim that Azerbaijan is the largest investor and the largest taxpayer in Georgia is MOSTLY TRUE.
