The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, the Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, has initiated the establishment of small enterprises in villages and employment of rural population.

As stated the Patriarch in his Sunday sermon, the villages are gradually emptied. According to him, more than a half of the rural population went abroad for incomes.

According to His Holiness, the government should think about the rural areas, as the youth leaves the villages and rural areas are almost empty.

Ilia II took the initiative on the allocation of credits by state or a group of entrepreneurs for the construction of small enterprises in rural areas where the local population will be employed. "Suppose a village in which live 100 families. If we give per family 10 thousand GEL, this will represent one million GEL. But we should not give them money, because villagers are not rich people and they will spend the money very quickly. With this money the state or a group of entrepreneurs should build an enterprise or a plant in which it will be possible to create the job-places for whole population of that village. For instance, in the village of Sno of Kazbegi region, where I am from, is a small fishery company", - said the Patriarch.

According to the Catholicos-Patriach, it is also possible to give the rural population the long-term loans and the villagers will be able to repay loans in about ten years.