PDF Version - Georgia Today

June 26 - July 2, 2015
WEEKLY
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Georgia Today 24 p., Travel Today 4 p.
Geor
gian Pr
esident Meets UK
Georgian
President
PM Camer
on and US Sena
tor
Cameron
Senator
McCain a
vakia Conf
er
ence
att Slo
Slov
Confer
erence
ISSUE No.772
Travel
Today
IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE
THE BR
UT
AL
BRUT
UTAL
REV
OL
UTION
REVOL
OLUTION
When Fiction Meets
Reality: Geor
gian
Georgian
Ar
tists R
efused
Artists
Refused
Visas
BUSINESS HEADLINES
Mak
e Your
Make
Business
Look GOOD
on the WEB
P.4
P.11
President Giorgi Margvelashvili addressed top EU and US
representatives on the importance of Georgia’s geopolitical
role and the significance of securing EaP countries.
P.2
FLIGHT SCHEDULE
P.4
Ar
menian
Armenian
Electricity
Pr
otests
Protests
Stir R
ussian
Russian
Concer
ns of
Concerns
another
‘Maidan
‘Maidan’’
Georgia Today meets the
New Collective theatre
group, among 20 groups
chosen from 300 to take part
in the Flare Festival...but
rejected for British visas. P.17
Tbilisi Zoo
Recei
ves Messa
ge
eceiv
Messag
of Conf
idence fr
om
Confidence
from
the EU Associa
tion
Association
of Zoos and
P.15
Aquaria
Georgia Today analyses the
Yerevan protests and the
Kremlin’s response.
P.12
Geor
gian Expor
ts –
Georgian
Exports
Unta
pped P
otential
Untapped
Potential
An in-depth analysis by
Galt&Taggart.
P.6
2
POLITICS
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
U.S
te De
par
tment Commends
.S.. Sta
State
Depar
partment
Geor
gia’
s Ef
ts to Fight Ter
errrorism
Georgia’
gia’s
Efffor
orts
By Steven Jones
The U.S. Department of State has released a report concerning Georgia’s efforts in combating terrorism.
“In 2014, Georgia continued its robust
engagement with the United States across
a range of counterterrorism-related issues
and remained a strong U.S. counterterrorism partner. However, there are continuing concerns about Georgia as a transit and source country for international
terrorism,” the report says.
“Media reported that, as of December,
between 50 and 100 Georgian nationals
from the Muslim-majority regions of
Adjara and the Pankisi Gorge were fighting in Syria and Iraq for either al-Qa’ida
affiliates or the Islamic State in Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL), including senior ISIL
commander Tarkhan Batirashvili (aka
Omar al-Shishani)”. The report reads.
“Given Georgia’s geographic location,
violent Islamist extremists continued to
transit through the country between the
Russian Federation’s North Caucasus and
Syria and Iraq,” it continued.
The U.S. State Department underlined
the continued efforts of Georgia to enhance its counterterrorism legislation in
2014: “In April, the Georgian government amended the Criminal Code to
criminalise participation in international
terrorism, recruitment for membership in
a terrorist organisation, and failing to
hinder a terrorist incident.”
The report also acknowledges
Georgia’s hard work towards strengthening its overall border security, in part due
to its goal to attain visa-free travel to the
EU. “However, Tbilisi’s lack of control
over its Russian-occupied territories of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, harsh terrain, and a continuing tense relationship
with Moscow limited the country’s ability to secure its northern border but with
significant U.S. support, the Georgian
Coast Guard is now better equipped to
patrol the country’s maritime borders,
with the exception of Russian-occupied
Abkhazia’s coastline,” notes the report.
Some regional cooperation between
the neighbouring countries of Georgia
was also mentioned in the report in terms
of sharing cross-border terrorism-related
information with its neighbours Turkey,
Armenia, and Azerbaijan – through police attaches and working-level interaction at border crossings.
As for international cooperation, the
report mentions Georgia’s active engagement on counterterrorism issues at the
international, regional, and bilateral levels, and its participation in regional organisations such as the Council of Europe Convention on the Suppression of
Terrorism and the Organisation of Black
Sea Economic Cooperation, and the
GUAM including Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development.
“In 2014, Georgian law enforcement
officials participated in counterterrorismrelated training and capacity-building
exercises with the Governments of Turkey, the UK, Israel, and Slovakia, as well
as with the George Marshall Center in
Germany, the OSCE, and the UN,” adds
the report.
There were other important aspects
covered in the report such as integration
of different religious and ethnic groups:
“the Muslim-majority Adjara region already enjoys significant autonomy, and
legislation passed in February gives more
autonomy to municipalities and villages,
including in the Muslim-majority Pankisi
Gorge.”
In addition, the Georgian government’s willingness to make amendments to the Criminal Code and other
relevant legislation related to terrorism
(to fully implement UN Security Council Resolution 2178) was emphasised:
“The country would benefit from additional legislation to allow for the creation
of a means to identify and sanction individuals who are not included on UN sanctions list and to improve the Georgian
government’s ability to prosecute terrorism cases.”
Geor
gian Pr
esident Meets UK PM Camer
on and
Georgian
President
Cameron
vakia Conf
er
ence
US Sena
tor McCain a
Senator
att Slo
Slov
Confer
erence
By Steven Jones
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili visited the Slovakian capital
city of Bratislava to participate in the
annual Global Security Forum held on
June 19-21.
President Margvelashvili, during the
visit, held meetings with leaders of European countries, US Senators and participated in the Georgian-Slovak Business Forum.
“We managed to raise the Georgian
issue. World leaders held in-depth discussion about our country’s security
guarantees,” noted the president adding: “We had the opportunity to discuss
security issues with the leaders of
NATO founding countries, such as the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
and the United States Senators. We also
talked to new members of the alliance.”
The Georgian President addressed
participants of the forum at the session
dedicated to security concerns in the
Eastern Partnership countries: “Fluctuation Zone: EU Neighborhood Strategy”.
He focused on the situation in the
occupied territories, the importance of
Georgia’s geopolitical role for Europe
and the significance of security of Eastern Partnership countries for the safety
of Europe, paying special attention to
the threats in the region and Russia’s
neighbourhood policy.
“Russian politicians send a clear
message about their attitude to neighbouring countries. They regard the countries as their “territorial property”
where they are authorised to use military force,” the President noted, adding that such a policy brings nothing
positive to either Russia or the region.
“If there is any tension in Russia’s
neighboring countries, we may think
that it will turn into a big problem,” he
warned.
Margvelashvili also held a bilateral
meeting with the British Prime Minister David Cameron.
According to the Presidential Administration, Cameron expressed his condolences to the people of Georgia affected
by the flood tragedy of June 13.
The Administration also claimed the
sides discussed close political and economic co-operation and perspectives
between the two countries: “The President of Georgia thanked the British PM
for supporting Georgia’s European and
Euro-Atlantic aspirations, the country’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity, as
well as non-recognition of the occupied
territories.”
Cameron is said to have pledged
support in the implementation of the
NATO substantial package and European integration: “The position of the
United Kingdom over inadmissibility
of the so-called “contracts” between the
Russian Federation and the occupation
regimes of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
were emphasized at the meeting.”
As Georgia is the largest non-NATO
member in terms of contribution to the
international peace keeping missions
including Afghanistan, Margvelashvili
and Cameron discussed the security environment in the region and worldwide.
Along with the British PM,
Margvelashvili also met with the US
Senator John McCain attending the
GLOBSEC forum.
Focusing on successful cooperation
within the Georgia-US Charter, issues
of global security and the importance
of Georgia’s participation in NATO-led
coalitions were underlined at the meeting. According to McCain, the United
States appreciates Georgia’s contribution to international missions.
The Georgian President thanked
John McCain for supporting Georgia’s
territorial integrity, sovereignty and
non-recognition policy, as well as its
European and North Atlantic integration process and officially invited him
for the annual Ambassadorial due to be
held in September in Tbilisi.
EU Extends Sanctions a
gainst R
ussia
ag
Russia
The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council decided to extend the economic restrictive measures against Russia by six months on June 22.
“The European Union has extended
economic sanctions against Russia up
to January 31, 2016 with a view to complete implementation of the Minsk
agreement,” said Susanne Kiefer, Press
officer for the Foreign Affairs Council.
The decision was made without discussion and Kiefer announced it before
all 28 EU countries Foreign Ministers
arrived in Luxembourg.
The EU summit adopted a political declaration to extend economic sanctions
against Russia for six months in March this
year, linking the lifting of sanctions with
the compliance of the Minsk agreements
for the period until the end of the year.
Sanctions were first imposed by the
EU against the Russian Federation due
to the events in Ukraine and the reunification of Crimea with Russia on August
1, 2014. Later, the sanctions were expanded. Russia imposed a package of
response sanctions against the U.S.,
Australia, Canada, the European Union
and Norway on August 7, 2014.
Regarding the latest extension,
Dmitry Peskov, Press Spokesman for the
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin,
stated that retaliatory sanctions against
the EU will be made promptly. “It is necessary to carry out some bureaucratic procedures to document those decisions, but
we expect that the elaboration will be
completed very quickly,” noted Peskov.
“Russia was not the initiator, but in
this case of the extension of the sanctions, we will act on a reciprocity principle,” he added. It is expected that the
list of goods to which the embargo will
last remains virtually unchanged.
WikiLeaks R
eveals American Sp
ying on
Re
Spying
h Go
ver
nmental Of
Frenc
ench
Gov
ernmental
Offficials
By Zviad Adzinbaia
HA
VE YOUR HAIR CUT AT OUR SAL
ON
HAVE
SALON
AND GET HAIR DIA
GNOSTIC AS A GIFT!
DIAGNOSTIC
WikiLeaks, the notorious whistleblowing website, on June 23, began publishing “Espionnage Élysée”, a collection
of intelligence reports and technical
documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA) concerning targeting
and signals intelligence intercepts of the
communications of high-level officials
from successive French governments
over the last ten years.
“The top secret documents derive
from directly targeted NSA surveillance
of the communications of French
Presidents Francois Hollande (2012–
present), Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012),
and Jacques Chirac (1995–2007), as well
as French cabinet ministers and the
French Ambassador to the United States,”
says the website. “The documents also
contain the ”selectors” from the target
list, detailing the cell phone numbers of
numerous officials in the Elysee up to and
including the direct cell phone of the
President,” it continues.
According to a media source, this latest ‘leak’ includes a top secret cache of
documents of intelligence, summaries of
conversations between French government officials concerning some of the
most pressing issues facing France and
the international community, the global
financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis, the
leadership and the future of the European
Union.
The relationship between the
Hollande administration and the German
government of Angela Merkel, French
efforts to determine the make-up of the
executive staff of the United Nations,
French involvement in the conflict in
Palestine and a dispute between the
French and US governments over US
spying on France were also leaked.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
said: “The French people have a right to
know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed
ally. We are proud of our work with leading French publishers Liberation and
Mediapart to bring this story to light.
French readers can expect more timely and
important revelations in the near future.”
The website says the recent publication provides much greater insight into
American practices with its allies, including the actual content of intelligence derived from the intercepts, showing that
the US has allegedly been listening in to
the phone calls of French leaders and
ministers for political, economic and diplomatic intelligence.
4
SOCIETY
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
The ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI, www.iset-pi.ge) is an independent think-tank associated with the International School of Economics at TSU (ISET). Our blog carries economic analysis of current events and policies in Georgia and the South Caucasus region ranging from agriculture, to economic
growth, energy, labor markets and the nexus of economics, culture and religion. Thought-provoking and fun to read, our blog posts are written by international faculty teaching at ISET and recent graduates representing the new generation of Georgian, Azerbaijani and Armenian economists.
THE BR
UT
AL REV
OL
UTION
BRUT
UTAL
REVOL
OLUTION
When offered the ISET director job
back in March 2007, I did not think
twice. Everything I’ve read about Georgia until then was incredibly positive.
Livable, hospitable, beautiful, corruption free, etc. etc. The latter part sounded
particularly promising given that during
my last days in Moscow (I lived and
worked in Moscow from 1993 till 2007)
I had my brand new BMW motorbike
stolen in broad daylight by a local police officer (sic!) who knew that I am
about to leave the country and probably
thought that there would be no use for
motorbikes on Georgia’s terrible roads.
(Actually, it was an off-road bike, but
never mind – all he really cared about
was his own impunity).
My first encounter with a Georgian
traffic police (“patroli”) officer lived up
to my (very high) expectations. The guy
spoke English, was polite, professional,
and helpful. He even looked good in his
American-style uniform!
As a matter of fact, in contrast with
everything I knew about the post-Soviet
bureaucracy, “professional, polite and
helpful” applied equally well to every
single representative of the state I had to
deal with in Georgia – the border police,
customs and ministry of education officials.
It all seemed to be too good to be true.
And, indeed, in mid-June, I experienced
my first (slight) disappointment with the
“system” when power supply to our house
was unexpectedly cut. As it turned out, we
missed the payment deadline by about a
day, which was reason enough for the electricity company to disconnect us from the
grid. With no prior notice, on a Friday, with
the temperatures hovering around high
30s, and no ability (or desire) on the part
of the company to restore electricity supply until after the weekend.
The brutality of it all was certainly no
fun. But, as an economist, I was also
puzzled: disconnection should be a
‘weapon of last resort’, not the first step
in dealing with an absent-minded client
who had never before missed a payment.
The electricity company, I thought, could
actually profit from the late-to-pay customers by continuing to sell electricity
while charging penalties and interest rate
to the amount of overdue payments. With
the nuclear “disconnection” option remaining on the table, the client would
have no choice but pay. Maybe late, but
in full.
BRUTALITY EXPLAINED AND
JUSTIFIED
While the fear of missing a payment
deadline remained a source of stress, my
state of bewilderment with Georgia’s brutal enforcement system was greatly
helped by watching Power Trip, a mustsee documentary by Paul Devlin telling
the story of an American company trying – and failing – to resolve the electricity crisis in Tbilisi.
Having bought the city’s bankrupt
state-own distribution system in 2000, the
company invested to the tune of 100mln
USD in new equipment hoping to stabilize electricity supply – marred, until
then, by frequent blackouts. Yet, while
perhaps sensible under normal circumstances, the company’s business plan collapsed for one simple reason: Georgian
customers were not used to pay for electricity, preferring, instead, to steal. And,
crucially, enforcement turned out to be
prohibitively expensive – and politically
impossible – in a context in which citizens have been for years pretending to
be paying for public services that the
(failed) Georgian “state” has been pretending to provide.
Additional reading helped me understand that, until 2003, Georgia had been
trapped in a vicious circle of pretense that
encompassed all aspects of citizen-state
relations. Existing in name only, the
“state” pretended to provide law & order, public infrastructure and utilities,
insurance for health and old-age disability. Georgian “citizens” paid in kind – by
pretending to contribute to health and
social insurance, evading taxes and bribing off “public servants”.
The reality was that anyone living and
trying to do business in Georgia had nobody to rely on other than themselves,
informal social networks and … the
mafia. People did not pay taxes and did
not expect to receive any government
services in return. They learned to provide for all their needs, including security of own life and property, contract
enforcement, heating and electricity.
Breaking out of this vicious circle required no less than a brutal revolution. In
state affairs and in people’s minds.
“DIZZY FROM SUCCESS”?
United by a clear vision and knowing
that the broad popular mandate they have
enjoyed in 2003 will not last forever,
Georgia’s revolutionaries gained their
place in history by taking unprecedented
steps to break the criminal gangs and re-
Tbilisi Public Service Hall, a prominent symbol of Georgia’s reforms
store trust in state institutions.
First, they created an effective repression machine to convict mafia bosses,
gangsters, petty criminals and drug dealers, pushing crime out of Georgia’s borders and bringing the country’s prison
population to world record levels (per
capita). To perform this task, the criminal
justice system was reengineered to presume guilt – not innocence, – subjecting
its victims to lengthy pre-trial detention
periods and masterfully using the plea
bargaining mechanism and pliant courts
to extract confessions and money.
Second, they stripped the Georgian
state of any imaginary functions it pretended to be performing, using massive
layoffs to reduce and renew state bureaucracy (including, famously, the entire the
traffic police force), slashing taxes, regulations and whole agencies in charge of
their “enforcement”.
Third, they created a corruption proof
public administration system reducing the
bureaucrat to a robot undertaking simple
automatic routines with very little room
for discretion or judgment. In stark contrast to the jolly corruption era days, the
greatest challenge for Georgia’s public
institutions (including, alas, state universities) was now to find somebody willing
to take responsibility. With the legal repression system operating in full swing,
applying a signature has become the Georgian bureaucrat’s nightmare.
The brutal strategy of “zero tolerance”
and ruthlessness in the pursuit of freedom
and decency was a key factor in the Rose
Revolution’s success – in just a few years
– to break out of the vicious circle of crime
and corruption. And what a great success
it was! The young Georgian generation –
for instance, ISET students – does not
know how to give or take bribes; their
older siblings and parents are now used to
paying their taxes and bills in full and on
time. No Georgian in his/her own mind
would ever miss a payment. Even the share
of bad loans in Georgia’s banking system
10 Galaktion Street
remains extremely low despite the great
difficulties experienced by Georgian
households (and businesses) in the wake
of Lari devaluation. And then, of course,
there are the smiling and professional
patroli police and street level bureaucrats
that have become symbols of Georgia’s
new statehood.
TAKING BRUTALITY OUT OF
THE SYSTEM
Dizzy from success and global fame,
Georgia’s revolutionaries did not realize,
at least not in time, that the brutal system
they created had to be gradually dismantled, giving way to a more ‘normal’
set of institutions. The result was a painful political defeat in October 2012, public disgrace, forced emigration (and new
political careers!) for some, and prison
terms for others.
Riding to power on a wave of popular protests against legal abuses by the
Saakashvili administration, the Georgian
Dream coalition government quickly
acted to reset Georgia’s brutal justice system. Some of the very first steps it took
included a massive amnesty to reduce
prison population to more ‘normal’ levels, limiting the use of pre-trial detention
and plea bargaining mechanisms by the
prosecution (thus restoring the ‘presumption of innocence’ principle); and, last but
not least, granting greater independence
to the judiciary.
What is being less well understood by
the Georgian policymakers is that the
country’s public administration system
and its ‘spirit’ are also in urgent need of
resetting. So far, suggestions to ‘soften’
the system – by creating greater space for
judgment and tolerating mistakes – have
been rejected for fear of reopening the
door for corruption, tax evasion and/or a
culture of non-payment.
But are such fears really justified in
today’s context?
Given the tremendous and irreversible
cultural change it has gone through since
2003, Georgia can gain from relaxing
many rules and regulations that were a
good fit for the early days of the brutal
revolution. For example, giving customers a few weeks to settle their bills (while
charging penalties and interest rate!) will
not spawn a culture of non-payment as
long as the new rules are clearly communicated and enforced. Moreover, such
‘normalization’ will only do good for
Georgian utility companies (and, most
certainly, their customers). Likewise, allowing bureaucrats to take quality and
providers’ reputation into account when
conducting public tenders will result in
much better procurement decisions without necessarily resulting in favoritism
and/or waste of public funds.
Ironically, when I complained about
excessive rigidity in Georgia’s public procurement system (very low thresholds for
holding tenders, exclusive reliance on
price competitiveness) to Kakha
Bendukidze, a chief architect of Georgia’s
reforms, his characteristically humorous
response was that “our rules were designed
to make it impossible for public institutions and state owned enterprises to function. Everything should go private.”
Whether Kakha was joking or not, excessively rigid public administration rules
are a curse not only for the public sector,
but also for Georgian businesses and
households. One of the main complaints
by the Georgian business community
nowadays is the manner in which businesses are audited by the Georgian Revenue Service. For fear of mistakes (that
would not be tolerated), tax police takes
months to complete an audit, effectively
paralyzing the business in question. Any
findings result in the maximum allowable
penalties. “Look,” a Georgian tax auditor
would typically say, “I know you don’t
owe as much in taxes, but this is what I
have to do. We have a very good tax arbitration system. They should be able to help.
Sorry about that, but in the meantime I
have to freeze your bank account”.
Forcing public institutions to buy the
cheapest services (regardless of their
quality), cutting electricity supply whenever a client is late to pay, and forcing
businesses to go through a lengthy tax
arbitration process (while having their
accounts frozen) are extremely costly and
inefficient ways of conducting public administration. Georgia should be able to
do better. And, thanks to its brutal revolution, it can afford doing so!
Tel: (995 32) 2 45 08 08
E-mail: [email protected]
6
ECONOMY
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
The Galt & Taggart Research team comprises Georgian and Azerbaijani finance and economic experts who have broad experience of covering the macro and corporate sectors of the two
countries. Our current product offering includes Georgian and Azerbaijan macroeconomic research, Georgian sector research, and fixed income corporate research.
For free access to Galt & Taggart Research, please visit gtresearch.ge or contact us at [email protected].
Georgian Expor ts – Untapped Potential
By Eva Bochorishvili
Galt & Taggar t Research is
partnering with Georgia Today on a bimonthly column which will provide
analysis of the latest macroeconomic
developments in the country and its
various business sectors, along with reports on the latest financial results of
Georgian Eurobond issuers. This
week’s topic: the untapped potential of
Georgian exports.
Growth in Georgian merchandise
exports has averaged about 20% over
the past decade, but its share to GDP
has not increased significantly. The
share of services exports to GDP, on
the other hand, has almost doubled,
driven by growth in tourism and transport receipts. While Georgia has experienced impressive growth over the last
decade, with the exception of the years
affected by the global crisis and the
post-election related uncertainty, the
share of exports to GDP remained significantly lower than in peer countries.
During 2005-2013 Georgian goods ex-
port share to GDP averaged 21%, while
the same figure was 75% in the Slovak
Republic, 53% in the Czech Republic,
52% in Lithuania, and 33% in Latvia.
During the same period, imports expanded at a faster rate, especially during the boom years of 2003-2007, fueled by large capital inflows and credit
growth. While Georgian exports increased 4x in nominal terms to US$
2.9bn in 2014 from 2004, employmentgenerating processed product exports
remained secondary, as commodity
structure was dominated by used cars
and resource based metals and minerals. Though there have been significant
changes in Georgian export structure
and diversification of destination markets in recent years, Georgia has not
yet demonstrated success in tapping
international markets, despite remarkable improvements in the business environment, progress in trade
liberalisation, enhancement of trade-related infrastructure and streamlining of
customs procedures since 2004.
RE-EXPORTS VS. GEORGIA
ORIGINATED EXPORTS
To understand Georgian export performance, it is essential to decompose
the export commodity structure. Over
the past decade, used car exports to
neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia
(as well as Kazakhstan until 2012)
made up a considerable part of Georgian exports. Re-exports, dominated by
used cars, increased 18 times to US$
1.1bn in 2013 from 2004 and their share
picked up from about 10% in 2004 to
almost 40% of total exports. In the same
period, exports originated in Georgia
increased just threefold to US$ 1.8bn.
In 2012-2013 re-export growth considerably overtook Georgia originated export growth, despite the reopening of
the Russian market in 2013. Yet the
1.6% y/y drop in Georgia’s exports in
2014 was solely attributed to a decline
in re-exports (as Azerbaijan introduced
restrictions on used car imports in April
2014), as Georgia originated export
growth slowed but remained positive.
The re-exported used cars are imported
from various countries and minor repairs are performed in Georgia. Such
renovation activities, as well as the
transport and logistics for these goods,
do create some local value added. Such
value creation was made possible by
the implemented reforms, which helped
Georgia become a regional marketplace
for cars. While recent regional economic troubles significantly weighed
on car re-exports, Georgia’s functional
hub economy, with developed logistics
and transport infrastructure, has helped
shore up opportunities for new re-export commodities, like copper and
pharmaceuticals, since 2013. Though
re-exports of used cars decreased 63%
y/y, re-exports of copper and pharmaceuticals increased 19% y/y and 297%
y/y, respectively, in 4M15. Given these
trends, it is likely that re-exports will
continue to fuel Georgia’s export
growth and government policies should
be aimed at further enhancing the platform for current and potential trade
partners.
THE RUSSIAN MARKET
Another big change in Georgian exports has been a reorientation from the
Russian market after the 2006 embargo,
which caused the share of exports to
Russia in total exports to decrease from
18% in 2005 to 8% in 2006 and 2% in
2008-2012. The embargo forced Georgian producers to redirect exports to
other CIS countries, the EU, and the
Middle East. Exports to Russia picked
up in 2013 as Russia opened its borders to Georgian products, but accounted for only 6 percentage points
in the 22% total export growth in 2013.
Even without Russia, Georgian exports
have more than tripled since 2005 to
US$ 2.9bn in 2013. With the recent
economic turbulence in Russia, the exposure to the Russian market (wine,
mineral water and agricultural products) is once again receding. In 5M15,
Russia’s share in total Georgian exports
went down by 2.8 percentage points to
6.4%, compared to the same period last
year.
EXPORTS TO THE EU AND
OTHER COUNTRIES
Exports to the European Union and
Turkey offer significant upside potential. The share of Georgian exports to
the EU in total exports has remained
relatively flat at about 20% over the
past decade. This low share suggests
that the EU market is untapped and the
free trade agreement, which went into
effect in September 2014, will support
export growth. A study by the EU suggests that the DCFTA may increase
Georgian exports 9-12%. 5M15 trade
outcomes indicate that the EU market
for Georgia’s products remained stable
compared to the CIS markets. The share
of exports to Turkey decreased to 8.4%
in 2014 from 18.3% in 2004, indicating that Georgia has the potential to
increase export flows to its immediate
neighbour as well. The share of Georgian exports going to USA, China and
Canada has increased moderately over
the past decade and, as shares are still
low, there is further room for expansion.
GOING FORWARD
Looking at Georgia’s export performance, a key question is how to take
advantage of global markets and expand exports. First, the trade enhancing reforms to be implemented under
the EU DCFTA can be particularly important for producing high quality products and increasing Georgian exports.
Second, attracting FDI in export generating sectors is vital, as Georgia lacks
capital and knowledge to produce and
export more sophisticated commodities. To that end, continued improvement of the business environment and
the economy’s competitiveness is essential. Policy makers have to be extremely cautious when considering new
regulations on the business sector with
potentially harmful effects. In this regard, the 2014 tightening of visa rules
provides a positive example, as the government acknowledged its mistake and
reversed course through the latest
amendment. Third, it is essential to
stick to the floating exchange rate regime. Letting the Lari depreciate
against the dollar starting from November 2014 allowed the exchange rate to
absorb most of the shocks and relieve
velopment in the country. Our expertise is leveraged through Galt &
Taggart’s 5 core activities: investment
banking, asset management, wealth
management, brokerage, and research.
We are committed to the pursuit of
our clients’ best interests and approach
every transaction with the aim of securing them the best possible outcome.
pressures on the real economy. The
depreciation prevented exports from
becoming too expensive, as Georgia’s
trading partners’ currencies experienced sizable depreciation as well. The
resulting depreciation of the real effective exchange rate may even encourage Georgian producers to compete
with imports and the ensuing profitability could encourage the production of
new export goods.
Our regional focus allows us to provide
in-depth services and insightful solutions to our domestic and international
clients. Our team consists of over 20
talented professionals with extensive
experience in the industry, while our
senior professionals are exclusively
dedicated to each client.
Galt & Taggart is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Bank of Georgia which
has a unique insight into the regional
market and a solid international investor base. With its institutional backing,
Galt & Taggart is well positioned to
assist investors in exploring investment
opportunities and to offer local and regional companies greater access to both
equity and debt capital markets.
—
Galt & Taggart has established itself as the leading investment banking
and investment management services
company in Georgia. The company is
at the forefront of capital markets de-
8
SOCIETY
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
Disaster Risk Reduction
By Katie Ruth Davies
While many Tbilisians and Akhaldabans dealt with the reality of the recent
landslide and flood close-at-hand, I was
forced to watch the events happen via
social media from a seminar in Batumi.
I, like many of my colleagues there,
worried about family and friends and
spent the best part of Sunday with one
ear, one eye and most fingers on my
mobile as I checked regularly on my kids
and husband and also organized journalists to keep you, Dear Readers, up-todate with the latest news.
My other ear and eye were very appropriately placed, as the theme of the
one-day seminar, run by the Arbeiter
Samariter Bund (ASB) in Georgia was
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
The DRR training was, this time, for
awareness-raising amongst media representatives from Georgian television, radio and print media. However, the usual
training is focused on the younger generation with ASB currently having provided training and training materials
(flashcards, speakerphones, hardhats
and other equipment) to 344 kindergartens in four regions of Georgia at highrisk from natural disasters (SvanetiSamegrelo, Adjara, Samtshke-Javaheti
and Tbilisi). One of these kindergartens
is Khobi Kindergarten No.2, to which
my colleagues and I were taken to watch
the well-trained children show us how
they would react during an earthquake,
one of a number of natural disaster types
that can befall Georgia throughout the
typical year.
According to statistical analysis of
2005-2012, on average:
· 20-25 cases of flooding are registered each year in Georgia.
· A serious storm happens 5-8 times
a year.
· 15-20 cases of landslides are registered annually.
There are 50,000 landslide-prone areas identified in Georgia. The danger
zones include up to 2000 settled locations with more than 200,000 dwellers.
The total area of land damaged by landslides exceeds 1.5 million hectares.
Teona Julukhadze, ASB Disaster Risk
Reduction Program Coordinator: We set
am very satisfied with the training. The
children have learnt it well, thanks to
ASB and the work of the care-givers
here. It is highly necessary and important knowledge which they will carry
for the rest of their lives.
up this project in May 2014 and the
first phase is due to end in December
this year. Our project is principally focused on kindergarten readiness in the
face of natural disasters. We give trainings in first aid and DRR to care-givers
and teachers who then adapt the materials and pass the knowledge on to the
children. We created flashcards to guide
them. As part of the project in each kindergarten we created committees who
will ensure the safety of the kindergartens after the ASB project finishes. We
ran this weekend’s one day seminar on
DRR, and got the children of Khobi kindergarten to demonstrate an earthquake
and fire simulation, in order to increase
the spread of awareness through the
media representatives who attended.
Children learn best through play, and
the kindergarten teachers seemed to have
this idea clearly in their minds. Using
ASB flashcards and other material as the
basis of their teaching, they are free to
adapt to suit the purpose- with games,
songs and puppets.
Nargiza Tugushi, Director of the
Number Two Kindergarten of Khobi: I
Stronger Clinical Governance for Better Maternal
Health Outcomes: Beyond the Numbers
On June 23rd – 25th, UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and
Central Asia (EECARO) in close cooperation with the Ministry of Labour,
Health and Social Affairs of Georgia
holds the Sub-Regional Workshop for
the South Caucasus and Turkey Cluster: Stronger Clinical governance for
Better Maternal Health Outcomes:
Beyond the Numbers.
The workshop gathered the representatives of Ministries of Health, the
health care planners and managers,
health professionals and Representatives of professional societies from
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey UNFPA Country offices’ staff and
the representatives from the UNFPA
Regional office.
The major objectives of the workshop are to introduce the World Health
Organization (WHO) Beyond the
Numbers (BTN) tools and methodology, to share experiences among countries with different levels of knowledge and introduction of BTN approaches, and to elaborate the detailed
action plan for BtN implementation.
It’s worth mentioning that WHO/UNFPA has assisted introduction of this
approach in 14 European countries,
and has significantly contributed to the
creation a surveillance system to re-
UNFPA sub-regional workshop for the South Caucasus and Turkey, "Stronger Clinical
governance for Better Maternal Health Outcomes: Beyond the Numbers."
view maternal deaths and complications,
for systemic improvements and
strengthening of maternal and perinatal
care.
Maternal and newborn health is one
of the most significant indicators of a
state’s welfare and public health care.
Despite the progress achieved in the last
decade in Georgia, the maternal mortality rate still remains one of the highest in
Europe. Taking into consideration the
national priorities, and also for ensuring
sustainable development of the health
care system, it is of the utmost signifi-
cance to elaborate/adapt, implement and
monitor audit methodology for maternal mortality and morbidity.
Notably, the majority of mortality
cases can be averted with proper medical intervention. WHO innovative methodology - ‘Expanding Beyond the Numbers: maternal mortality and morbidity
case reviews envisages introducing clinical audit as a tool for quality monitoring and timely detection of pregnancy
related risks to ensure safe motherhood
in Georgia and other countries in the region.
QUICK DRR FACTS - WHAT YOU
NEED TO KNOW
Landslide
Rule #1- Get away fast! Run on foot
at a right angle to the oncoming flow (do
not stay in its path trying to outrun ityou most likely won’t be able to)!
Avalanche
Rule #1- Get down! If you’re in a
building, get in a corner, up-end a table in
front of you, crouch down, cover your
head and be ready for the impact. If you’re
in the open, turn your back to the oncoming snow and curl into an embryo
position. Let the avalanche roll you. If
you then find yourself buried and don’t
know which way is up, spit. The water
will fall thanks to gravity and you’ll know
which way to start digging your way out!
Flood
Rule #1- Get out, get high! If you get
an advance flood warning, turn off the
electrics and gas and move as much as
you can (TVs, rugs, valuables) onto upper floors. Put sandbags in front of your
house to limit or prevent water impact.
If you have no warning, forget the valuables, get on the roof and call the emergency services (112), then wait.
Fire
Rule #1- Get down, wait for the emergency services (112)! There’s more oxygen close to the floor so if the room is
filling with smoke, get down on your
hands and knees. If you can cover your
mouth and nose with a damp cloth, even
better. If the fire is outside the door, do
not open the door. Try to fill the space
under the door with (damp) cloth to limit
the smoke coming in. Go to the window
and, if you know the emergency services (112) are coming, wait. Do not open
the window unless you are uncertain
whether the emergency services (112)
are coming as the in-rush of air can cause
the fire to increase. If you are higher up
than the third floor, you should not try
to jump. If you have no other choice and
are three floors up or lower, tie cloth
together to make a rope and try to get
out safely however you can- this should
be your last option, however!
Earthquake
Rule #1- Get undercover, cover your
head! Typical earth tremors last mere
seconds, which doesn’t leave much time
to react. Most of the people at the seminar with me followed their base instinct
and ran for the door at the first simulated tremor. DO NOT RUN! If you are
inside, get immediately under the nearest table or bed and cover your headyour head and spine should be under
cover. Once the initial tremors have
passed you may have a 6-7 minute window with which to move. If you know
that outside your building is a big open
space and you can make it there within
this 6-7 minute timeframe, cover your
head with your handbag or a cushion (or
any other thick object) and walk quickly and calmly out of the building and
move as far away from the building as
possible. If not (such as when you are
higher up than three floors), stay put
under that table or bed until you are sure
the earthquake risk has passed.
Emergency Bag
Rule #1- Keep it close! An emergency bag should typically contain:
· A first aid kit (ready prepared, such
as those you can buy at a pharmacy in a
small zip-case)
· Water (half a litre or more)
· Dry food, such as crackers (keep an
eye on the expiry date and replace as
necessary)
· Torch and batteries
· Whistle, for attracting attention
more easily than shouting
· Rope
· Small portable radio and batteriesfor keeping up-to-date on rescue operations
Singing with smiling, unafraid faces,
the children of Khobi kindergarten No.2
showed their audience how they will
handle the next earthquake: calmly and
orderly and with every care not just for
themselves, but for those around them.
The message of their song as they descended into the playground with cushions held over their heads: Prevention,
protection, and help each other! It was
an example to us all.
Tap w
ater in Tbilisi-saf
e or not?
wa
Tbilisi-safe
By Nino Melikishvili
After it became known that existing
sewage pipelines into the River Vere (location of the June 13 tragedy) had been
damaged by the flood, people in Tbilisi
started to ask for information about the
safety of their tap water.
Georgian Water and Power (GWP)
confirmed that the local tap water is safe
and reassured people that there is no
reason to panic. GWP once again reminded people that Tbilisi is supplied
with drinking water from the Aragvi
Gorge; water provided for Tbilisi citizens is not connected to the River Vere
in any way. GWP also confirmed that a
wastewater discharge in the Vere river
had been agreed to by both local and
central government.
“The tap water is absolutely cleanyou are not getting water from the River
Vere,” said Omar Gotsiridze, Techni-
cal Director of GWP.
GWP is carrying out double chlorination of water for prophylactic purposes. GWP also announced on their
website that they are going to build a
temporary mini-purification device,
through which sewage entering the Vere
river will be eliminated.
Later, the question was raised as to
whether or not the central government
and Tbilisi City Hall were informed
about the polluted water, considering the
fact that hundreds of volunteers are
working in this area. As it turned out,
neither the volunteers nor the ministers
knew about this fact.
According to GWP, sewage discharge
does not occur in the vicinity where the
volunteers were working.
Officials say that once the cleanup
efforts are completed, the original sewage collector will be
fully restored. Reconstruction of the damaged roads
and sewage system
will take 30 days.
10
SOCIETY
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
Believe’s Annual Charity Gala
Raises over GEL 100,000
On June 20th the business community of Poti and those who support the
region came together to support Believe’s annual Charity Gala event and
help children with special needs as well
as socially vulnerable families. The special one-night benefit gala took place
at 7pm at the newly opened Hilton Batumi Hotel, located at 40, Rustaveli
Street, Batumi, Georgia.
The foundation raised over GEL
100,000 and the event was a great
success. Funds raised will support the
organisation’s mission of supporting
socially vulnerable families and children
with special needs. BELIEVE Foundation is a non-profit, non-political
organization which provides aid and
support to children with disabilities in
Poti, Georgia.
The event gathered more than 200
participants from various local and international companies and included: dinner by Ioannis Kritikos - the chef of
Hilton Batumi, refreshments generously donated by Coca Cola Bottling Company Georgia and ice-cream donated by
Barambo. The guests also enjoyed a delicious cake from Torti Gerotskoy, the
well-known Tbilisi-based baker.
The evening featured a live performance by The Fourth Season and our
special guest was the incredible singer
Vaja Mania who performed for the benefit of the Believe Foundation.
Our sincere thanks go to each and
every one of those who donated and
supported the event:
Gold Sponsor: Bank of Georgia,
PACE Georgia, Kulevi Oil Terminal
Silver Sponsor: MSC Georgia, SATNO Company
Bronze sponsor: Barwil Georgia,
Rostovi Georgian Community
Corporate Table Sponsors: Hilton
Batumi, Gvinadze & Partners, CMA
CGM, Caucasus Metal Terminal, Georgian Service Group, Aldagi BCI, GPI
Holding.
The night also included raffles sponsored by: Hilton Batumi, Radisson Batumi, Georgia Palace Hotel, KARACA
Georgia, Divine Beauty House, Cruise
Hotel & Restaurant, Sheraton Batumi,
Tako Dvalishvili, Barambo, Medi Call,
Kikidu and others.
In conjunction with the Gala, Believe
Foundation also hosted a live auction of
various artworks, donated by prominent
Georgian and foreign artists, supporters, and patrons to help the charity continue its work supporting children with
disabilities and socially vulnerable families in Poti. Auctioneer-extraordinaire
Mr. Cliff Isaak, Honorary Consul of
Canada in Georgia, conducted the Charity Auction.
Auction artworks, jewelry and sports
memorabilia were donated by: Nino
Chakvetadze, Zaza Pachulia, Gigisha
Pachkoria, Tamar Gugunava, Sopho
Gongliashvili, Gia Baratashvili, Nadiya
Spiller, Tornike Matitaishvili, Grigol
Ghvania, Kakhaber Baramia, Badri Vadachkoria, Guranda Kupreishvili, Irakli
Kekelia, Irakli Totibadze, Nonna Nazarova, Sarah Watterson, Amiran Kuprava and Zarapxana Jewelry.
Believe Foundation proudly acknowledges its major sponsors: Bank of
Georgia, Kulevi Oil Terminal and
PACE Georgia.
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
TBC Bank
Obtains USD
10 Million Loan
from BSTDB
P.13
Business
Innovation Laboratory
to be Established
in Georgia
Signing ceremony to create Innovative Laboratory.
With the objective of giving practical knowledge to youngsters, the Innovation and Technology Agency, Vladimir Komarov Physics and Mathematics Public School and Potters Digital Agency
has signed a memorandum to create an innovation
laboratory in Georgia.
According to the parties, youngsters who will
attend the laboratory, will gain sufficient knowledge to work in highly paid positions after graduating from school or even start their own high-tech
businesses.
The Innovation Lab entails collaboration between the company and educational institutions.
Equipped with the latest technologies, the lab enables students to create and develop innovative
projects such as innovative mobile applications,
smart watches and software for other accessories.
In addition, the laboratory will host workshops,
master classes, trainings and youth competitions.
Two New
Destinations for
Georgian Airways
Georgian Airways, formerly known as Airzena,
has launched two new flight routes to Yerevan and
Odessa, reports the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.
Flights to Yerevan are scheduled to start from
June 29 four times a week, while Odessa will be
served once a week from July 1.
Established in September 1994 as Airzena, the
company has been operating business and charter
flights for over 20 years, while scheduled passenger services were added three years later. In 1999,
Airzena merged with Air Georgia and formed Airzena Georgian Airlines, while in 2004 it adopted its
current name.
From April 2013, Georgian Airways has had
code share agreements with Austrian Airlines for
flights via Vienna and KLM for flights via Amsterdam.
Currently, the company offers flights to Moscow, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg, Samara, Vladikavkaz and Novosibirsk,
together with domestic flights to Batumi and Kutaisi.
P.13
Make Your Business
Look GOOD on the WEB
GoodWeb designs.
By Beqa Kirtava
Georgian Airways now flies to Yerevan and Odessa
$7.4 million
In
vestment
Inv
Ca
pital ffor
or
Capital
SP
AR Geor
gia
SPAR
Georgia
If you are reading this article in the newspaper,
we can almost guarantee that in about 25 years you
won’t be. A couple of decades from now you’ll
probably have forgotten what it feels like to flick
through pages, as you’ll be scrolling down the articles of Georgia Today on your e-reader, while trying to get rid of the flashy advertisements and “subscribe to us” pop-ups. Why? Because businesses
are becoming digital, or more specifically, the world
is becoming digital. Therefore, the importance of
looking great on the web cannot be exaggerated.
Unfortunately, even today, having a state-of-theart website in Georgia is associated with significant wealth. That said, a company named GoodWeb is here to shatter that anecdata and turn your
business into a digital tour de force.
Continued on p.12
12
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
BUSINESS
Make Your Business Look GOOD on the WEB
Continued from p.11
To talk about the enterprise, its
aims and future plans, Georgia
Today exclusively interviewed
GoodWeb’s Director of Sales and
Marketing, Sergo Avsajanishvili.
Q: Firstly, please give our
readers some general information about the company. How
did the idea of creating GoodWeb emerge?
A: GoodWeb is an internet
marketing company, which strives
to effectively create and develop
websites, while also solving numerous PR-related issues, using
every single internet marketing
method available.
Our company’s strategic development of complex promotion
aims in three major directions:
* Sales increase
* Business reputation boost
* Brand popularization
It’s common knowledge that
businesses which have their own
websites boast constantly increasing sales figures and, more importantly, are accessible to their clients 24/7.
According to numerous studies, mostly large-scale Georgian
businesses are well-represented on
the World Wide Web. Reasons
why small and middle sized enterprises tend to avoid going digital varies, however, there are several distinguishable factors:
· Price – developing a personal
website usually costs over 1000
GEL;
· Time – the design and development process is very time-consuming;
· Lack of IT knowledge, which is
crucial for correct planning of both
website functionality and technical aims;
· Not quite hassle-free administra-
Sergo Avsajanishvili, GoodWeb
Director of Sales and Marketing
tive panels that are often offered
for use.
This is exactly how the idea of
creating GoodWeb emerged; aspiring to support small and middle sized businesses, boost their
status and solve their economic
issues.
Q: Please give us a quick
overview of the services GoodWeb offers its clients.
A: Firstly, it has to be noted that
our clients are provided with a full
array of web services. We are able
to bring any business into the digital world in the shortest amount
of time possible, as we value our
clients’ time very much.
We provide:
* A professional website in 1 day
* Design/Change of design
* Corporate email service
* Unlimited traffic
* Mobile and tablet versions of the
webpage
* Free sub domain (yourname.gweb.ge)
* SEO (search engine optimization)
* Technical support
* Software support
* Web hosting
Q: Do you only provide websites for small and middle sized
businesses or do you also work
with large corporations? If you
do, how do you adjust your ser-
vices to their needs?
A: We tailor our services to the
needs of any type of customer.
However, because of the existing
situation, we mostly aim to support small and middle-sized businesses.
Each and every one of our clients is provided with individual
manager service, which enables us
to approach issues from the right
angle and modify our offers so that
they meet customers’ expectations. The consumer chooses one
of the existing webpage designs
and then our team performs the
initial setup, after which the aforementioned person is able to make
any type of alteration, including
design change, content modification and editing/adding photo-video material.
Q: What would you say your
main advantage is over the competition?
A: Today there are quite a lot
of web developing companies on
the Georgian market, but GoodWeb stands out from the crowd
with its flexibility and exquisite
service. Our company doesn’t provide businesses with just the initial setup of websites; we offer a
full range of services which includes every important aspect of
internet marketing. Our three main
features which set GoodWeb apart
from the competition are:
* Time
* Price
* Quality
Furthermore, all our clients are
automatically rendered with the
latest upgrades that our packages
undergo. For instance, research
has shown that 85% of internet
users often access the web from
their smartphones and tablets, thus
we have added mobile and tabletcompatibility features to our ex-
isting service packages and those
users who became our clients before the aforementioned update
happened were nonetheless provided with mobile and tablet
friendly websites.
Q: Lately, issues regarding
cyber-security have become increasingly buzz worthy in Georgia. Do you ensure that the websites of your clients are protected?
A: Absolutely. We ensure maximum safety of our clients’ websites. We provide both hardware
and software security systems as
well as server protection.
The hardware section includes
a special firewall and high-quality monitoring system, which helps
us to quickly and effectively assess critical situations and keep an
eye on the traffic flow. Moreover,
our servers are constantly scanned,
monitored and updated, which
ensures further credibility and enables our team to instantly fix any
shortcomings. As for the program
code, it is written to provide topmost security and productivity. All
the updates are also thoroughly
tested to avoid any drawbacks.
Q: Lastly, what are your future plans? What new services
will GoodWeb offer in the near
future?
A: Our main goal is to help
every single business in Georgia
to take their work to a whole new
level and, with GoodWeb’s services, make it accessible, distinguishable and inimitable.
We plan to make our service
even more large-scale and provide
our customers with new packages, upgrades and offers. We aim
to please our consumers as much
as we can and will instantly provide them with any interesting
news regarding new projects.
OP-ED
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Sympatia
4, V. Daraselia Str.
Tbilisi, Georgia
Hotel’s network
“Sympatia”
Tel: (995 32) 2 99 55 88, 2 37 05 90
Tel./Fax: (995 32) 2 37 62 63
www.sympatia.ge
E-mail: [email protected]
Car Rent
Tel: 599 16 16 70
from 35 euro
Nissan pathfinder –
2004, 4X4, AT
per day
Tours to all directions of Georgia
(with driver and
Guide) for 4 person from 40 euro.
Armenian Electricity Protests Stir
Russian Concerns of another ‘Maidan’
By Zaza Jgharkava
A wave of protests are sweeping across Georgia’s neighbour Armenia. Unlike Georgia, where protest rallies are part of political life,
this has been a surprising development in its southern neighbour.
This is why photos of protests in
Armenia that had spread a few
days ago was like a thunder in a
clear sky. In the capital Yerevan
and the city of Gyumri, people
protested against the increase of
electricity prices. Despite the social nature of the protests, every
observer agrees that the protest
goes beyond social issues and rally participants on Freedom Square
in Yerevan are actually protesting
against political injustice more
than social injustice.
Based on short news pieces
coming from the capital of Armenia, policemen are not vehemently opposed to the demands of the
rally participants which could create fertile ground for expansion of
the protests. Whether we are on the
verge of a serious crisis is not clear.
Regular citizens in Armenia pose
the question of how beneficial it
is for them to be under Russia’s
influence when fuel, gas and electricity, the biggest exporter of
which in the region is Russia, is
still expensive. Ultimately, they
are worried about the extent to
which they rely on Russia. The
growth of such opinion is visible
in the Armenian online media
where speculation has mounted
about a potential repeat of Kyiv’s
Maidan. Stepan Grigoryan, head
of the Globalisation and Regional
Research Center, believes that if
the Sargsyan government does not
concede, it will be confronted Armenian ‘Maidan’.
“The experience of post-Soviet space countries shows that it is
very hard to change the government through elections. It is good
that in Georgia it took place. The
fact is that in post-Soviet countries
the governments do not change if
serious changes do not occur. I repeat, if the government has made
mistakes in relations with the
youth and the society as a whole,
I do not exclude Armenian Maidan similar to the Ukrainian Maidan. I do not agree with President
Putin in many things, including
issues of Ukraine and Georgia. But
now I say – good job! It gave a
good lesson to Armenians. If the
government is naïve and not developed enough, it seems that it is
even necessary to give them such
lessons. Armenians believed Moscow like silly ones and joined the
Eurasian Union. I say this with
pain. Recent events made me certain that the old political elite of
Armenia should be replaced with
the new one. The new generation
is coming that will definitely
change it,” Grigoryan told Interpressnews.
The Kremlin responded to the
protest rallies in Yerevan with
press secretary of President Putin,
Dmitry Peskov stating that the
Russian government did not wish
to speculate with Yerevan. “We are
not making forecasts,” was the
brief response of the main voice
of President Putin. However, Peskov pointed out the wishes of the
Kremlin for the Armenian people.
“We wish the brother Armenian
nation peace and quick resolution
of the existing disagreement. We
hope that all questions will be answered according to the laws of
Armenia,” Peskov said.
The protest is also related to
Armenia’s integration into the
Eurasian Union. This is clear to
any observer. Even before joining
the Union, the political establishment of Armenia demanded that
Moscow resolve the issue of transport corridors with Armenia’s
neighbors to ensure minimisation
of tariff policies. During the entire period before Moscow tried to
drag Yerevan to the Union, Armenia’s government kept setting the
precondition to Moscow that if it
wanted Armenia to join the Customs Union, Moscow should at
least ensure open communications
between Armenia and Russia and
restore the railway link to transport Armenian cargoes to Russia
and vice versa.
Back then, Armenian Security
Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan, when speaking about the
possible railway revival had unwittingly also raised the issue of
the railway in Abkhazia. Special
representative of the Georgian
Prime Minister in negotiations
with Russia Zurab Abashidze has
pointed out several times that he
has been discussing this issue with
his colleague Karasin.
The date of the next meeting
of Karasin and Abashidze is approaching and the Russian side
says the talks in Prague will touch
upon the restoration of the railway
route between Tbilisi and Sokhumi and it will be interesting to see
just how much events in Yerevan
between now and then will impact
on the talks.
Mercedes-Benz Viano – 2004
Toyota RAV 4 – 2000,
4X4, AT
BUSINESS
TBC Bank Obtains USD 10 Million
Loan from BSTDB
TBC Bank and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) have signed a USD 10
million loan agreement. This transaction represents the renewal of the small and medium-sized
enterprises (SME) financing agreement between
the organizations first signed in 2003. The three
year facility will be dedicated to financing SMEs
in Georgia.
“We are pleased to continue our successful
relationship with BSTDB, TBC Bank’s longstanding partner. The renewed SME loan will allow us to continue financing our clients’ small and
medium businesses, one of the most important
and fast expanding sectors in the country,” commented Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, Chief Executive
Officer of TBC Bank.
“We are pleased to enhance our partnership
with TBC Bank, which has already lasted for
twelve years. This third SME loan agreement demonstrates BSTDB’s consistent support for the
Georgian economy and its banking sector. Facili-
tating small business development as a backbone
of the market economy will remain our strategic
priority in Georgia and other countries of the Black
Sea region in the years to come”, said Ihsan Ugur
Delikanli, BSTDB President.
About the Black Sea Trade and Development
Bank (BSTDB)
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank
(BSTDB) is an international financial institution
established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports
economic development and regional cooperation
by providing loans, credit lines, equity
and guarantees for projects and trade financing in
the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR
3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by
Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s. For
information on BSTDB, visit www.bstdb.org.
Students Prospering from USAID/
REAP Inter
nship Pr
ogam
Internship
Pro
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
13
$7.4 million Investment
Capital for SPAR Georgia
By Nino Melikishvili
Dutch Development Bank FMO and official licensee of global retail brand SPAR in Georgia signed
an investment agreement for $7.4 million capital
financing which is to be allocated towards development of SPAR Georgia, rebranding, and opening
new stores.
SPAR is a Dutch multinational retail chain and
franchise with approximately 12,500 stores in 35
countries around the world, including Georgia. It
was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 and since
then has become one of the world’s largest retail
chain.
On the 19th of June, the new development
project was signed by Giorgi Chubinishvili, Managing Director of SPAR Georgia, and Joritt Dingemans, Senior Investment Officer of FMO.
“This investment by FMO will improve our
ability to fulfill an obligation given to SPAR International with regards to opening 40 new stores within the next two years,” said Chubinishvili.
FMO has been investing in the private sector in
developing countries and emerging markets for more
than 45 years with the intention of supporting sustainable private sector development. It offers capital and knowledge to companies, projects and fi-
nancial institutions.
“We are very proud to know that SPAR Georgia
had chosen a strong and effective path to progress
on the retail market. This consequently led to us
attracting an authoritative institute, such as the
Dutch Development Bank,” Chubinishvili concluded with pride.
Gr
eek Air
line Ellinair Opens
Greek
Airline
Tbilisi to Thessaloniki R
oute
Route
On June 30, Greek airline company Ellinair
will set off on its first flight from Tbilisi International Airport on route to Thessaloniki. Direct
flights from Thessaloniki to Tbilisi will be available once a week on Tuesdays on a Avro-RJ85
aircraft.
Ellinair was founded in 2013 and currently
flies to 30 different destinations.
Students from universities in REAP’s Tbilisi, Telavi, and Kutaisi offices.
By Zviad Adzinbaia
“Agriculture is changing, and with it, a revised
set of skills is needed to address new challenges and
stimulate its development,” believes USAID’s Restoring Efficiency in Agricultural Production
(REAP) program.
USAID’s REAP operates a robust internship
program to engage students and provide them with
practical learning experiences.
REAP has provided a 6-month internship opportunity to 34 students from 11 universities in
REAP’s Tbilisi, Telavi, and Kutaisi offices. The
interns have been involved in a variety of REAP
program areas and have had the opportunity to
directly interact with businesses and act as consultants under close mentorship of REAP specialists.
CNFA, local consulting companies, and the public
sector have employed some of these students, while
others have pursued their graduate studies.
Another important area of REAP’s internship
program is improving students’ and agriculture faculties’ awareness of modern agricultural technologies through their participation in REAP- arranged
field days and practical training sessions led by
highly qualified local and international practitioners. 75 students from the Agricultural University,
Georgian Technical University, ISET, and VET
Opizari attended these events and were able to observe in practice what they learned in classrooms.
“Through my six months working at REAP, I
have gained valuable experience that helped me be
selected for an exchange program at the University
of Lodz, Poland,” said Levan Kurdadze, a Caucasus International University student.
“We can be taught theory all day long, but it is
putting that theory into practice that fuels creative
thinking and new ideas... Thanks REAP,” said Mariam Mtsituridze, former REAP intern, Tartu Uni-
versity graduate, who is currently employed by
MES Training Center.
REAP has closely cooperated with Akaki
Tsereteli Kutaisi State University and Shota
Rustaveli Batumi State University to help educators align the curriculum with business needs in
their agrarian undergraduate programs. REAP provided these universities with technical training manuals in Georgian and trained university professors
to teach postharvest handling and refrigeration
courses. These courses are being offered to more
than 500 students.
The project assists industry-university partnerships by facilitating agreements between its grant
recipients and academia. These have been signed with
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and 3
grantee enterprises to enable students to get on-thejob training and participate in real-life research.
“Thanks to REAP I have an opportunity to do
research for my undergraduate thesis at CAMPA,”
stated Nino Bukhraidze of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi
State University
The USAID-supported REAP program is an
integrated enterprise development designed to increase incomes and rural employment by launching
successful agribusinesses and promoting increased
investment in Georgia’s agriculture sector. REAP’s
investment has been in four priority directions: farm
service centers, primary producers, postharvest and
processing facilities, and information service providers. REAP supports all investments with technical assistance to improve their business and technical skills that lead to increased sales, enhanced
competitiveness, and ultimately improved sustainability.
REAP’s leadership says the organization will
continue its efforts to integrate more young people
in to the labor market and give them new professional opportunities as they leave university.
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14
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
BUSINESS
Escape the Heat at the
Krtsanisi Residence Pool
The Krtsanisi Residence swimming
pool was first opened in 2011. The 21
metre-long pool sits in a unique environment in which to pleasantly spend
those hot summer days without having
to leave the city.
Next to the pool you will find a bar
serving a variety of delicious dishes and
alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
The high quality service, special microclimate and clean fresh air combine to
offer you an opportunity that you will
find nowhere else in Tbilisi.
The depth of the pool is 1.30 - 1.90
metres, length 21 metres and width 7 m.
Working hours:
Monday-Friday 9:00-19:00
Weekends 9:00-17:00
A corporate discount is available for
a minimum of 10 users and includes
towels, poolside loungers and use of the
gym facilities. A gym instructor costs 20
GEL per session or 100 GEL for a month
of sessions (weekdays only).
Aqua-aerobics classes are also available 45 minutes five times a week
(weekdays) from 10am. Cost per month:
150 GEL.
After working hours, the pool area
is available for both private and corporate events.
You can find the pool at Krtsanisi 49,
in the former governmental residence
area, next to the British and French embassies.
SOCIETY
The Stor
y Behind the Pictur
e
Story
Picture
Giorgi Isakadze's popular photo of clean-up volunteer Tako Chokheli.
By Joseph Alexander Smith
On the morning after devastating
floods hit the Georgian capital, Giorgi
Isakadze picked up his camera and
headed straight for Heroes’ Square. It’s
his job – as well as studying design at
Tbilisi’s Academy of Arts, as Giorgi
takes photos for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development. As
one of the first photographers on Heroes’
Square that miserable Sunday morning,
Giorgi’s lens captured a moment in the
making.
Responding to a call for volunteers,
hundreds of people from every walk of
life – unconnected by anything other
than a common purpose - threw themselves into the clean-up operation alongside the army, police force and fire and
rescue services.
The pictures that Giorgi took of those
first volunteers – literally mucking in –
captured a moment that can never be
forgotten by anyone who witnessed it.
The ever-increasing crowd of volunteers
– representing every cross-section of
Tbilisi society – morphed into an unstoppable, unified force. Their gloves, facemasks and shovels became tokens of
honour and pride, as they salvaged hope
from the ruin around them.
Giorgi’s photos from that day were
published in a widely-shared photo-essay on Facebook. They appeared (un-
credited – much to his chagrin) on Georgian TV and on other websites. But one
photo stood out from the rest.
“When I saw her, I just thought, how
unusual it is to see this type of girl standing in mud” Giorgi told me, as I sifted
through his photos for a feature I was
writing on the aftermath of the floods.
The editor had asked me for images of
flood victims and their ruined houses,
but I couldn’t get this picture out of my
mind.
There was something about her expression – a combination of exhaustion,
grief and determination – which I found
utterly inspiring. Hers was the face of
the volunteer movement as a whole – a
generation of young people engaged in
a spontaneous and inspiring civil action
of a type scarcely seen in other postSoviet states.
Giorgi posted the picture on his
Facebook wall asking ‘does anyone
know this girl?’ and within seconds, he
was inundated with ‘pings’ linking him
to various profiles. One of them belonged to Tako Chokheli.
“The first bad news I heard was about
the destruction of the zoo” says Tako,
after agreeing to meet with me and
Giorgi over an ice cream the following
day. “Since I love animals so much, this
upset me a lot.”
“Later I heard that people had died
and houses had been destroyed … When
I heard that they were accepting volunteers I decided to go to Heroes’ Square
with my friends.”
Tako studies International Relations
at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs and speaks about the aftermath of
the floods with the forced precision of a
news reader as she tells me about the
day the photograph was taken.
“One incident which I would particularly like to draw attention to and
which surprised me was the following,” she says. “When we arrived at
the zoo, it was still covered in a thick
layer of mud. Up to my knees in mud,
my boots got stuck and I couldn’t
move. A 40 or 50 year old man who
was working alongside us came and
rescued me, despite the fact that I was
covered in dirt.”
We talk about how she thinks the city
has been changed by this experience.
Her response surprises me: “This notion
we have of women as the ‘weaker sex’
totally disappeared on that day,” she
says. “Not one single women or girl was
working with less strength or determination than men or boys.”
I ask her if she likes the photo. “Of
course. I like the way it’s very natural
and yet meaningful. He took it just at
the point when we’d finished cleaning
up and I decided to rest for a bit … I
think it pretty much sums up the way
we all felt inside on that tragic day.”
Qa
tar Airw
ays Named ‘Air
line
Qatar
Airwa
Airline
of the Year’ ffor
or the Thir
d Time
hird
Group Chief Executive of Qatar Airways,
His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker picks
up three top awards at the Paris Air Show
Qatar Airways has been honoured
with three of the top aviation accolades
at the annual Skytrax World Airline
Awards, winning Airline of the
Year for a third time – a major accomplishment for any airline.
The highest ranking in the annual
Skytrax awards category, Airline of
the Year is a testament to the commitment and dedication to service excellence and a high-quality travel experience for all passengers that fly with
Qatar Airways. It is a reflection of the
five-star calibre service that the Qatar
Airways is renowned for.
The award comes at a time when the
airline has experienced remarkable
growth, given the major enhancements
to its fleet in the last 10 months, with
the entry into service of the Airbus A380
and the Airbus A350 as the Global
Launch Customer.
In addition to the Airline of the Year
award, the airline also collected two
other awards: Best Business Class Airline Seat and Best Airline in the Middle
East – which Qatar Airways has won for
the eighth time
The Skytrax World Airline Awards,
held at the Musée de l’Air et de l’
Espace, Paris Air Show, are widely
known as the Passengers Choice Awards
with millions of travellers, from 160 different countries, participating in passenger satisfaction surveys to decide 2015’s
winners.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, His Excellency Mr. Akbar
Al Baker said: “I am honoured to lead
an airline that has paved such an accomplished path to excellence, and innova-
tion, demonstrating the team’s unwavering pride in their work and the experience provided to each of our passengers.
Becoming an award-winning airline
takes dedication and passion – and retaining such a ranking takes commitment, which I thank each and every team
member at Qatar Airways for. Our passengers are at the heart of everything we
do at Qatar Airways, and we are very
proud to be recognised by them and to
receive these three Skytrax awards.
These accolades reflect our passengers’
satisfaction; they choose to fly with a
five-star airline and today they have chosen Qatar Airways as the World’s Best
Airline for the third time. Qatar Airways
strives to offer the best travel experience
for its guests across our entire global
network of 147 destinations, with a commitment to providing quality services to
each and every one of our passengers.”
Qatar Airways, a five-star ranked
carrier, is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, operating one of the
youngest fleets in the skies. Qatar Airways flies 160 aircraft to 147 key business and leisure destinations across six
continents.
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
15
Tbilisi Zoo R
ecei
ves Messa
ge
Recei
eceiv
Messag
om the EAZA
of Conf
idence fr
Confidence
from
To Whom it May Concern:
Tbilisi Zoo became a Candidate for
Membership of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) in
October 2010. The Candidate for
Membership programme is an initiative of EAZA, and is aimed at working together with approved zoos in developing economies in Eastern Europe
to raise their standards of animal care,
business practice, health and safety,
education, conservation and research.
Candidate for membership institutions
work with an EAZA appointed mentor, usually an experienced director of
a western European zoo, to reach the
stringent standards expected of a full
member of the Association.
During its period as a Candidate for
Membership, Tbilisi Zoo, under the
leadership of Zurab Gurielidze, has
proven itself to be conscientious and
committed to the process of development. The EAZA mentor has seen great
improvements in the skills of the employees, the welfare of the animals, and
the service that the zoo provides to its
visitors. Indeed Director Gurielidze
and his staff have shown a high level
of professionalism in dealing with the
catastrophic flooding of the site, risking their lives to help reduce the danger to the citizens of Tbilisi, and working tirelessly to locate and return safely
as many of the animals as possible. The
EAZA mentor states clearly that a flood
of such devastating power could not
have been anticipated or planned for
by any zoological institution.
EAZA strongly believes that wellrun zoos and aquariums contribute
greatly to the task of providing information and experience to help people
understand the human relationship
with nature, and to act upon this understanding to protect the environment
and everything that lives in it. There
could be no clearer endorsement of the
zoo’s success in this field than the actions of hundreds of volunteers who
have come to assist in the cleanup of
the zoo and the surrounding area in
recent days. EAZA believes that Tbilisi
will benefit greatly from the rebuilding of the zoo, and that if run by Director Gurielidze, a proven partner for
development, it will have the potential to reach the high standards we demand, and continue to provide joy,
experience and knowledge to Tbilisi’s
citizens for generations to come.
Yours Faithfully,
Simon Tonge
Chair, The European Association of
Zoos and Aquaria.
Geor
gia Cele
br
ates
Georgia
Celebr
bra
Inter
na
tional Yoga Da
y
Interna
national
Day
By Tatia Megeneishvili
The International Yoga Day was celebrated for the first time in Georgia in
Rike Park on June 26.
According to the decision of the organizers, the Embassy of India in Armenia and Georgia, United Nations
(UN) in Georgia, Tbilisi City Hall and
various Georgian Yoga Centers, the
Yoga Day was held in a format of a charity event with participants expressing
their solidarity towards the victims of
the flood of June 13.
Yoga workshops, master classes and
lectures on a healthy lifestyle were held
by leading Yoga trainers and an exhibition was displayed by a variety of companies and organizations who support
healthy living.
The event was attended by the Ambassador of India to Armenia and Georgia, Suresh Babu; Head of the United
Nations in Georgia, Niels Scott; Deputy
Mayor of Tbilisi, Irakli Lekvinadze and
many more.
“This is a unique event,” said Babu.
“It is noted in the book of Guinness
Records as the biggest scale Yoga training. It is an honour for us that even in
such a hard days, as it is today for Georgia, people still have hospitality. I am
pleased that Georgia joined such an important occasion.”
June 21 was declared as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations
General Assembly on December 11,
2014. Yoga, a 6,000+ year-old physical,
mental and spiritual practice originating
from India (Bharat), aims to transform
body and mind. The declaration came
after the call for the adoption of 21 June
as International Day of Yoga by Indian
Prime Minister, Narendra Modiduring in
his address to the UN General Assembly
on September 27, 2014.
“Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s
ancient tradition. It embodies unity of
mind and body, thought and action, restraint and fulfillment, harmony between
man and nature, a holistic approach to
health and well-being. It is not about
exercise but discovering the sense of
oneness with yourself, the world and
nature. By changing our lifestyle and
creating consciousness, it can help us
deal with climate change. Let us work
towards adopting an International Yoga
Day,” stated Modiduring at the UN General Assembly.
Tbilisi Yoga Day Project Coordinator, Maiko Chitashvili, said that the
event was held with the financial support of the Mayor’s Office of Tbilisi.
“Attending the event is free. However, all the gathered money will be
transferred to the flood victims’ fund,”
Chitashvili said.
This year International Yoga Day was
celebrated in 251 cities of 100 different
countries. In Deli, India, more than
35,000 people took part in the event.
SOCIETY
Estonians Light up Tbilisi
Sea ffor
or Victor
y Da
y
ictory
Day
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
W hen Fiction Meets
Reality: Geor
gian
Georgian
Ar
tists R
efused Visas
Artists
Refused
By María Jose Riquelme del Valle
On the left: Ambassador of Estonia to Georgia, Mr Priit Turk at the Victory Day celebration at Tbilisi Sea Club.
By Katie Ruth Davies
The Ambassador of Estonia to Georgia, Mr Priit Turk, decided to take a step
closer to his childhood home in the Estonian islands by celebrating this year’s
June 23 Estonian Victory Day at the
Tbilisi Sea Club amongst his compatriots and multinational colleagues and
friends.
Guests were treated to a generous
spread of Georgian food and wine while
being serenaded under starry fairy-lights
by a local music group and live singer.
As well as sharing with guests his
thanks for their being present, Mr. Turk
also used the occasion to wish farewell
to Defence Attache LTC Teet Kivisson,
whose term has ended and who will be
returning to Estonia shortly. The Ambassador gifted Mr. Kivisson with a Georgian sword: “As a symbol of the strength
of Georgia and friendship.”
Georgia Today spoke to the Ambassador and his wife about Victory Day
and Midsummer’s Eve and how they
would normally be celebrating them
back home.
Victory Day on 23rd June marks a
crucial military victory against German
forces in 1919 and is celebrated with a
military parade in one of the Estonian
towns (every year a different town).
Midsummer’s Eve (Jaaniõhtu) is celebrated on the same day as Victory Day
and the festivities continue into the next
day, which is named after St John.
“When I was growing up, all the
families would head out to their country houses,” said Ambassador Priit Turk,
who originally comes from Saaremaa
(the biggest island in Estonia). “One of
the traditions is to light a bonfire [and
according to old tradition to jump over
it!] and in the islands we used to light
up the wood of old boats, to say thank
you to the gods for the fish that had been
caught. June 24th is St John’s Day and
another tradition of ours is not to sleep
during that night- there is practically no
darkness at that time of year –and so
everyone stays up and enjoys themselves with their families. We also never
lower the national flag on the night of
the 23rd- keeping it hoisted for the full
two days.”
“Despite the fact that St John’s Day
is known in the World as a Christian
holiday, Estonians have rather non-religious traditions in celebrating this day,“
added Pirjo Turk, the Ambassador’s
wife.“ The bonfire part is the most im-
portant. Midsummer Eve (on 23rd) and
Jaanipäev (on 24th) is one of the biggest
celebrations in Estonia and in addition
to the bonfire, eating, drinking, dancing
and singing are also part of this celebration. Most of all it’s a day of connecting.”
Mrs. Turk remembers her childhood
Victory Day celebrations with nostalgia.
“I remember as a child really looking
forward to the day- there was a huge
build up of expectation from the dark
winter, and sadness when Midsummer
had passed and it would start to get dark
again. On Midsummer’s Eve [on Victory Day] the families gather and in my
childhood we prepared a singing program to perform for the adults. Then
around midnight (when it gets a bit
darker) everyone in our family headed
out to find the Jaan worms [glow worms]
hiding in the grass in warm places
around this time of year. I remember we
walked near the train tracks in order to
find them. The person who sees the glow
worm first, can make a wish.”
While there were sadly no opportunities for glow-worm hunting at the
Tbilisi party this year, there was a symbolic bonfire. Ambassador Turk declined to jump over it, however.
17
It was supposed to be a performance
about how hard is to go and stay in a
different country. It should have taken
place at the Flare Festival in Manchester in mid-July. Flights and hotels were
booked, and the performance had been
rehearsed many times. But the visa refusal turned the fictional difficulties depicted on stage into a reality.
The New Collective group had been
invited by the Flare Festival after they
were among the 20 groups selected from
a total of 300. The Festival’s invitation
included covering the costs of their stay
in the UK.
Festival director Neil Mackenzie told
Georgia Today that the piece ‘Welcome’ was really resonant for an international theatre festival: “This was a piece
about ‘otherness’, the otherness of foreigners and the otherness of theatrical
characters. It was one of only two pieces
that weren’t happening in a traditional
theatre space, and would have had an
ongoing presence and visibility in the
festival. They offered a unique perspective on what artists can do with theatre
and theatrical performance”.
But this will no longer be possible
due to their visas being refused. The refusal letter states that: “Given the above,
I am not satisfied that you are a genuine
visitor and will leave the UK at the end
of your visit or that you have sufficient
funds available to cover your costs
whilst in the UK without working or
accessing public funds”.
Ana Jikia, one of the group’s members,
told Georgia Today that the problem was
not just the visa refusal, but how they were
treated by the person handling their applications: “They were very rude to me, the
way she asked me about my personal circumstances. I felt so humiliated and started
to cry, but I did not want to answer in case
this would have a negative impact on our
application”.
The official stance of the British
embassy in Tbilisi was that for reasons
of applicant confidentiality, they are
unable to comment on individual visa
cases: “However, we should point out
that the British Embassy in Tbilisi does
not decide visa cases, nor has it done
for a number of years. Georgians wish-
ing to apply for a UK visa do so by applying online and then visiting a Visa
Application Centre in Tbilisi. Applications are then sent to a UK Visa Regional
Processing Centre at the British Consulate in Istanbul. It is there that Entry
Clearance Officers assess applications
based on strict criteria laid down by the
Home Office”.
The case has raised public attention
both in the UK and Georgia. The
website change.org gathered 1500 signatures, and the topic was covered by
the British newspaper The Guardian. In
Georgia, the Ministry of Culture issued
letters in favour of New Collective.
But the decision was not overturned.
New Collective’s director, Mareike
Wenzel told Georgia Today that they
could try to reapply, but that there is very
little time left before the Festival and
also it’s not guaranteed that the result
would be any different: “For two months
now the only thing we did was prepare
visa applications. We could reapply but
the girls’ conditions have not changed.
Also, I don’t want to put them through
the same process again”.
International festivals and exhibitions are an important part of the development of an artist, and they benefit
from the presence of a diversity of audiences. Jikia had the chance to study
in Germany last winter and for her the
experience was life changing: “I learnt
how art scenes are organized in other
places, and I met artists and curators.
Their freedom was so inspiring for me.
I was able to show my work and get
feedback”
The director of the festival Neil
Mckenzie described the whole situation
as terrible: “It is very sad that our country and its laws have treated members
of the international community of new
theatre artists in such an unfair way (…)
But I still don’t see why a country as
sophisticated and ‘civilised’ as ours can’t
make a distinction between these artists
and illegal immigrants”.
Despite everything, New Collective
is determined to have some presence at
the Festival. As Wenzel told Georgia
Today: “Now the rage is over we have
to decide how to be there, if we don’t,
no one will even notice that we are not
present.”
Car-free Tbilisi
By David Lolishvili
This Sunday, 28th of June, is a day
on which the Tbilisi environment will
finally get to take a break from the
usual endless traffic jams and careless driving. “Leave your car home
for the day!” is the slogan of the day.
The idea itself consists of nurturing the environment and taking existing issues into consideration and
the organizing team is planning to
hold the event at least once every
month. Their main purpose is to
popularize the tradition of using
much healthier ways for transportation, like bicycles, the metro or simply walking on foot. The specific
dates of each event will be announced
weeks before the actual day in hopes
of people being motivated and ready
to leave their cars at home and spread
the word. Wide participation is the
key to the future success of this concept, which is why the organizing
team is working very hard to motivate everyone. They hope to introduce Tbilisi citizens to a new tradition to be called “Car Free Tbilisi”.
28th of June is the launch day for
the said upcoming tradition and by
the looks of it the campaign will see
daylight. People who don’t have cars
will automatically participate, of
course. Now it’s up to drivers to leave
their cars at home and give the city a
break, even if just for a day.
The New Collective theatre group, invited to the Flare Festival but rejected
for British visas.
FOR RENT
Apartment in Vake (behind the Vake Swimming Pool) in an
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The 120 sq. m. duplex apartment on the 10th floor, newly renovated, with a new kitchen, fireplace, balconies.
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Tel: 577521020 Tekla (English)
597000109 Dato (Georgian)
CULTURE
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
19
Talent the Common Denomina
tor
Denominator
for Ar
tists a
ts
Arts
Artists
att Museum of Fine Ar
By Maka Lomadze
A group exhibition of famous Georgian painters recently opened at Shalva
Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts on
Pushkin Street. A picturesque exposition
of 47 painters of different generations,
with dissimilar views, working in diverse
genres and having their own, very firmly
individual artistic signature, the exhibition has been warmly received by Tbilisi’s
art enthusiasts. The exhibition “Painter
and Modernity” aims to show how it is
possible to maintain national identity in
art during an age of globalization.
The display, located on the second
floor of the museum, showcases paint-
ings and graphic works, done mainly in
oil, though sometimes with a mixed technique. Here, visitors will see abstracts,
still lives, landscapes and portraits from
artists aged 30-85. As well as local artists, there are contributions from Kutaisi
and IDPs from Abkhazia.
“The main criterion while selecting the
artists was that the paintings should be
painted within the last 2-3 years. We also
aimed to show to the audience the dynamics - from generation to generation –
of how Georgian art is developing. I dare
say we have plenty of extremely talented
painters and artists who are no less professional than painters of other countries,” Guram Tsertsvadze, painter, par-
Gocha Narimanidze “Shatili”
ticipant and organizer of the exposition
told us.
At the exhibition, one can see pieces
by experienced painters such as Radish
Tordia, Givi Toidze, Dimitri Eristavi,
Giorgi Tsereteli and others. It is hard to
believe that painter Sergo Kenchadze, aged
over 80, was doing compositions at a time
when travel was extremely difficult and
information was under tight control.
Guram Tsertsvadze believes that the ability to do so stems from Georgia’s long
painting traditions of frescoes. “This gives
me the courage to say that we, Georgians,
stand very close to the origins of the world
cultural development,” he noted.
Many of the exhibited artists are famous and successful abroad, renowned
in different parts of the world and occupy particular niches. From the younger
generation, the pride of Georgian art’s
future, Rusudan Petviashvili’s “Searching for Cosiness” is presented while even
younger painters are also impressively
represented, giving encouragement for the
next generations of Georgian art.
It is hard to look at Givi Toidze’s
breathtaking “Old Tbilisi” and not take
some aesthetic pleasure depicting a golden
color of the sunset. “Exhibitions are important parts of our cultural life. If culture dies, the country will not feel well.
This exposition reveals new faces too.
The young generation is always full of
love and energy. I tell them: If you have a
talent, you should be working incessantly.
In the beginning, everybody has some
influences but later, they will find their
Rusudan Petviashvili’s “Searching for Cosiness”
own way, their individual form of expression,” the celebrated painter told Georgia Today.
Lali Lomtadze is a painter best known
for her 1970s works and had a personal
exhibition twice in Paris. The picture
“Summer Night” gives a photographic
effect and thus, is really original: “In early
times, such exhibitions were much more
frequent. Therefore, I am really happy
that this exhibition has taken place,” she
commented.
Tiko Bakhtadze is a young Georgian
painter who has participated in some
group exhibitions in Azerbaijan, New
York and Tbilisi. “Last year, in the group
exhibition, together with other 9 young
painters, I participated in the expo that
aimed to paint the portrait of Georgian
celebrities. I painted Nino Ananiashvili.
As for this display, I represent the painting “San Marco” of Venice. There are
more possibilities for our generation to
travel, though I basically have a fantasy
even without travelling,” said the talented
youngster.
The event is organized by the National
Creative Union of Georgian Painters, supported by the Cultural Events Center of
Tbilisi City Hall and the City Assembly.
The exposition titled “Painter and Modernity” will conclude on June 28 so there
is still time to sample a vast array of impressive Georgian art.
“SOUND OF RAILS”
(Within the project “At Home”)
Curators: Dedika Bulia, Nino Daraseli
Coordinators: Irina Arsenishvili, Nuci
Kirtskhalia
Directed by Davit Doiashvili
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: From 20 Lari
WHAT'S ON IN TBILISI
THEATRE
GABRIADZE THEATRE
Address: 13 Shavtelis St.
Telephone: 2 98 65 93
TBILISI ZAKARIA PALIASHVILI
OPERA AND BALLET THEATRE
Address: 25 Rustaveli Ave.
Telephone: 2 99 04 56
June 26
RAMONA
Directed by Rezo Gabriadze
English Subtitles
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: 10, 15 Lari
June 28
CLOSING OF THE BALLET SEASON
Jiri Kylian’s one act ballets:
PETITE MORT, FALLING
ANGELS, SECHS TANZE
Start time: 15:00
Ticket price: From 5 Lari
Venue: Griboedov Theatre,
2 Rustaveli ave.
June 27
MARSHAL DE FANTIE’S DIAMOND
Directed by Rezo Gabriadze
English Subtitles
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: 10, 15 Lari
TBILISI NODAR DUMBADZE
STATE CENTRAL CHILDREN'S
THEATRE
Address: 99/1 Agmashenebeli Ave.
Telephone: 295 39 27
July 28
THE PRINCESS, FROG, HANSEL
AND GRETEL
The Brothers Grimm
Directed by Dimitri Khvtisiashvili
Language: Russian
Main Hall
Start time: 12:00
Ticket price: 6, 10 Lari
GEORGIAN STATE
PANTOMIME THEATRE
Address: 37 Rustaveli Ave.
Telephone: 2 99 63 14
June 27
KRIMANCHULI
Directed by Amiran Shalikashvili
Start time: 19:00
Ticket price: 5 Lari
June 30
SONNETS
Directed by Davit Shalikashvili
Start time: 19:00
Ticket price: 5 Lari
CINEMA
AMIRANI CINEMA
Address: 36 Kostava St.
Telephone: 299 99 55
www.kinoafisha.ge
MUSEUM
MUSEUM OF SOVIET
OCCUPATION
Address: 1 Rustaveli ave.
Telephone: 2 99 80 22
The exhibition also includes one of the
train carriages in which the participants
of the national uprising of 1924 were
executed.It is also dedicated to the history of the anti-occupational, nationalliberation movement of Georgia and to
the victims of the Soviet political repression throughout this period.
SIMON JANASHIA MUSEUM
OF GEORGIA
Address: 3 Rustaveli Ave.
Telephone: 2 99 80 22
June 26 – July 2
TED 2
Directed by Seth MacFarlane
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Seth
MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Start time: 22:40
Language: Russian
Start time: 12:10, 15:05, 16:30,
19:25, 22:30,
Ticket price: 7.50 – 12.50 Lari
"ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURE"
Examples of work by early Georgian
goldsmiths were discovered during archeological excavations, and are currently
preserved in the archeological treasury.
The exhibition presents three periods of
development in the history of Georgian
goldsmithery, from the 3rd century BCE
to the 4th century CE:
Kurgan Culture (3-2 BCE),
Golden Fleece Kolkheti (8- 3 BCE),
Kingdom of Kartli-Iberia (3rd century
BCE-4th century CE).
JURASSIC WORLD 3 D
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas
Howard, Ty Simpkins
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Language: Russian
Start time: 11:45, 14:25, 17:10, 19:55
Ticket price: 7.50 – 12:50 Lari
GALLERY VERNISAGE
Address: 7 Zubalashvili Brothers’ St.
Telephone: 2 99 88 08
POLTERGEIST
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Cast: JoBeth Williams, Heather
O’Rourke, Craig T. Nelson
Genre: Horror
Language: Russian
Start time: 20:20, 22:35
Ticket price: 11.50-12.50 Lari
GALLERY
June 24-26
GIORGI KHODELI’S SOLO SHOW
DAPHIONA
OPERA DESIGN
Address: 2 Lagidze st.
Telephone: 2 940700
July 1
TAMUNA MELIKISHVILI’S
PERSONAL EXHIBITION
GALLERY “VANDA”
Address: D. Chonkadze str. #14
Telephone: 293 42 86
www.vandagallery.org
June 19 – July 5
VAKHTANG TATO
AKHALKATSISHVILI’S
EXHIBITION
YOUR MYSTERIOUS WAYS
GALLERY CHARDIN
Address: 13 Rustaveli Ave
Telephone: 299 09 25
June 24 - 28
GIORGI VEPKHVADZE’S
EXHIBITION
EXTENSION
MUSIC
June 2
CHARITY CONCERT TO
SUPPORT EREKLE
LORTKIPANIDZE
Participants: Ensemble “Georgian
Voices”, Ensemble “Alilo”, Theatrical
Quartet, Ensemble “Shvidkatsa”,
Salome Bakuradze, Nodiko Tatishvili,
Salome Korkotashvili, Datuna
Sirbiladze, Natalia Kutateladze, Nuka
Kvaliasvili, Bakur Burduli, Achiko
Nijaradze, Dato Evgenidze, Bend
“Newton”, Gia Nikoladze.
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: 10 Lari
LISI WOOD
Address: Lisi Lake
June 27
AUTUMN TREE, DALI, BERO,
TOMMA, VERA (HELLO?
REPEAT, PERLON),
COBERT, BACHO
Ticket prices: From 15:00-18:00 - 5 Lari,
After 18:00 – 10 Lari
TBILISI CONCERT HALL
Address:1 Melikishvili St.
Telephone: 2 99 00 99
MAGTI CLUB
Address: 22 Rustaveli Ave.
Telephone: 599 50 00 22
June 28
LIZA BATIASHVILI AND
GEORGIAN SINFONIETTA
Charity Concert to support victims of
13 June flood
Conductor: Nikoloz Rachveli
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: From 15 Lari
June 30
WEHELP WILL HOLD A CHARITY
CONCERT OF MUSICAL BAND
THE BEARFOX
The collected amount will be spent to
support people and
animals who suffered in the June 13
Tbilisi flood tragedy.
THE BEARFOX
Mebo Nutsubidze (Guitar, Piano, Vocal)
Betkho (Vermona, Vocals, Piano,
Xylophone, Melodica)
Archibald (Drums, Vocals)
Tsotne (Bass)
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: 10 Lari
June 1
NATO METONIDZE
NEW SOLO PROGRAM
Participants: Georgian Sinfonietta
and actors of the Music and Drama
Theatre
Art Director: Nikoloz Rachveli
SOCIETY
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
21
My Next Camera: Etseri, Svaneti
By Tony Hanmer
A simultaneous pair of misfortunes
has caused me to change the way I think
about my photography again lately.
First, some history. The first camera
I ever used was a Kodak Instamatic
shooting 126 film, which came in sealed
canisters; this was 1978, and I was 11
years old. We had recently moved back
from Rhodesia to Canada and were doing an almighty road trip west from
Ontario to Vancouver Island, camping
as we went, as we were wont. C’mon,
beach sunsets are easy! There’s a framed
16 by 20 inch blow-up of one of my
frames from that summer waiting for me
back in Canada, to lug it back to Georgia sometime: My First Print.
My dad bought himself a Minolta
35mm SLR (film, of course) in the
1980s, along with several lenses; all
manual focus. I used it every chance I
got. There are several rolls of film I developed and printed from while I was at
high school, including one of colour
slides, the rest being much easier black
and white.
Then Dad bought me my own 35mm
film camera and a 50mm standard lens
for my 16th birthday, a Yashica; it took
not only its own lenses but also the far
superior, unaffordably so, Contax ones.
Onwards! There was no stopping me.
When a friend and I set off on mountain
bikes to tour the world in the summer of
1989, I used this camera when reporting for my local town newspaper of our
adventures. I still had it, along with a
short-range zoom, when I shot the events
of August 19, 1991 in Moscow, USSR.
I now have hundreds of 35mm rolls to
scan, at 20 megapixels. And Dad’s own
old kit, when he switched to point and
shoot.
It was only in August 2008 that my
great friend and photographic mentor in
the UK, NWB, made me an offer I
couldn’t refuse, selling me his old Canon
EOS 450D (digital), an 18-55 kit lens,
case, extra batteries, and a hefty
Photoshop manual for photographers...
all for £100. I would’ve been crazy to
turn that down, right? So I didn’t. After
a winter in Ushguli shooting film, my
second winter there was the time of virtually unbridled freedom. I never filled
up the 4 GB card in a day, which would
have taken more than 400 frames of 10
megapixels to do. At day’s end, simply
save to laptop and start editing. NO dust
and scratches to clean up! I still have
the film kit, but have not used it once
since.
Now... this spring, the EOS started
giving me a new error message and refusing to shoot. I googled the error, of
course, and discovered that it may have
multiple sources, and may not be repairable. But at 10 megapixels, I figure it’s
time to get a newer, much higher resolution body, and still be able to use the
same lenses, which are great quality. I’ve
had it for seven years, and it was old
when I bought it. As a stopgap, I’ve been
using my wife’s 16 megapixel compact,
but I bet you never noticed, did you?
Even though it only shoots jpeg files,
not RAW, if you know what that means.
Also, I lost my cheap cellphone, a
gift from Samsung from my Imedis
Gmirebi TV shoot of late 2013, and
needed to replace that. I went with a
Nokia Lumia 520, which at least has a 5
megapixel camera and shoots 720 pixel
video into the bargain. Not my first
phone with a camera, but not bad.
Thing is, I’ve also found and downloaded three programs for this thing to
do special types of photography, after
researching what was best in the
freeware category. One does HDR (high
dynamic range), one shoots time lapse
videos, and one stitches together panoramas. Cool! This is new. My EOS
could to none of these things automatically at all, although I have laptop programs to do them from what I shot with
it.
So, while I wait and amass funds to
buy the new EOS body, which won’t be
cheap, I’m realizing that there need be
few limits to what I can still shoot. Photography is changing faster than one can
keep up with on a normal budget, but
one can still manage with what one has.
The photos are that First Print from
1978, and yesterday’s first phone camera HDR shot out the back window.
Tony Hanmer runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with
over 1000 members, at
www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ .
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:
www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
British Cor
ner Cele
br
ates
Corner
Celebr
bra
thda
y
Queen
Queen’’s Bir
Birthda
thday
Ambassador of Britain to Georgia, Alexandra Hall Hall, and Peter Nasmyth at the British
Corner "Queen's birthday" celebration.
By Katie Ruth Davies
“The Queen, as a Princess before her
coronation, was President of the English
Speaking Union (ESU). And her husband, Prince Phillip, the Duke of
Edinburgh, was President for 60 years
thereafter, a position now held by their
daughter Princess Anne. This is why we
celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, each year,” said Marina
Tsitsishvili, President of ESU Georgia
and owner of The British Corner language centre.
Special guests Ambassador of the
UK to Georgia, Alexandra Hall Hall, and
Peter Nasmyth, author of a number of
well known books on the Caucasus and
a member of the British Georgian Society, were invited to enjoy the special
presentations put on by the children of
the British Corner language centre in
Vake Park.
A beautiful rendition of the British
National Anthem by a group of Georgian middle-schoolers (who had learnt
the words in just three days!) was fol-
lowed by brilliant excerpts of two scenes
of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by
four upper-school students, one of
whom- Giorgi- wishes to take up a career as an actor. Then came dancing and
a generous barbecue and buffet.
The ESU works principally with
young people, providing opportunities
for them to build skills and gain experiences in order to realise their full potential. The ESU runs a wide range of educational and cultural programmes, from
scholarships for school leavers to speech
training and competitions involving
hundreds of schools in the UK and internationally.
“Her Royal Highness the Queen is
still very much involved in the ESU and
she has been the patron since 1952,” said
Mrs. Tsitsishvili, standing with a broad
smile before a portrait of the Queen in
the summer garden of the language centre, surrounded by happy faces and British flags. “We have been celebrating her
birthday in Georgia every year since
1998. It would be so nice if the Queen
knew that she was so admired each year,
in a tiny corner of small Georgia!”
Sta
te Ballet to Close 163rd Season
State
This Sunday (June 28), the State Ballet of Georgia is presenting its last performance of the 163rd
season.
Please join us once more before the summer vacation and enjoy an afternoon of modern ballet at
the Griboedov Theatre.
“One-Act Ballets” on Sunday, 28 June at 3pm
· “Sagalobeli” (choreography by Yuri
Possokhov);
· Jioi Kylian program: Falling Angels, Sechs
Tanze, Petite Mort.
Tickets are available from the Griboedev theatre box office. Prices from 5 to 25 Lari.
SPORTS
By Alastair Watt
JUNE 26 - JULY 2
23
Georgian Clubs Given
Difficult European Assignments
Georgian football could certainly do
with a lift but the chances of that arriving in the forthcoming Europa League
and Champions League qualifiers appear slim after all four Georgian entrants
were handed difficult ties in the respective draws on June 22 in Nyon, Switzerland.
In a week where revelations emerged
that Georgian captain Jaba Kankava was
wrongly made unavailable by the GFF
for the recent qualifier against Poland,
and ticket agency biletebi.ge crashed
when attempting to sell Super Cup tickets, the draws for Georgia’s European
hopefuls were scarcely mentioned.
Champions Dila Gori, making their
first foray into the preliminary stages of
the Champions League, were paired
with Serbian champions Partizan
Belgrade.
The Gori side, managed by 25-yearold Ucha Sosiashvili, will travel to the
Partizan Stadium for the first leg on either the 14th or 15th of July, and will need
to handle the notoriously intimidating
home fans known as the Grobari
(gravediggers) who are among the most
volatile ultras in Eastern Europe.
Dila though have proved themselves
to some extent in European competition
in recent years, beating Danish pair
Aarhus and Aalborg as well as Hajduk
Split since 2012. The venue of the return leg has not been confirmed but is
likely to be Tbilisi’s Mikheil Meskhi
Stadium, with the fixture taking place
on the 21st or 22nd of July.
Partizan reached the group stage of
the Europa League last season but
picked up only two points – each from
goalless draws at home with Tottenham
and Asteras Tripoli.
Before Dila launch into European
action, three of their fellow Georgian
clubs will play their first qualifying
round ties.
Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgian Cup holders, face a local derby against Azerbaijan’s Gabala with the first leg at Dinamo
Arena on July 2.
Compared to Dinamo, who won the
Cup Winners’ Cup in 1981, Gabala are
novices at this level having played only
one European tie to date – a defeat to
Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg at the same
stage of last year’s Europa League qualifying.
Having finished third in the Azerbaijani top flight, Gabala, once managed
by former Arsenal and England captain
Tony Adams, are coached by Ukrainian
Roman Hyhorchuk. A cosmopolitan
squad contains a trio of Brazilians –
midfielder Dodo, and defenders
Ricradinho and Rafael Santos – and four
Ukrainians.
Dinamo, who appointed the experienced Gia Geguchadze as head coach
at the end of last season, will take on
either Slovenia’s Domzale or Serbia’s
Cukaricki in the second qualifying round
if they can defeat the Azerbaijanis.
Meanwhile, Dinamo Batumi, making
their first European appearance since
1998, were given the daunting challenge
of Cypriot side Omonia Nicosia.
Omonia, whose squad contains Geor-
The Grobari (gravediggers), notorious ultras of Partizan Belgrade who face Georgian champions Dila Gori in Champions League
qualifying. Source – Wikipedia
gian international full-back Ucha
Lobjanidze and former Celtic striker
Cillian Sheridan, are strong favorites for
the tie particularly having run moneyladen Dinamo Moscow very close in the
play-off round last season.
Dinamo, still homeless, have not
confirmed where their home fixture –
scheduled for July 2 - will be played but
Kutaisi is the most likely location.
Completing the Georgian quartet are
Spartaki Tskhinvali, playing in Europe
for the first time in their history. A club
from the occupied territory of South
Ossetia, Tskhinvali have been playing
in Tbilisi, and occasionally Gori, for
several years. With no such thing as a
“home” game, the Georgian debutants
may be a worthwhile outside bet when
they travel to face Romanian side FC
Botosani.
Having finished 8th in the Romanian
league, Botosani only entered the
Europa League courtesy of a swathe of
Romanian clubs failing to meet UEFA
license criteria.
Located in the rural north of the
country, Botosani are, like Tskhinvali,
competing in Europe for the first time
and have never achieved anything no-
table domestically in their 14-year history.
The victors will face Legia Warsaw
in the following round and Romanian
journalist Emanuel Rosu appeared to
dismiss the Georgian challenge already,
stating “I look forward to Legia Warsaw fans coming to Botosani, a real rural experience for them!”
It has been eleven years since a Georgian club reached the group stage of
European competition, and the early
missions assigned to this year’s hopefuls make it somewhat unlikely that that
particular drought will end this summer.
Lelos Coach Haig Will Lead “Best-Ever
Prepared” Georgia to World Cup
By Alastair Watt
As the Tbilisi Cup concluded on June
21, won very convincingly by Emerging Ireland, Georgian head coach Milton
Haig claimed the tournament had helped
him to finalize his provisional squad for
the autumn’s World Cup.
“We were missing about 90% of our
first fifteen so this tournament was always about players competing to get in
the World Cup squad,” said Haig whose
side defeated Uruguay in their opening
match before losing to Emerging Italy
and Emerging Ireland.
The New Zealander did not dwell for
long on the performance against the Irish
which ended in a 45-12 defeat, admitting that Georgia lacked their opponents’
strength in depth. However, he also
Georgian Head Coach Milton Haig is confident Georgia will be ready to make history at
the Rugby World Cup
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column,
and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
See answers in the next issue
www.sudoku.com
Answers to previous puzzles
noted that Georgia was improving in that
regard.
“In previous world cups, I think there
may have been times when, in terms of
the squad, some players were just making up the numbers. That’s certainly not
the case now,” added Haig.
An early try by number eight Lasha
Lomidze had given the Georgians an
excellent start on a warm but windy
evening in Avchala, but the Irish responded in merciless fashion with six
tries of their own including two for the
impressive wing Matt Healy.
Lomidze’s hopes of making the
World Cup squad were dealt a blow
when he was forced off with an injury
towards the end of the first-half and Haig
added that he was among two or three
injury doubts for the autumn.
The Georgian head coach then outlined an intense preparatory schedule
for what will start as a provisional 39man squad before being cut to 31 for
the tournament which begins on September 18.
Several weeks of fitness-heavy training will include a camp in Holland before the Lelos fly to the UK for warmup matches with Newcastle Falcons
(Aug 28), Canada (Sept 3) and Japan
(Sept 5).
“The target has always been to get
two wins and hopefully we can do that.
What I will say is that this will be the
best-ever prepared Georgian side at a
World Cup,” claimed Haig.
Georgia’s first match at the World
Cup is against Tonga on September 19
in Gloucester.
GENERAL MANAGER - George Sharashidze
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF - Katie Ruth Davies
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