Georgian Energy Development Fund has been granted the authority to receive and issue grants.

The Parliament unanimously adopted amendments to the Law on Grants in the third reading - with 81 votes - on the basis of which a change was made to the circle of entities authorized to issue and receive grants. In particular, the Georgian Energy Development Fund was defined as a grant-issuing entity. In addition, the aforementioned fund is added to the list of grant-receiving entities and it is established that funds transferred to it for the implementation of its statutory goals may be considered grants.

As of today, the legislation does not allow the Georgian Energy Development Fund to receive grants from various donor organizations or to issue grants to other persons.

As we read in the explanatory note to the draft, the Georgian Energy Development Fund, 100% of whose shares are owned by the state, plans to attract grants from various donor organizations in order to implement its statutory goals and, in turn, issue grants with the same purpose to persons specified by the legislation.

Without legislative amendments, under the current legislative regulations, the Fund could neither receive nor issue grants.

Accordingly, under the law adopted by the Parliament, the Fund has the opportunity to benefit from grants received from donor organizations, while other grant recipients specified by the legislation are given the opportunity to receive grants from JSC Georgian Energy Development Fund.