THE STATE REPRESENTATIVE ADMINISTRATION

Natia Turnava, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Zviad Shalamberidze, State Representative in Imereti, visited factory "Atlantic Georgia", a subsidiary of the French international group "Groupe Atlantic", which produces water heaters, in the Kutaisi Free Industrial Zone. As the Minister of Economy told reporters, the factory plans to expand in the near future, which is very important.

"When we practically run the spread of coronavirus and our economy slowly begins to open, special attention is paid to enterprises that are newly established by foreign investors and plan to expand, it is very important for us, so today we visited a company representing the French company Atlantic Group in Kutaisi. It has been operating in Georgia for a total of two years. In total, it is a large group represented in 73 countries, including Georgia, and manufactures domestic heaters. It is important that despite this global crisis, the company plans to expand and if today employs up to 140 people, They will employ more than 200 people. They have attractive conditions and salaries. We help them, if there is a technical problem, to solve them as soon as possible and to expand them soon. This once again confirms that good business environment is generally created in Georgia for foreign investors and despite the global crisis and the pandemic, their plans have not changed, on the contrary, they are thinking of expand production, producing more export products, employing more people, "- said Natia Turnava.

According to Zviad Shalamberidze, the functioning of such enterprises is very important, which creates wealth, employs our citizens and contributes a lot to the budget. "The state will always support and facilitate the start-up and expansion of such businesses in Georgia. Today we visited such enterprises, which are developing step by step and will further increase their turnover," - said the State Representative.

Atlantic Georgia, a subsidiary of the French international group Groupe Atlantic, which produces water heaters, started operating in Georgia, particularly in the Kutaisi Free Industrial Zone, in 2017. Invested capital amounted to GEL 47,113,020 in 2017 and GEL 26,227,3 in 2018.

In 2017, 125,000 water heaters were produced, in 2018, 205,970 water heaters, and in 2019, 207 thousand water heaters and 100% of the products were exported. The products are exported to the following countries: Spain, France, Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan, Romania, Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Qatar. Sales turnover in 2018 - 14,735,095 GEL, in 2019 - 29,559,865 GEL, and from the beginning of 2020 to the present - 10,920,654 GEL.

At this stage, the company employs 135 people and it is noteworthy that the company has added 23 new employees to implement new projects during the crisis caused by COVID. The company's future plans are to increase the production of water heaters on the one hand, and to launch new large-scale projects in parallel: the production of steatite (heater element), the manufacture of convectors (radiators) and cooperation with Bosch.

In order to implement these projects, the company will make additional investments, and the number of employees will increase by 50 new staff.