Press Releases
October 15, 1999
TDA Signs Grant Agreement with Caucasus Fund
Tbilisi-- On September 29, 1999, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) and the Caucasus Fund, a limited liability corporation (LLC), signed a grant agreement under which TDA will use $200,000 to partially fund a feasibility study on establishing a fruit and vegetable processing and sorting facility in Georgia. The Caucasus Fund will carry out the feasibility study on behalf of the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture and will put in $113,269 of its own funds to cover the remainder of the costs of the study. Pending the outcome of the study, the Caucasus Fund will be the sole financier of the project to establish the facility. The Caucasus Fund was established by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to promote U.S. investment in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
The goal of the project is to establish a multifunctional fruit and vegetable facility that would sort, process, package, and distribute fresh and canned fruits and vegetables as well as juices, jams, preserves, condiments, and meat sauces to markets in Russia and Georgia. Today, many countries of the New Independent States, the Middle East, and Europe are net importers of agricultural products, particularly fruits and vegetables. Therefore, the commercialization and development of the large agricultural resources in the region is a critical component of sustainable development policies of all three countries in the South Caucasus. This feasibility study represents an effort to revive the critical sector of agriculture in Georgia, as well as in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as the goal is to have the facility process produce from those two countries in addition to Georgia.