Dev ii18 Nov 2018 10:17
Hi ToT. Have had a busy few days – and surprised that no one has commented on your excellent post. To me this really is another indication of those secret ducks lining up, but to draw this conclusion you have to join a few dots.
First add to what you have posted this – reported on 13th September:
“From January 1, American companies will operate businesses in Georgia more easily, stated the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mamuka Bakhtadze, at the International Conference organized by the McCain Institute and Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), as reported by Imedinews.
The Financial Times Editor asked the Prime Minister to comment on the cooperation with the US President’s Administration. As Bakhtatdze said, US-Georgian relations in the security sector are at the highest level, but it is vital to deepen economic collaboration.
“We are trying to transform Georgia into a business and tourism hub. We expect to extend cooperation ties. From January 1, we will implement a new economic and tax reform which will be directed towards American companies to operate businesses with ease in Georgia. We are attempting to develop relations with the US in every sphere,” the PM stated.”
Of course our old friend Damon Wilson was a key player at the same conference. And recently we had confirmation of $150 million being allocated in the Georgian budget to fund company tax refunds in 2019. FRR claim they are owed $6.4 million.
Also Interesting to note that Exxon have committed $2.5 billion dollars to developing the deep sea Neptun field off Romania. And we know that they really struggled to get the Romanians to deliver a reasonably supportive tax regime.
Then remember this. At the Tbilisi meeting Damon Wilson “invited Mamuka Bakhtadze to a high-level meeting to be organized by the Atlantic Council on September 24 in New York as part of the UN General Assembly. The top managers of leading US companies are expected to participate in the event.” Unsurprisingly there were no reports following those meetings.
The first Exxon initiative into Georgian oil and gas exploration followed within a month of these events. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Now of course you could say that all this has nothing at all to do with FRR, Baker Hughes or perhaps Company XX. But there really are so many other links. Mamuka Bakhtadze seems to be running at the speed of light – changing everything – and all with an amazingly pro-US angle.
I really wish I could add more to my holding here but am pretty much all in now. And very confident - touched with a good degree of patience.
The short term SP here is an utter irrelevance in my view