“Eastern Partnership Investment Forum:

10 Years after Prague”

10 May 2019

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is our pleasure to invite You to the 1st Eastern Partnership Investment Forum “Ten Years After

Prague” that will be a side-event of the 16th Batumi International Conference in Batumi, Georgia

on 10-11 July 2019. The forum is dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of EaP and is co-organized by

the Government of Georgia and the European Commission.

The Batumi International Conference is a well-established regional platform for discussing the

processes ongoing in Europe and the region, as well as throughout the world; the persisting

challenges and the ways for their solution and the role of the countries of the Eastern Partnership

in the aforesaid processes. The Key Guest of this year’s Conference will be the EU Council

President H.E. Donald Tusk. EU MS and EaP Ministers, Political Leaders, International

Organizations, Civil Society and Media Representatives – 500+ participants will attend the

Conference.

The 1st EaP Investment Forum will discuss the impact of the Eastern Partnership Program of the

European Union on the investment environment of the six partner countries (Armenia,

Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) after ten years of its implementation. The six

countries jointly represent 75 million people and 200 billion Euros economy. The European

Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have portfolios

with more than 1300 projects worth of 33 billion Euros in the EaP countries.

The primary focus of the Forum is to promote investment projects, including JV opportunities,

into the EaP countries in the key sectors: infrastructure (including tourism and logisitics), energy,

manufacturing and agriculture. Dedicated background material will be prepared for the Forum

discussions.

We expect the ministers from EaP countries, the high level EU officials as well as business leaders,

business organizations, international organizations, donors, international financial institutions

and media, both from the EaP countries and the EU member states as participants of the forum.

In addition, senior officials of the European Investment Bank and European Bank for

Reconstruction and Development will join in our deliberations.

The Forum will provide opportunity to You to meet with the government and private sector

representatives of the EaP countries as well as the financial institutions and to discuss investment

opportunities in the priority sectors in G2B and B2B formats organized on the margins of the

Forum. The preliminary agenda of the Forum is in the annex 1 of this invitation.

All the participants are kindly requested to submit their registration by 17 June 2019 at the latest

via https://www.eap-events.eu/ehome/eap-investmentforum.eu

Upon your successful registration you will receive an automated e-mail confirming your

registration is well submitted and well received.

We look forward to seeing you in Batumi!

Mikheil Khidureli

Mikheil Janelidze

Director

Chairman

Enterprise Georgia Center for European Governance and

Economy

Annex 1

“Eastern Partnership Investment Forum – 10 Years after Prague”

Preliminary Agenda* for 10-11 July, 2019 Batumi, Georgia

Note: The agenda is subject to change, and will be updated up to the forum

July 10, Day 1 Time Topic

Speaker

Sheraton Batumi 19:00 – 21:30 Networking Reception of the 16th Batumi

International Conference / By Invitation

July 11, Day 2 09:30 – 10:00 Grand Opening of the 16th Batumi

International Conference / By Invitation H.E. Prime Minister of Georgia H.E. EU Council President H.E. Foreign Minister of Georgia

Hilton Batumi

10:30 – 10:45 Keynote speech H.E. Prime Minister of Georgia 11:00 – 13:00 Opening Session of the Investment Forum: Moderator: CEGE Chairman Challenges and Opportunities for

Investment in EaP Area 10 Years After Prague

EaP Ministers, EIB, EBRD (TBC)

13:20 - 14:50 Lunch 15:00 - 17:30 Parallel Sessions Presentations: EaP Countries, EIB,

EBRD Investment Opportunities in Infrastructure & Energy Investment Opportunities in Agriculture & Manufacturing 20:00 – 23:00 Gala Dinner / By Invitation 10:30 – 17:30 B2B Meetings 10:30 – 17:30 G2B Meetings

10 YEARS AFTER PRAGUE – EAP INVESTMENT FORUM

Annex 2

Background

2019 marks 10 years since the start of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Program by the EU. During

this period, both the EU and the partner countries benefited from the partnership despite the

different results, speeds and ambitions in the integration process.

The main goal of the Eastern Partnership set in 2009 was to create the necessary conditions to

accelerate political association and further economic integration between the European Union

and interested partner countries. Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova have achieved the goal by

implementing necessary reforms leading to signing Association Agreements, including Deep and

Comprehensive Free Trade Areas, and visa free travel to the Schengen area of its citizens. Despite

the different integration agendas of other three partner Countries, progress has been visible and

tangible in all the cases. Armenia, has signed the Comprehensive & Enhanced Partnership

Agreement (CEPA) which enables stronger cooperation in sectors such as energy, transport,

environment and trade. In February 2017, the EU and Azerbaijan began negotiations on a new

framework agreement with Azerbaijan designed to give new impetus to political dialogue and

mutually beneficial cooperation. There has been progress in EU–Belarus relations. Belarus has

been participating more pro-actively in the Eastern Partnership, in particular in the multilateral

formats. These results serve the shared commitment to stability, security and prosperity of the

European Union, the partner countries and indeed the entire European continent. The

multilateral framework has fostered links among partner countries. EaP dialogue formats on

different levels helped to sharing experience and exploring avenues for deeper cooperation.

On the last EaP Brussels Summit 2017 all partners have committed to achieve 20 deliverables for

2020 in four key priority areas: economy, connectivity, governance and society; The EU offered

the External Investment Plan which provides new funding opportunities, in particular through

the establishment of the European Fund for Sustainable Development, expected to efficiently

mobilize significant amounts of investment.

The Forum in Batumi will be the first investment focused event of Eastern Partnership and aims

at assessing impact of EaP on the investment environments of partner countries, promoting

investment opportunities of partners in the EU and raise awareness of the investment programs

and tools of the EU, European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and

Development. The Forum will help to consolidate and structure the investment related

information in the priority sectors: Infrastructure, Energy, Agriculture and Manufacturing, and to

attract FDI from the EU to partner countries. The Forum will help to facilitate Government to

Business and Business to Business contacts thus creating new economic integration opportunities

among the EaP countries and with the EU.

10 YEARS AFTER PRAGUE – EAP INVESTMENT FORUM

Forum Organizer

Center for European Governance and Economy (CEGE) was created by the EGE as a non-profit

initiative to focus on the relations between the European Union and its eastern neighborhood.

Goals of CEGE are promotion of public debate on the EU policies in the Eastern Europe, advising

decision makers from politics, business, and civil society, informing the public on European policy

issues, strengthening the Eastern European States’ EU agenda, advancing Eastern European

States integration process in the EU and facilitating business and investment interactions.

Forum Director: Mariam Dakhundaridze

Email: mdakhundaridze@egecenter.org

Phone: +995599552656

Co-Organizers:

On behalf of the Government of Georgia

Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia

Enterprise Georgia

Contact Person: Nino Tsetskhladze

Email: ntsetskhaldze@moesd.gov.ge

Phone: +995599510432

European Commission/DG Near

External Contractor: Cecoforma

Contact Details: ludmila.magkaeva@cecoforma.com

Phone: +3243441562

Forum Dates:

The Forum will be held on the 10th and 11th of July, 2019.

Forum Venue:

The Forum will take place at HILTON BATUMI HOTEL

HILTON BATUMI

40, RUSTAVELI AVENUE, BATUMI, 6010, GEORGIA

TEL: +995-422-222299 FAX: +995-422-228790