The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDE) is the state's sales and marketing division, responsible for attracting new commercial investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, and promoting the state as a desirable destination for tourists. The GDE is dedicated to helping Georgia achieve economic growth through a variety of initiatives. In order to reduce the risk of economic downturn due to monetary tightening in advanced economies, the World Bank has launched the Log-In Georgia project. This project will connect up to 500,000 people living in more than 1000 villages in the country's mountainous and remote regions to affordable high-speed broadband Internet.
This will enable access to digital financial services, e-commerce, e-government services, remote learning and telemedicine – all of which have been invaluable during the pandemic. The World Bank is also supporting human capital development in Georgia through the Innovation, Inclusion and Quality Project (I2Q). This program focuses on reducing the skills gap between learning outcomes and labor market expectations by investing 35% of total commitment into education, health and social protection, and 30% into infrastructure and digital development. The United States is also providing critical assistance to combat COVID-19 in Russian-occupied Abkhazia. The ESPIRE project is another key initiative that seeks to improve energy security through electrical interconnection and renewable energy. This project would involve developing one of the longest and deepest submarine electrical and digital cables in the world across the Black Sea, which would improve energy trade and international data flows between Europe and Asia through the South Caucasus (with landing points in Georgia and Romania).The GDE is also working with local resources to facilitate collaboration between the government and private sector to help Georgia develop its own solutions to development challenges.
The GDE promotes Georgia to the world by encouraging business investment and trade, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a reference place for cinema, music, digital entertainment and the arts. The activity also promotes independent living in other municipalities in Georgia. It will strengthen civic education by improving student-led civic and democratic participation in schools; strengthening private sector participation in civic education at school level; and improving students' ability to use technology responsibly to promote their civic agendas and participate in public discourse. The GDE is committed to helping Georgia achieve economic growth through a variety of initiatives that support human capital development, energy security, collaboration between government and private sector entities, tourism promotion, independent living initiatives, and civic education.
