Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR entered Georgia's co-investment Fund, which was established upon the initiative of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The fund reported that it already attracted $6 billion and its activity will begin in autumn of 2013. The resources of various companies and foreign investors are being accumulated in Georgia's co-investment Fund.

The Fund will invest in spheres such as energy, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and tourism. It will invest in one or another facility, will manage it for some time, and then transfer it to a private company. One of the goals is the financing of around 25-75 percent of expenses on individual investment projects.

Currently, the Fund members are "Dhabi group", "RAKIA", SOCAR, Batumi terminal, "KazTransOIl", "Celik Holding", Milestone International Holdings Group Limited, as well as Bidzina Ivanishvili himself and members of the family of the late billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili.

SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan. Three production divisions, two oil refineries and one gas refinery, an oil tanker fleet, a deep water platform fabrication yard, two trusts, one institution, and 22 subdivisions are operating as corporate entities under SOCAR.

The company annually invests billions of dollars in transport infrastructure and is involved in key projects designed to increase Europe's energy security.