The Minister of Agriculture of Georgia Otar Danelia and the Governor of Samegrelo and Upper Svaneti Region Levan Shonia visited a bay leaf processing plant Laurus in Senaki and familiarized with the working process. The bay leaf processing plant Laurus was financed by the state co-financing under the preferential agro-credit project and has been operating since October 2014. As the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia Otar Danelia stated: Laurus is one of the most successful plants in the bay leaf production. The new plan carries out complete cycle of processing bay leaves. The investment in the amount of USD 250,000 was made in the plant, USD 150,000 of which is the amount of preferential agro-credit. The plant has more than 100 employees. It is important that the establishment of several similar plants is planned in the West Georgia - Stated the Minister. The Governor of Samegrelo and Upper Svaneti Region Levan Shonia stated that the establishment of new enterprises is very important for the employment of the population of the region, and the state support in this area is vital. Bay leaves are one of the demanded products on the international market. We plan to process 200 tons of bay leaves during the season. The products are exported to the Russian Federation. The plant was built with the support of the preferential agro-credit project. In the future we plan to expand the business. Our goal is to produce quality products, - stated the owner of the bay leaf processing plant Laurus, Zaza Jalaghonia. The Agricultural Projects Management Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia started financing of new enterprises and expansion of the existing ones in 2013. More than 600 new enterprises were financed, 147 new enterprises were established and about 10 000 persons were employed under the project. The financial support offered by the state encouraged the entrepreneurs to expand, as a result of which production has been significantly increased in most enterprises.