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Top Executives Return from The Republic of Georgia
(Washington DC) The executive director and a senior staff specialist of The Tobacco Merchants Association (TMA) have just returned from a successful assignment in the Republic of Georgia. While in Georgia, the project leaders met with high-level government officials to discuss Revenue Enhancement and Anti-Corruption initiatives.
The project, The Georgia Enterprise Growth Initiative (GEGI), is funded by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID). BearingPoint is the primary contract holder and utilizes the Association International Market Development (AIMD) as a subcontractor. AIMD's function is to bring in experts from the association community to participate in this project designed to rebuild Georgia's economy.
The American Association of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE), an AIMD member, identified experts from The Tobacco Merchants Society who supplied advice and guidance to Georgia on Tax Revenue Enhancement and Anti-Corruption initiatives. The central purpose of these initiatives is to increase excise tax revenues for the Georgian government without negatively affecting the competitive forces within the petroleum, alcohol, and tobacco industries, for both domestic and foreign manufacturers alike. It is recognized that a clear lack of respect for the rule of law negatively impacts the nature of competition in Georgia and that reestablishing a solid basis for honest and equitable capitalism is essential to the longer-term well being of the economy.
As a result of this work TMA will be joining AIMD as a member association and ASAE will be receiving management fees through this USAID funded project. AIMD, who has 16 member organizations, has a five-year contract with GEGI.
GEGI's mission is to work with The Republic of Georgia's private sector, business associations, and other concerned civil society organizations to identify specific barriers to enterprise growth and help effect reforms that will improve the business environment in The Republic of Georgia and, thus, promote economic growth. President of TMA, Farrell Delman notes, "GEGI is one exciting initiative, with all sorts of possibilities and the business community appears to have warmly embraced this GEGI initiative."
AIMD serves as a gateway between associations and the international lending agencies that sponsor programs promoting international development. By promoting the use of funds for international development assistance, AIMD assists associations in expanding or launching their services in international markets. The Georgia Initiative announces the first of many projects that will be realized through AIMD.
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