Caucasian Business Week #77

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November 24, 2014 #77

November 24, 2014, Issue 77

GEORGIA NATIONAL BANK KEEPS MONETARY POLICY RATE UNCHANGED n November 19, the Monetary Policy Committee of the NBG decided to leave the refinancing rate unchanged at the previous level.

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caucasian1

BE INFORMED, DO BUSINESS

VTB ASKS FOR ASSISTANCE TO AVOID BANKRUPTCY

TIME NECESSITATEAS TO INCREASE PENSIONS TO ALL CATEGORIES OF PENSIONERS

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Levan Kalandadze: The most Important Challenge Calls for Ensuring Efficiency of Municipal Budget Expenditures

fter PM’s meeting with the parliament majority, the Finance Minister of Georgia changed his position regarding pensions and decided to increase them for everyone.

Loan Insurance through ID Card

GEORGIAN RAILWAY REVENUES AND PROFITS GROW

David Julakidze

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he company’s management informs that in 9 months of the current year net profit of Railway equaled to 77,5 million GEL. Pg. 6

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ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK AIDS GEORGIA BY $75 MLN

The founder and the Managing Director of JSC “Iberia Refreshments – PepsiCo Bottler in Georgia” resigns Pg. 2

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he ADB is providing a $75 million loan to the Government of Georgia to support a reform program to help strengthen its finances and support inclusive growth.

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NEIGHBORHOOD AZERBAIJAN, SPAIN TO OPEN DIRECT AIR SERVICE

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irect air service between Azerbaijan and Spain is planned to open in 2015. Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism made the remark during the EIBTM international tourist exhibition in Barcelona, Spain.

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WORLD NEWS TOYOTA TO LAUNCH HYDROGEN FUELLED CAR

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OYOTA Motors will start selling its first hydrogen fuelled car, the Mirai, in December, making it the first vehicle of this type produced in series to hit the market. Pg. 13

Currency

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Exchange Rate Monitoring

Head for DIRSI sales group

Dmitry Troitsky: Cultural Heritage Protection is Our Priority Pg. 4

THE WORLD’S MOST GENEROUS COUNTRIES

Georgia 123rd among 135 candidates

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ELCOM CAUCASUS 2014

POWER SECTOR FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

EXPERTISE BY INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)

Yelena Sinitsina: Our Common Goal is to Turn the Business Wheels

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US DOLLAR BULLISH TREND REMAINS INTACT

Research

TENDENCIES RELATED TO PURCHASING REAL ESTATE Saburtalo is the most desired district in terms of acquiring real estate

ONLY GEOCELL GROWS ANNUAL REVENUS IN GEORGIA’S CELL MARKET

I CASPIAN ENERGY NAMED PASHA BANK GEORGIA AS THE BANK OF THE YEAR Pg. 9

n the Q3 retail incomes of mobile operators equaled to 122,4 million GEL. Compared to the same period of last year it’s 1,85% more(III/13 -120,2 million).

Only Geocell showed annual growth (11,3%), it’s reduced by 1% for Magti, for Beeline (Mobitel) - by 7,4%, for Silknet - by 15%.

Magticom is a leader according to subscribers database – 1,867 billion (1/10/13 – 1,894 billion).

Geocell has 1,615 billion subscribers (01/10/13 –1,516 billion), Mobitel - 1,123 billion (01/10/13

– 917 million). Silknet has 28,6 million subscribers on the cellular communication market (01/10/13 – 29,2 million).

WWW.CBW.GE

2 MAIN EVENTS PM Urges Georgian

Businessmen to Get Engaged in Regional Development

GOVERNMENT NEWS caucasian business week

EU, GEORGIA HOLD FIRST ASSOCIATION COUNCIL MEETING

Finance Minister: Georgia’s

Commitment to the EU is to Increase an Excise Tax to the European Level Only

3 MPs in Branch Economy Committee Hold University Degree in Economics

Civil

Society Groups Slam PM for ‘Aggressive Tone’

THE FOUNDER AND THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF JSC “IBERIA REFRESHMENTS – PEPSICO BOTTLER IN GEORGIA ” RESIGNS

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SC “Iberai Refreshments” has announced that David Lomjaria, the Managing Director of the Company has resigned after spearheading the management of Iberia Refreshments – PepsiCo Bottler in Georgia for the last 10 years.

Mr Lomjaria’s resignation was prompted by the change in the Company’s shareholding structure and exit of Mr Lomjaria along with the Georgian fellow-partners as the shareholders of the Company.

According to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Iberia Refreshments, David Lomjaria has been instrumental in leading the company’s development and growth of the operation. Mr Lomjaria instigated the setting up of PepsiCo bottling business in Georgia back in 2002 and established an operation with EBRD and Iberia Group, as the founding shareholders. While heading up the Company, David Lomjaria has been credited with many entrepreneurial and management achievements, he was able to attract EBRD to make its first private equity investment in Georgia into the Company, as well as the prominent business person from UEA, Mr Ahmed AlShafar to become one of the key Company’s shareholders. Under his leadership the Company was nominated by PepsiCo as the Best performing bottler worldwide in 2005 and one of the highest market share in Europe. Currently, the Company is one of the leading soft drink producers in Georgia, which sells PepsiCo beverages in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

When meeting with [our journalist] Mr Lomjaria was very enthusiastic about the changes in the Company and while he didn’t disclose Iberia Refreshments’ or his own plans for the future, but he mentioned that the Company is now at its critical point of development, which will prompt new investments in the forthcoming exiting projects. Mr Lomjaria said, It has been a privilege to have had the opportunity to lead Iberia Refreshments, and I believe the company has a very bright future. I would like to thank Company’s clients and Pepsi fans, as well as the management team, fellow partners and other and our stakeholders for all of their support and confidence over the years.

November 24, 2014 #77

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t the first meeting of the EU-Georgia Association Council, a highest formal body overseeing implementation of the Association Agreement, the EU noted Georgia’s “important progress”, but warned against use of the prosecution for political purposes and called for avoiding “political retribution, confrontation and polarization.”

PM Irakli Garibashvili led the Georgian delegation at the meeting in Brussels on Monday evening, which was chaired by EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, was among the EU officials present at the meeting. The three appeared jointly before the press to make statements, but they did not take questions, citing that they had to continue with the meeting.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini noted in her statement Georgia’s progress in visa liberalisation dialogue with the EU, expressed appreciation for Georgia’s contribution to the EU mission in the Central African Republic and hailed Georgia’s “further important progress in its democratic development” following 2012 parliamentary and 2013 presidential elections, and added that EU stressed the need for the Georgian authorities to follow recommendations by the OSCE international election observer mission.

“In this regard the EU underlined the need to improve the political climate. Political retribution, confrontation and polarization should be avoided and space for opposition and cross party dialogue should be ensured,” Mogherini said.

“We spoke about the need for Georgia to continue efforts to reform the judiciary and to ensure the rule of law. Criminal investigations and prosecutions

should be evidence-based, transparent, free of political motivation, impartial, and adhering strictly to principles of due process in line with the commitments undertaken by Georgia in the Association Agreement itself,” she said.

“Any form of instrumentalization of the prosecution for political purposes must be avoided and prosecutors should follow legally based procedures strictly and prepare evidence professionally. Politicians should refrain from comments on ongoing investigations and on cases in the court and the executive must respect decisions of the judiciary,” the EU foreign policy chief said.

She said that the EU welcomed adoption of the national strategy on human rights and its action plan, as well as of the anti-discrimination law by Georgia.

“We urge Georgia to pursue further reforms to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including of persons belonging to minorities and vulnerable groups,” Mogherini said.

Also on November 17 the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament recommended to the European Parliament to ratify the Association Agreement with Georgia in its vote planned in December. The foreign affairs committee gave its goahead to the ratification with 48 votes to 1, with 3 abstentions. The committee also endorsed a draft resolution, which welcomes Georgia’s reforms to strengthen democratic institutions, but also notes the need for transparent prosecutions free from political motivations and warns against misuse of judicial system for political purposes.

The EU foreign policy chief also said that issues related to Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were also discussed. “Far-reaching trea-

ty”, which is currently negotiated between Russia and the authorities in breakaway Abkhazia, is a source of “mutual concern” for Georgia and the EU, Mogherini said, adding that reports of a similar undertaking with South Ossetian de facto authorities was also a source of concern. She said that such steps do not contribute to the de-escalation of situation in the region.

Reiterating EU’s support to Georgia’s territorial integrity, Mogherini also said that the EU will “continue to raise the issue pro-actively in our contacts with the Russian Federation.”

PM Irakli Garibashvili said that the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting provides an opportunity to assess already made achievements and to set agenda for the road ahead towards the Riga Summit – the Latvian capital will host the Eastern Partnership summit next year as Latvia will be holding EU’s rotating presidency for the first half of 2015.

PM Garibashvili said that the Association Agreement is “a master plan for Georgia’s Europeanization and modernization.”

“The Association Agreement is not a final goal in our cooperation,” he said. “I have an ambition to make my country a success story in the region, using the transformative power of the European integration process.

We regard the Association Agreement as the essential basis to build the truly European, stable, functional and pluralist democracy with effective checks and balances and strong democratic institutions.”

The PM also said that Georgia is committed to meet “all the benchmarks” of the second phase of visa liberalization action plan by the time of Riga Summit.

The EU said late last month that Georgia fulfilled firstphase requirements under the visa liberalisation dialogue with the EU, which paved the way for the launch of the second phase. The first phase benchmarks included the overall policy framework, involving adoption of relevant legislation, and the second phase benchmarks involve putting into practice effective and sustainable implementation of these relevant measures and legislation. Experts from EU-member states will make evaluation mission to assess implementation of second phase benchmarks on November 24.

EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, said that the signing of the Association Agreement demonstrated EU’s recognition of Georgia’s reform efforts and its European aspirations.

“The focus should now be on implementing the necessary reforms so that Georgia’s aspirations can come closer and closer to reality,” Hahn said.

GEORGIAN PM, NATO CHIEF DISCUSS IMPLEMENTATION OF ‘SUBSTANTIVE PACKAGE’

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ATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met Georgia’s PM Irakli Garibashvili in Brussels on November 17 and discussed implementation of the “substantive package” of cooperation, which NATO offered to Georgia at its summit in Wales in September.

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, Stoltenberg said that the plan is to start implementing various elements of the package by the NATO defense ministerial meeting in February, 2015. He also said that more details would also be available by that time.

Among those elements of the package are assisting defense capacity building in Georgia through, as Stoltenberg put it, “embedded trainers” and setting up of a joint training center in Georgia.

“Today we discussed how to translate these initiatives into actions,” Stoltenberg said.

“We are pleased that Georgia will also host NATOGeorgia Training Center. The Center will help the Georgian forces to maintain their ability to work with NATO and it will prepare Georgia and other partners for future contributions to NATO Response Force,” the NATO Secretary General said.

Asked about Russia’s concerns over planned NATOGeorgia Training Center, the NATO Secretary General responded: “We have decided to establish the training center, it’s going to be established, because Georgia is a sovereign nation and NATO is an organization that works together with a strong and committed partner, Georgia.”

“We are going to continue to impalement the package we agreed in Wales,” Stoltenberg.

PM Garibashvili said that the Georgian government

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The Editorial Board Follows Press Freedom Principles Publisher: LLC Caucasian Business Week - CBW Address: Shrosha Street 8/10 Director: Levan Beglarishvili Mobile phone: 591 013936; 577965577 Commercial Department: Irakli Lekvinadze Email: caucasianbusiness@gmail.com WWW.CBW.GE

is “committed to timely and effectively implement the substantial NATO-Georgia package.”

At the press conference, Georgian journalists asked twice the NATO Secretary General if he had any “concerns” or “doubts” about Georgia’s commitment to NATO integration. The question stems from a recent cabinet reshuffle, which involved firing of defense minister Irakli Alasania and resignations of foreign minister and state minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

“The Prime Minister was very strong, very clear” about Georgia’s NATO integration commitment, Jens Stoltenberg responded and added that he has “no reason to doubt” about it.

“I want to underline that the Prime Minister strongly underlined in talks that we had that Georgia is continuing on its path towards more Euro-Atlantic integration and I very much welcome this commitment; it is a strong commitment and it is an important commitment,” the NATO Secretary General said.

Earlier on November 17, Georgia’s new Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze, who has replaced on this post Irakli Alasania, met in Brussels NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai. The latter wrote on his Facebook after the meeting that Georgia’s new Defense Minister “has a clear idea of his Ministry’s priorities”, is focused on the implementation of the substantial package to help speed up Euro-Atlantic integration, and “understands both the strategy and the detail of his portfolio.” “Overall, from my point of view, an encouraging start,” Appathurai wrote.

PM Garibashvili reiterated after the meeting with the NATO Secretary General that the Euro-Atlantic inte-

gration is the choice of the Georgian people and “on our part we will spare no effort to achieve this goal.”

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg praised Georgia’s “impressive progress in recent years” and said that Georgia is one of NATO’s “most committed partners”, which plays “an outstanding role in our operations.”

“And we commend you for that,” he said at the joint news conference with the Georgian PM. “And we will support you as you continue to take forward the democratic reforms in your country.

That includes further strengthening the rule of law, including the independence of the judiciary,” Stoltenberg said, adding that Georgia “has moved closer to NATO in recent years.”

PM Garibashvili said that at the meeting he noted with “deep concern” Russia’s intention to sign the new treaty with Georgia’s “occupied territory” of Abkhazia. Tbilisi has condemned the intention as an “attempt to annex” the breakaway region.

Garibashvili expressed “regret” that “the Russian side did not respond to our constructive policy in the same spirit and they continue destructive policy towards Georgia’s occupied regions – de facto annexation of Abkhazia and possibly Tskhinvali region as well.”

“We remain confident that the issue of Georgia’s occupied territories will remain on the screen of radar of the Alliance,” PM Garibashvili said.

Garibashvili also noted developments in Ukraine and said: “What we are facing right now in Ukraine is a continuation of our war in 2008” – he was referring to the August, 2008 between Georgia and Russia.

“But we keep moving, we are on the right track and we will continue,” the Georgian PM said.

The weekly is distributed to top companies, banks, embassies, state sector, Tbilisi and Batumi hotels, Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi Airports, as well as in the town of Marneuli. The newspaper will also penetrate Azerbaijan in the near future

Editor-in-Chief: Evgeni Mikeladze Reporters: Nutsa Galumashvili; Nino Gojiashvili

Source: www.commersant.ge, www.bpi.ge, www.gbc.ge

PUBLICITY November 24, 2014 #77

According to the GOEuro’s 2014 research, Georgia ranks second worldwide in terms of cheapest train tickets. Only South Africa is recorded ahead of Georgia.

GOEuro is one of the major multifunctional research companies in the travel sector. The company compares and calculates prices for travel by train, bus and airplanes.

GOEuro published the report in August 2014.

caucasian business week

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4 HEADLINES

EU Grants 30 million EUR for Georgia’s Regional Development

INTERVIEW caucasian business week

LOAN INSURANCE THROUGH ID CARD Today the real estate market in Georgia is quite lively: there are many different choices available for consumers. Against this background, Dirsi Residential Complex has been rated as one of the main players on the market for the past two years. CBW has interviewed David Julakidze, a head for DIRSI sales group, about the company’s exclusive offers..

55

kilometer highway built in 2 years

Georgian

economy has good prospects for longterm growth - S&P

Georgia’s

Milk Production Grows, Meat Production Declines

Georgia

Ranks 9th in Fight against Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Georgia

bitumen in oil imports increased

Fuel

Prices in Georgia Lower than in most Countries of the Former Soviet Union

Turkish

Investors to Build University Hospital in Batumi

Georgia’s

Foreign Trade Turnover Grows by 10%

- Dirsi is the largest residential complex in South Caucasus and is located in Tbilisi between river Mtkvari and Cholokashvili Street. The residential complex is often referred to as “Dirsi District” as it comes with full infrastructure that a genuine district has. Our complex will have 20 buildings, 4,898 apartments, a kindergarten, a school, an Italian-style shopping mall, a 5,200-spot parking lot, fitness centers, small sports fields, a medical center, as well as a 25 hectares recreational area.

Dirsi will have its own boulevard by the Mtkvari shore, which is completely novel for Tbilisi. It will have cafes, restaurants and commercial spaces. Dirsi apartments are completely renovated and come with in-built kitchens and bathrooms.

All of these make Dirsi stand out against other residential construction projects of Tbilisi. Other construction firms specialize in separate buildings without playgrounds and recreational areas.

Whereas, a Dirsi resident has a ready-made infrastructure in an ecologically sound environment.

- What is the per square meter price in the complex and what types of payment methods are available?

- A square meter in Dirsi costs $900. The apartments are ready for moving in immediately, as the communications infrastructure is already in place. Realistically, only furniture is needed. The payment methods are quite flexible and convenient. Dirsi has an internal loan system. The ini-

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Geocell has increased annual income among the mobile operators

New

Tourists Routes to Appear in Kolkheti National Park

Association

of Grain Growers Asks for VAT Preferences Money Transfers from Russia to Georgia are Likely to Shrink

room apartments of 68 and 74 sqm; and threeroom apartments of 94 and 98 sqm. The studios consist of a hall, one bedroom, one bathroom and a unified kitchen and living room. Let us consider the “VTB Bank” loan conditions on the example of a studio apartment. A 50 sqm refurbished apartment in Dirsi costs $45, 000. The down payment of 30% for this apartment constitutes $13,500. In case of a 10-year loan term, the resident will have to pay $470 per month. This offer is especially convenient for individuals who are otherwise renting an apartment and paying the monthly lease. Moreover, such payment terms are profitable for individuals who do not want to buy an apartment for living purposes, but to make an investment. They often buy an apartment using this payment method and rent it out. This way, the owner of the apartment can use the rent sum to pay for the mortgage loan. This is a very popular and convenient investment opportunity, since the apartment remains in the possession of the owner, while its value increases year by year.

Who is Dmitry Troitsky, what is his background and why did he get interested with mining business in Georgia? Who does the rugby sponsor root for during the match and what are his future plans for Georgia?

The founder of the company “RMG”, Dmitry Troitski, answers the public’s questions in detail.

Price not to Hike in the New Year Period

of Airzena Passengers on Moscow Flights Shrink by 70%

tial payment amounts to 10% of the per square meter price. However, the loan price becomes $1,200, instead of the initial $900. Apart from the Dirsi loan system, there is an option of obtaining a mortgage loan from several banks. Bank “Republic” will give Dirsi clients a 9-11% interest rate with a 15-year term. The minimal down payment will constitute 20% of the total price. Dirsi will offer different terms for foreigners who are not able to take out loans in Georgian banks due to the lack of credit history. We partnered with “VTB Bank” and created an easy way out for our clients. They will be able to take out a loan with minimal requirements – on the basis of an identity card. The down payment in “VTB Bank” will constitute 30% of the total price with the annual interest rate of 13%.

- What types of apartments does Dirsi offer?

How much will the resident be required to pay in case of a monthly loan?

- Dirsi offers three types of apartments of in several sizes: studios measuring 49 and 55 sqm; two-

DMITRY TROITSKY: CULTURAL HERITAGE PROTECTION IS OUR PRIORITY

Honey

Quantity

November 24, 2014 #77

- Mr. Dmitry, tell us of the beginning of your business career in a few words.

- It started in 1989, when I decided to try myself in business after graduating from Petersburg University, so me and my friends founded an automobile realization company, which is one of the largest car dealership networks in Russia. Then we founded the company “Multon”, which produced famous juices like “Rich” and “Dobriy.” We developed brands for 10 years until Coca-Cola got interested in buying the company, which it did at for a thenunprecedented price of 500 million dollars.

- Why did you get interested with the mining business and since when have you started being active in this field?

- Any business is oriented towards development and utilization of new possibilities. Similarly, we tried to become active in this field in Armenia.

We started a mining company from a clean slate and built quite a large and powerful facility which continues successfully operating to this day.

- Did the successful venture in Armenia become the foundation for considering investing into Georgian mining businesses? What was the size of the investment made by your company in Georgia?

- After Armenia, we did become interested in the

South-Caucasian region overall and began negotiating with the Georgian side. We purchased mining licenses in a few years, and finally the facility assets.

- It so happened that RMG’s activity crossed paths with a rather difficult matter, which is cultural heritage protection. More specifically, the Sakdrissi site. What is the company’s stance regarding it?

- The company’s stance on it stems from several principles. First of all, we firmly uphold Georgian Law and will only conduct works for which we’ll have procured official permits. Secondly, protecting cultural heritage is a priority in our values.

It’s something we always take into account both in our activities and when defining the company’s social policies. Plus the company cannot pick a side in scientific discussions; as is known, there are differing views regarding the importance of the Sakdrissi-Kachagiani site. A final verdict should be made by scientists of according competence, the only thing we can do is wait.

- And what will happen in case you do not end up receiving a permit for works at SakdrissiKachagiani?

- In that case, we shall obviously adhere to the decision, although the company will fall into a difficult position. We have a number of very hard years ahead, we’ll need to cut down the power of the facilities and, most probably, employee numbers as well. Our social expenses and tax fees will suffer similar drops.

- You started your activities in Georgia while the

previous government was still in power. How did the relationships fall with the new government?

How did the business environment shift for you?

- I consider it very good when a government doesn’t interfere and create problems in business matters.

I’d like to note that we haven’t had any problems from the government’s side, quite the contrary – we feel that it understands the situation surrounding our company. RMG isn’t another ordinary company.

We have the potential to ensure 10% of Georgia’s entire export when working on full capacity. Our company and its contractor facilities employ over 3000 people, mostly local population.

- What would you say about the Georgian-Russian relations for these past few years?

- As a businessman I’m far away from politics, although I’d like to say that both sides would benefit much better if these relations were positive. I have hope that all the common pragmatic and economic interests that are inherent to Georgia and Russia will eventually contribute to normalizing relations between our two countries.

- Your company has sponsored Georgia’s rugby team for years, while the Russian team is one of our pivotal rivals. Who will you root for when our teams clash?

- As a citizen of Russia, I support my country in all types of sport. However, in this case I can let myself root for both teams, although I’m confident the strongest will win. The support that our company lends to the Georgian rugby team is very important to me, and I’m also aware of how much this sport means to Georgians.

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INTERVIEW November 24, 2014 #77

caucasian business week

“OUR COMMON GOAL IS TO TURN THE BUSINESS WHEELS”

TOP STORY

Interview with WorldFood Ukraine Head Yelena Sinitsina

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orldFood Ukraine has become a main space for introducing products and technologies of international and Ukrainian manufacturers. The main goal of the exhibition is to conclude contracts between suppliers and retailers of food products, distributors and restaurants business sector.

-How would you appraise current situation in the exhibition business?

-Despite the current situation in the country, the exhibition business continues working. In spring we held all planned exhibitions. In autumn we had an excellent start with exhibitions of makeup and perfume company InterCharm-Ukraine and tourism saloon Ukraine. Representatives of Ukrainian and international business meet each other, introduce their products, conduct fruitful negotiations and find partners.

The autumn exhibition season will be closed with WorldFood Ukraine, a leading exhibition of products and drinks. The preliminary list of the participants shows that Ukraine’s food products market draws serious investments. New companies appear on the market. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food Products appraises the volume of foreign direct investments in the food products, beverages and tobacco products manufacturing sector by 2.955 billion USD YTD. -Today, major part of the companies has shrunk marketing expenditures, including expenditures on participation in exhibitions. How do you man-

age to draw exponents?

-In this crisis period participant companies find exhibitions a mighty event investment in the business development that gives the company. Exponents achieve a complex of goals through exhibitions: they prove attendance and development of the company, introduce innovations and top positions of assortments, explore consumer demands on products, supervise over competitors. At the exhibition visitors make sure leading companies continue operation, conclude agreements despite the exchange rate fluctuations and so on. Evident and alive sectoral event assist all exponents in dismissing the fear of crisis. Live relation on open neutral and positive space like an exhibition enables participants and visitors to share experience of working in complicated conditions.

-Do companies often avoid participating in exhibitions referring no one knows them on the market?

-Yes, They do. There are many similar companies.

They should realize that without working with clients at exhibitions, their competitors will draw their clients. We are ready to offer the opportunity to the Ukrainian companies that confidently feel on the domestic market and search new market and explore the demand for their products and services on the European and Eastern markets.

The company portfolio (ITE Group Plc that includes Premier Expo) includes exhibitions on the topic – Food Products and Beverages under the brand of WorldFood. These exhibitions are held in such countries as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

The company office in Ukraine provides required information on the projects: statistics and participation terms to them who want participate or visit exhibitions in these countries.

-What steps do you take to increase efficiency of participating and visiting exhibitions?

-To increase efficiency of participation, several years ago we introduced a format of business meetings as part of Retail-Distributor Center – a special business space, where representatives of network products retailers, distributors meet with exhibition exponents. This year we launched Bay-

ersk program for drawing representatives of nonnetwork product retailers and distributors. Before exhibitions, we are ready to provide information to exponents on registered buyers of food products and drinks.

We draw the attention of all exponents to the pre-exhibition stage, when they are able to invite partners, potential clients to their own stands. Personalized invitations from participant companies to their own stands draw much more attention to the company brand and united efforts of the organizer and exponent companies attract much more visitors. _Many specialists are leaving eastern parts of Ukraine because of hostilities. What do you offer to this category?

-At the autumn exhibitions visitors and exponents could use Labor Exchange, a special service to expand the potential and perspectives for career advancements and employment. Labor Exchange will be organized at the WorldFood Ukraine exhibition too. One stand will collect vacant positions from food product companies, retailers, restaurants, as well as resumes of market professionals.

I would recommend to everyone, that it is inadmissible to maintain business in the Standby regime for a long period. We should continue to live, work and make plans. The market is changed and only strong players remain there. If someone shows weakness, they should know their clients will be drawn by their competitors. As a result of the crisis, one part of the market payers will disappear, while the remaining companies will become stronger. To defeat the crisis, the country needs power and money in the economy. Therefore, everyone should do its own business, pay taxes and move the economy.

Many companies are minimizing activity on the market, while bolder companies have got excellent opportunity to expand their presence on the market and attract clients of their competitors.

Today our common goal is to maintain business sector and pay taxes. The business must work so as the country be able to finance the social sector, restore houses and motorways in the East. Sunset always brings Sunrise. This is the rule and law of life and business. Any crisis brings new opportunities.

TIME NECESSITATEAS TO INCREASE PENSIONS TO ALL CATEGORIES OF PENSIONERS An expert from the Association of Young Financiers and Businessmen Paata Bairakhtari says that the government’s strategy regarding pensions is correct

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fter PM’s meeting with the parliament majority, the Finance Minister of Georgia changed his position regarding pensions and decided to increase them for everyone. Nodar Khaduri announced that instead of increasing the pension for 100,000 people only, 700,000 pensioners would receive more money. However, the increase would be less than what it was previously planned to be. Initially the socially unprotected individuals were going to have an increase of 25 laris.

Now the increase is going to be uniform for everyone: 10 laris.

We think that the government’s strategy regarding pensions increase and allocation is absolutely justified. The government is preparing grounds for

creating individual savings funds. The pension system in Georgia is extremely outdated and in reality it represents a social assistance program. This is why it should be gradually replaced by a more progressive and smart system, such as the individual savings fund.

Today the government’s objective is to provide its retired citizens with a subsistence minimum. We consider this a correct approach, however the method of calculating the subsistence minimum has to be critically re-evaluated.

It was the PM’s initiative to increase every citizen’s pension by 10 laris. The Association supports this step fully, since increasing pensions for every pensioner by some value, albeit small, is absolutely necessary. The trend of increase in pensions will continue in 2016 as well. The increase might not be sufficient, however, one should keep in mind that this increase comes directly from the state budget, which, obviously, has limited resources. It should also be noted that we are not talking about 10 laris merely, but the 10 laris that will be added to the existing pension of 150 laris. Moreover, the increase should be more feasible now that the pensioners’ and other citizens’ expenditures went down after the reforms in healthcare took place.

Increase of pensions represents the most speculated subject in the Georgian politics. The opposition often appeals to this topic when it wants to

discredit the government’s actions.

However, these appeals are a lot of times mistaken.

The most widespread mistake in evaluating the pensions increase comes from looking at pension’s nominal value only, without looking at its purchasing power in the economy. In this aspect, the actual picture of pensions increase over the last years looks the following way: 1) During “The United National Movement:” When “The National Movement” came to power, the pension constituted 14 laris. The new government started increasing the pension gradually. The increase over the years was the following: 2004 – 14 lari, 2005 – 28 lari, 2006 – 38 lari, 2007 – 62,5, 2008 – 77,6 lari, 2009 – 87,1 lari, 2010 – 87,4, 2011 – 107,5 lari, 2012 – 112 lari. (Pension became 122 laris in 2012, however the monthly average constituted 112 laris, since the increase took place in September).

During the same period of 2004-2012 lari’s purchasing power fell to 40%.

This means that if in 2004 pensioners could buy, say, 10 loaves of bread with 10 laris, in 2012 they could only buy 4 loaves using the same amount.

Taking into consideration lari’s purchasing power, the pension in 2012 constituted only 44,8 laris. This means that the “National Movement” increased pensions 3,2 times during the 9 years of being in power, which

is 0,32 times a year.

2) During the “Georgian Dream Coalition:” When “The Georgian Dream” came to power, by the end of 2012, the pensions constituted 112 laris. The new government increased the sum to 150 laris. Although the pension became 150 laris only in September of 2013, so the average monthly pension for that year constituted 131 laris. The government is planning to increase the pension by additional 10 laris. This is the nominal value. Now let us consider the purchasing power of this sum taking into account the change in prices. The consumer price index increased by 3,8% in the period of January 2013 – October 2014. Currently there are no drastic changes expected in this sphere.

However, in 2015 the government and the national bank are planning to set the inflation rate at 4%. This means that during the three-year period of 2012-2015 the increase in the level of prices will be 8%. Accordingly, the purchasing power of the nominal pension of 2015, 160 laris, will become 147,2 laris. However, since the increase will take place starting September 1st of 2015, the average monthly pension that year will be 142 laris. This means that the “Georgian Dream” will increase pensions 1,1 times in a three-year period. This amounts to a 0,37 times increase a year.

NATIONAL BANK KEEPS MONETARY POLICY RATE UNCHANGED

O

n November 19, the Monetary Policy Committee of the NBG decided to leave the refinancing rate unchanged at the previous level.

Monetary policy rate stads at 4.0 percent.

Following the previous meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, Inflation forecast has been revised downward as new information had been released. The change in data is mainly due to the processes going on in the region, the countries that are trade partners of Georgia, and decrease in the prices on the world commodity markets.

Therefore, in order to meet the inflation target the committee decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at this stage.

Despite a decline in the inflation forecast, there is still need in a phased abandoning of the accomodative monetary policy.

According to the updated forecasts the inflation will reach its target value (5%) by the end of 2015. The annual inflation in October was 3.4%.

In Q3 the economic growth will be 5.5 percent, according to the preliminary estimates and the preliminary data on the GDP growth in the first three quarters of the year are consistent with the forecasts. The output gap is negative, although it has decreasing trend.

The recovery of the domestic demand is also evident from the increase in imports. Importantly, the credit activity keeps growing, with a significant increase in business loans.

As for the external demand, it’s still decreasing. According to preliminary data the export dropped by 5.2% in October. Given the worsening situation in the economies of the region, the external demand remains the main risk-factor.

The Monetary Policy Committee of Georgia’s National Bank will hold its next meeting on Dec. 17.

The NBG told that they will continue to monitor the developments in the economy and financial markets and will use all means and instruments at its disposal to ensure price stability.

The dynamics of further changes in monetary policy will depend on the dynamics of expected inflation, tendencies in economic growth, global and regional economic environment.

The National Bank of Georgia began tightening its policy stance in February when it cut its rate by 25 basis points but since then it has maintained the rate in light of increased risks that affected domestic and external demand and slowed the process of inflation reaching the bank’s target.

NBG conducted 7-days refinancing auction on November 20, 2014. Auction volume amounted to GEL 330 mln and it was allotted to five commercial banks. The minimum interest rate was 4.00%, the maximum - 4.01%, and the weighted average - 4.00%. Refinance Auctions, the Monetary policy instrument, are held weekly, every Thursday.

Nutsa Galumashvili

6

OPINION caucasian business week

November 24, 2014 #77

TBILISI BUDGET

I

n 2015 Tbilisi municipal budget will finance social and health programs by 203 million GEL, that is 25% of total funds. Namely, 168.5 million GEL will be allocated for social projects and 34.4 million GEL will go to healthcare programs, up 8 million GEL compared to 2014.

Economic analysts assert the 2015 municipal budget is not practically designed to stimulating economic growth, and both national and capital budget are largely designed for social obligations. At the same time, less attention is paid to the infrastructure projects.

In this situation, the natural question is whether a poor country like Georgia and, particularly, its capital, can afford so socially oriented budget.

LEVAN KALANDADZE Expert of Economy, Head of the Georgian Initiative for Infrastructure Projects

I

t would be incorrect to make empty evaluations whether the 2015 municipal budget is good or bad because of one simple reason: neither Tbilisi nor other self-governments and cities have got independent budget, in practice.

Local budgets, including Tbilisi municipal budget, basically represent a financial document dependent on central budget transfers.

Consequently, the issue of financial and budget independence of Tbilisi Council or other self-governed city or district, unfortunately, is only fiction and in this respect the statue of independent bears only formal importance.

The self-governments reformation does not provide enactment of financial decentraliza-

tion component as a main instrument of the genuine decentralization. As a result, city self-governments and councils do not have their own revenues. Hence, composition and approval of a local budget bears only formal character. Therefore, local budgets, including Tbilisi 2015 municipal budget is adequate to the the central budget transfers. Naturally, taking into account this and central budget problems, the 2015 Tbilisi municipal budget will be practically fully oriented on implementing municipal social programs through ignoring programs oriented on economic development. Thus, we should not expect the 2015 Tbilisi municipal budget will promote economic growth and finance projects oriented on business sector development.

The main challenge accompanying budget processes, including Tbilisi budget, is to

provide efficiency of the budget expenditures. As reported, the January to September plan of revenues in 2014 was performed by 95.2% (deficit marked 24.8 million GEL), while payments part was fulfilled by 82.8% (lack of 95.3 million GEL).

In this respect significant downturn was marked in financing Tbilisi transportation, roads construction, buildings reconstruction, infrastructural and other projects and efficiency of budget expenditures.

Focusing on these issues and problems should become one of the goals of local self-governments in 2015 to ensure efficient employment of the existing resources in the existing conditions.

Irakli Lekvinadze: The 2015 Tbilisi budget accounts for 800 million GEL and it is oriented on financing social programs

IRAKLI LEKVINADZE Expert of Economy

in line with main priorities of the ruling team in Georgia. Medical and treatment programs, infrastructural arrangement of preschool assets and, in general, infrastructural projects are very important. I believe efforts for creating program budget is very significant and good precedent, as expenditures substantiate efficient fulfillment indicators. The 2014 budget deficit marked 26 million GEL. I believe the 2015 budget will not repeat such precedent, because a new team is responsible for preparing and fulfilling the 2015 Tbilisi budget. In whole, the budget structure responds to the main challenges and needs of the capital city.

Tamar Kakabadze

GEORGIAN RAILWAY REVENUES AND PROFITS GROW

T “HALTING THE ACTIVITIES OF RMG IS A SERIOUS ISSUE FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY”

G

eorgian Infrastructural Projects Initiative” organized a presentation in the “Radisson” hotel, showcasing the research “Evaluating Rich Metal Groups’ SocialEconomic Results and Influence on Economy.”

Economic experts Levan Kalandadze, Irakli Lekvinadze and Nodar Chichinava presented tendencies in the research which reflects today’s issues of gold mining and processing in general as well as matters of export.

As one of the authors of the research, Irakli Lekvinadze said, there are a number of problems for investors pertaining to the company’s full-fledged functioning and its capacity to mine and process gold. “Because of a number of unresolved technical issues from the government’s side, the compa-

ny “RMG” isn’t able to function fully, and the region as well as the entire state will lose millions of lari from the budget annually. In addition, there’s no need to hide that if today’s situation persists, it’ll create a feasible threat of the 3000 employed people in the company losing their jobs. This is a serious issue not just for the region, but for the country,” stated Irakli Lekvinadze.

Head of the Georgian Infrastructural Projects Initiative, Levan Kalandadze, emphasized that the role and contributions of RMG are quite important for regional, as well as state-wide economic and export matters. Accordingly, the government should take the issue of quickly solving these problems more seriously, problems which on one hand affect the investor, and on the other – the entire field of ore mining and processing as a whole.

he company’s management informs that in 9 months of the current year net profit of Railway equaled to 77,5 million GEL, which is 630 thousand more than in the same period of last year.

As for EBITDA of the company, this data equaled to 189,1 million GEL in January-September, which equals to 11,4% (19,4 million GEL) more than in the same period of 2013.

In the same period Georgian railway received revenue of 387 million GEL, which is 7,7% more (27,8 million GEL) than in the same period of 2013.

The management explains that income from the freight shipment has increased by 3,9% (10,5 million GEL) and equaled to 278,3 million GEL, which is determined by considerable increase of the revenue from dry freights and oil products. In particular, revenue from shipment of black metal

and scrap, sugar, construction freights and grain has considerably increased. Industrial raw material and meat shipment has also increased.

Income from other freight operations equaled to 83,4 million GEL, which is 20,9% more than in the same period of 2013. Revenue from wagon rent increased by 4,5 million, to 29 million GEL. Revenue from passenger transportation increased by 1,18 million, to 15,22 million. Revenue from other sources has increased by 1,59 million, to 3,41 million.

“The company considerably increased salary find for employees - by 7,8% (7,7 million GEL) in comparison to the same period of 2013. Meanwhile, overall operational expenditures considerably reduced by 4,8% (12,6 million GEL), which was positively reflected on the company EBITDA (operational profit)”, - management of Railway states.

7

QUALITY OF GOVERNMENT November 24, 2014 #77

caucasian business week

EXPERTISE BY INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)

FAD RURAL SECTOR PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS (IFD)

Government Effectiveness Allocation & management of public resources for rural development Regulatory Quality Enabling conditions for rural financial services development Investment climate for rural businesses Access to agricultural input and product markets Rule of Law Access to land Access to water for agriculture Control of Corruption Accountability, transparency and corruption in rural areas Voice and Accountability Policy and legal framework for rural organizations Dialogue between government and rural organizations The UN’s International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has assessed the quality of performance of various governments worldwide as part of the World Bank (WB) mega project the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The report also contains the assessment of analysis for the 2013 government of Georgia. The IFAD report is based on 5 aggregates: Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Control of Corruption, Voice and Accountability.

The WGI governments’ effectiveness quality assessment is based on a final expertise of about 30 international organizations, including IFAD. According to the IFAD report, Georgian government’s effectiveness has reached a historical maximum.

According to the IFAD report, the 2013 Georgian government’s effectiveness level has sensibly grown by 10% to 75%, while the figure stood at 65% in 2012.

IFAD launched assessment of the governments’ effectiveness in terms of Allocation & Management of Public Resources for Rural Development in 2004 as part of the WGI mega project.

According to the IFAD report, the 2013 Georgian government’s effectiveness makes up 75%, up 11.5% compared to the 2004 to 2012 period.

Moreover, the 2013 Georgian government’s effectiveness exceeds or equals to the 2004 to 2012 indicators, while the 2013 figure exceeds the 2010 and 2011 (when the United National Movement ruled the country for the last time) government effectiveness level by 36.6%.

This indicator takes Georgia ahead of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the region in 2013, while the country remains behind Turkey by 5 %.

The IFAD report covers 97 countries and the ten top countries in terms of the government effectiveness level are as follows (the report does not cover European countries):

Rating

Country

Government Effectives Level %

1

Mauritius

90.0

2

Brazil

82.6

3

Trinidad and Tobago

80.0

4

Turkey

80.0

5

Georgia

75.0

6

Rwanda

75.0

7

Cuba

75.0

Morocco Tunis

75.0 75.0

Ecuador

73.8

8 9 10

The table shows Georgia ranks 5th in the rating and the country is behind only Mauritius, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and Turkey.

CONTROL OF CORRUPTION (ANTICORRUPTION ACTIVITIES) According to the IFAD report, in 2013 Georgia’s Control of Corruption indicator (accountability, transparency and corruption in rural areas) marked 80%, up 21.9% compared to the 2004 to 2012 period. The 2013 figure is a historical maximum. In 2012 the Control of Corruption indicator accounted for 60%.

The indicator takes Georgia ahead of Armenia by 30%, ahead of Azerbaijan by about 200% and the

country is on the same level as Turkey in 2013.

The ten top countries in terms of Control of Corruption indicator are as follows:

Rating

Country

Government Effectiveness Level %

1

Bhutan

2

Mauritius

80.0

3

Seychelles

80.0

4

Georgia

80.0

5

Turkey

80.0

6

Cabo Verde

80.0

7

Cuba

75.0

Uruguay Brazil

75.0 72.6

Rwanda

70.0

8 9 10

80.0

The table shows Georgia ranks fourth in the rating. It should be also noted the country is behind the top three countries by only 0.01%.

RULE OF LAW The Rule of Law indicator consists of two components: Access to land; Access to water for Agriculture.

According to the IFAD report, in 2013 Georgia’s Rule of Law indicator marked 65%, up 4.2% compared to the 2004 to 2012 period. In 2013 Georgia comes behind all countries in the region in terms of this indicator (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey).

According to the IFAD report, Georgia ranks 21st in the rating, while Armenia and Turkey top the rating.

The last period has recorded a growing tendency of access to water for agriculture sector, while downturn tendency has emerged in terms of access to land plots. The latter factor has conditioned downturn in averaged level of Rule of Law in Georgia compared to the previous years.

VOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY IFAD report also assesses Voice and Accountability indicator in various countries. This indicator consists of two components: 1) Policy and legal framework for rural organizations; 2) Dialogue between government and rural organizations.

According to the IFAD report, in 2013 Georgia’s Voice and Accountability indicator marked 70%, up 8.6% compared to the 2004 to 2012 period. The figure takes Georgia ahead of Azerbaijan, but the country comes behind Armenia and Turkey by 5% and 20% respectively.

In the IFAD report, Cabo Verde, Turkey and Brazil occupy the first three place respectively, while Georgia ranks 23rd in the rating.

In 2013 the Voice and Accountability indicator has increased compared to the previous years thanks to growth in level of Policy and legal framework for rural organizations.

REGULATORY QUALITY The IFAD’s report on Regulatory Quality in various countries consists of three components: 1) Enabling conditions for rural financial services development; 2)Investment climate for rural businesses; 3)Access to agricultural input and product markets; According to the IFAD repot, Georgia’s Regulatory Quality indicator hit a historical maximum in 2013 and constituted 80%, up 17% compared to the 2004 to 2012 averaged indicator. The figure is up by 14.5% compared to the 2012 indicator.

The indicator takes Georgia ahead of Azerbaijan and Turkey in 2013, but the country is behind Armenia by 2%.

The IFAD’s report on Regulatory Quality indicator covers 97 countries and Mauritius, Armenia and Thailand occupy the first three places, while Georgia ranks 4th in the rating.

The year of 2013 has recorded major improvement in the investment climate in Georgia compared to the previous years (for agriculture activities). The figure stood at 67% in 2012, while the indicator marked 87% in 2013, up 30% year on year.

Previously, the investment climate’s highest indicator was registered in 2008 to 2010, when the figure reached 73%.

At the same time, new historical maximum was recorded in such component as Access to agricultural input and product markets. The indicator stood at 60% in 2012 and it grew to 73% in 2013.

Moreover, the component of Enabling Conditions for Rural Financial Services Development has been also improved. In 2013 the indicator reached 80%, up 10% compared to 2012. The indicator marked 80% in 2009 too and 70% in 2010 t0 2012.

The abovementioned indicators are expected to continue growing in 2014, because agrarian sector insurance program is underway for the first time in Georgia, besides the inauguration of villages financial support and cheap credit state programs.

8

POWER SECTOR caucasian business week

November 24, 2014 #77

ELCOM CAUCASUS 2014 POWER SECTOR FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

O

n November 12 ELCOM CAUCASUS 2014, the second international power sector exhibition, was unveiled at the Expo Georgia exhibitions center. Along with the exhibition, another international traditional conference Power Sector for Sustainable Development was also held.

The Power Sector for Sustainable Development conference makes focus on the most important problems and relevant issues for the Georgian power sector development, as well as on stimulating public discussions in this direction. At the conference, representatives of the Georgian government, international organizations, financial institutions, the field experts, investment funds and investors discussed such relevant issues of the Georgian power sector as the energy sector priorities and investment environment, finished, planned and ongoing energy projects, provision of the sustainable development of Georgia and environmental and economic regulations, Georgian energy system development strategy, tariff policy, new perspective projects in the renewable wind energy, energy efficiency and the existing sharp problems and perspectives in this respect, determination of a long-term policy of Georgia’s energy sector after conclusion of the EU associated membership agreement.

The final stage of the conference was dedicated to a discussions panel to talk about vitally important reforms for developing the Georgian economy and its infrastructural ground energy field, as well as implementation ways, implementation efficiency and the significance of the EU associated membership agreement for the energy sector.

Deputy Energy Minister Ilia Eloshvili made focus on hydro power development and noted at this stage 81 projects are being processed with installed generation of 2.800 megawatts and annualized generation of 11 tWt/hours, including 17 HPPs are being constructed with total installed generation of 629 megawatts, 12 HPPs are waiting for permits with 1.225 megawatts and 52 HPPs with 929 megawatts are being projected at the stage of feasibility studies. Forecast investment value of these projects makes up 3 billion USD and the construction works are expected to end in 2014 to 2015.

“Development and construction of HPPs is a main strategy for overcoming the poverty. The construction of these HPPs in almost all regions of our country will assist in taking considerable steps for overcoming the poverty. At the same

time, we will employ and use our main wealth”, the conference moderator professor David Mirtskhulava, a technical manager for TransElectrica Georgia, noted.

Maia Bitadze, Deputy Minister for Environment Protection and Natural Resources, also delivered her speech to the conference.

“The Environment Protection Ministry is an instrument that owns regulatory mechanisms to, on the one hand, maintain environment protection standards, and, on the other hand, promote the economic development. The most efficient mechanism to manage all this process is related to the legislation on environment affect permission.

The Ministry provides due conclusions on the activities that are assessed in terms of environment affect and ecological expertise. This conclusion becomes a ground for starting construction works or modeling activities and further continuation”.

A major part of environment affect permissions and ecological expertise conclusions the Ministry has issued in 1998 to 2004 refer to HPPs. In this period the Ministry has issued permissions on placing 66 HPPs, Bitadze noted.

Mikheil Nibladze, a managing director of the US private investments fund Schulze Global Investments, also attended the conference. He talked about investment commercial perspectives of Georgia’s hydro energy sector. The American Fund plans to take part in construction of small and medium sized HPPs in Georgia and today several perspective projects are under discussion, Nibladze noted. Investments will be made in the form of both private capital and loans.

“Our strategy is to make investments in small and medium sized HPPs. Similar players are very few on the market. Therefore, our experience will enable us to search proper projects. I believe similar HPPs are very attractive and environment protection principles will be respected”, Nibladze said.

At this stage Schulze Global plans to invest 100 million USD to co-finance the construction of small and medium-sized HPPs in Georgia.

Giorgi Cherkezishvili, a director for the investments department of the Partnership Fund, has also talked about involvement and interests in the energy sector. In autumn 2015 Gardabani steam power plan construction works will end. The asset is being constructed by the Partnership Fund and its subsidiary Oil and Gas Corporation. At this stage, 65% of the construction works have been completed.

“This is a steam power plant with 230 megawatt installed generation. Total value of the project is

220 million USD. Our contractor is Turkish company Calik Enerji”, Cherkezishvili said.

Another major project with the Partnerships Fund involvement is Nenskra HPP with 210 megawatt installed generation.

“The Fund will be represented in the project by about 10% of total capital that is about 18 million USD. 10 million USD has been already spent.

60% of the roads have been constructed and the construction works will be resumed in spring.

In whole, the project is valued at 760 million USD”.

Giorgi Bezhuashvili, a director for the Georgian Energy Development Fund (GEDF), comprehensively discussed the fund activities. The Fund explores target rivers in their certain sections for conducting feasibility studies of HPPs. The fund explores geological, topographic, hydrologic issues. Moreover, the company assumes the responsibility for developing a preliminary report on environment, if necessary. The Fund also develops pre-project exploration report on the ground of which the company provides detailed exploration of technical and economic indicators of the project and provides all other additional services in case of consent from stakeholders and an investor.

If the investor shows interest, a memorandum is concluded between the investor and GEDF to determine obligations of the investor and the company. At this stage, the Fund works on projects for constructing small and medium sized HPPs, a new steam power plant project and Georgia’s first wind power station.

Giorgi Bezhuashvili stressed the importance of Oni Cascades and Namakhvani HPPs. Installed generation of Oni cascade is 170 megawatts with

total investment value of 589.9 million USD. And Namakhvani project has been discussed and processed by Polish HydroProject, Stucky Caucasus, and Studio Pietrangeli. Namakhvani HPPs parameters are as follows: 420 megawatt installed generation with 1580 million kilowatt/ hour annualized generation.

Giorgi Abulashvili, a head for Georgian Energy Efficiency Center talked about problems with Georgia’s energy efficiency, deficiency of necessary state regulations in this direction. He also made focus on perspective European project named as Mayors Agreement that involves 8 cities in Georgia and calls for developing energy efficiency action plan for the citizens and implementing this plan by 2020.

The panel passed in sharp discussions and debates with the participation of experts in economy and energy fields, representatives of the Energy Regulatory Commission. The panel speakers professor Emzar Jgerenaia, Teimuraz Gochitashvili, Gia Arabidze, Murman Margvelashvili and moderator professor Davir Mirtskhulava, as well as economic expert Mikheil Jibuti, energy system expert Liana Jervalidze, Expo Georgia head Kakha Gvelesiani unanimously proved “suspension of energy reforms in all countries, including, in Georgia will lead us to frustration of economic development and halt of economic growth and this may cause serious social and political challenges. Thus, timely completion on Georgia’s membership into European Energy Union represents the first important and fundamental step as an evident signal for full support and inevitability of energy reforms, as a direct indicator of western development of our society and the country in whole”.

WWF-SPONCORED FOREST WEEK WAS HELD IN TBILISI, NOVEMBER 17-23

F

orest Week was held on November 15 -23 under the initiative and support of WWF. The Week was hosted by EU funded regional project increasing the resilience of forest ecosystems against climate change in the South Caucasus.

The week took start in Tsavkisi on November 15, on the experimental forest plot under the governance of the Tbilisi municipality. The event included inspection of the forest trees grown in 2012-2014 and planting new ones on the preliminarily allocated territory. WWF representatives were monitoring the planting process.

Apart from media representatives, David Narmania, Tbilisi Mayor, with his family and representatives of WWF, embassies and international organiza-

tions, students and other guests took part in the tour.

At the end all participants were awarded certificates of appreciation and symbolic gifts.300 coniferous trees were planted in Tsavkisi on that day. „Many trees are being planted with engagement of the public to show that we care for future in order to have ecologically clean environment.

Each sapling requires special care. We together have to do everything to have green and ecologically clean capital. Experience and support of the World Wildlife Fund is very important in this regard,” - David Narmania said.

Tbilisi Mayor thanked the WWF, which handed planting equipment over to the municipality upon completion of the week. „60-65 percent of Tbilisi adjacent territories is

covered with artificial forest, namely with pines which due to their age are in a shabby condition. Therefore, it is necessary to transform it with planting new saplings to bring it closer to natural forests. Within this project on this territory over 20,000 saplings got planted which is very important for an environmentally clean capital” – said Giorgi Sanadiradze, WWF Representative in South Caucasus.

Various other activities took place during the Forest week: November 17, Forest Week was hosted by Buckswood International School, where an Eco-Lesson was organized for pupils. WWF representatives talked to children about importance of forests, taught them how to take care of nature, trees and environment in daily life. The children made November 18, Panda traveled by public transport, leaving special messages letting know the public about Forest Week events. presentations about forests and environment protection issues.

November 19, A hidden Panda was discovered by a participant on the territory of the Freedom Square subway station. WWF representatives organized a meeting with media to address forest certification and introduce its concept and necessity.

November 20, Forest Week was hosted by Bukia Garden where eco-lessons were arranged for adolescents. They were provided with all required information as to how to take care of environment, trees and nature. Magic show was organized for

kids. Students of Tbilisi Green School and The Youth Palace Geo-ecology class were present at the event.

November 21, Pandas and promo girls in branded buses were driving around crowded areas (from Freedom Square to the Zoo ). At bus stops the girls introduced Forest Week to children and called them to protect nature.

November 22, Khashuri hosted the Forest week.

Tour for bloggers and media representatives was held at the experimental plot of the town forest.

11th year pupils from Khasuri municipality and local school took part in the event. All participants of the tour planted a tree on the special territory.

At the end this area was assigned a new name and all participants were awarded with certificates of appreciation.

November 23, The Zoo hosted the Forest Week.

Eco lessons were organized within the framework of which tree planting was taught. The expert instructed guests how to plant saplings and take care of plants. Artists painted Panda-Tattoo on faces of volunteers and children. Specially invited street actors, clowns on stilts and animators, entertained kids.

Tbilisi municipality was an active partner of the Forest Week. Information support was ensured

by Palitra Media, ITV Group, Newspaper Caucasian Business Week, Focus TV and Focus Magazine. Communication campaign was organized

by PR and marketing Communications Company “Gepra.”

9

BANKING NEWS November 24, 2014 #77

caucasian business week

ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK AIDS GEORGIA BY $75 MLN

T

he Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a $75 million loan to the Government of Georgia to support a reform program to help strengthen its finances and support inclusive growth.

“This assistance will help the government to create the fiscal space it needs for fully inclusive growth,” said Tariq Niazi, Principal Public Management Specialist in ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. “Strengthening public debt and budget management, overhauling the pension system, and improving the environment for private investment will help create new jobs and provide better social protection for families.”

After a slump during the 2008 global financial crisis Georgia’s economy has expanded steadily, with gross domestic product growth averaging 5.7% annually from 2010 to 2013. However, income inequality is prevalent and unemployment persists.

More than 14% of the labor force was jobless in 2013. Public finances have also come under pressure, with a widening fiscal deficit driven by rising social spending—with state pensions the largest item at around 18% of public expenditure—and limited revenue sources. The government has laid out a Socio-economic Development Strategy through 2020 which sets out priority actions to address fiscal problems and put the economy on a firm path for inclusive and sustainable growth.

ADB’s assistance supports this strategy.

The program supports reforms to improve management of public finance and fiscal risk over the medium term, with upgrades to current funds

management and risk analysis systems. To bolster revenue, tax collection procedures are being strengthened, and steps taken to recover tax arrears. To boost domestic savings the existing state universal pension system will be revamped, to help establish a sustainable private pension savings system. Capital markets improvements will provide more investment options for pension funds, and will help mobilize more long-term finance and help encourage public–private partnerships for infrastructure.

The government’s recent initiatives to enable better access to funding for small- and mediumsized enterprises are supported by this program.

These firms make up 96% of registered businesses and employ over 40% of the workforce. Business promotion measures include establishing the Entrepreneurship Development Agency and the Georgia Innovation and Technology Agency, with staff and budgets.

The $75 million ADB loan is part of a planned three-tranche financing program, with funds released as policy actions and reform milestones are met. The remaining two tranche loans will be set at $50 million and $75 million. The full $200 million program will run from 2014 to 2016.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2013, ADB assistance totaled $21.0 billion, including co-financing of $6.6 billion.

COMMERCIAL BANKS’ PROFITS MARK 359.6 MILLION GEL IN JANUARY TO OCTOBER

N D

et profit of the banking sector equaled to 359,6 million GEL for 10 months (Q3 - 303,7 million GEL, Q2 - 192,4 million GEL, Q1 - 94,6 million GEL). Bet profit equaled to 56 million GE in October and 15 banks out of 21 are profitable.

By November 1, 2014 banking sector is represented by 21 commercial banks, among them 2 - branches of the foreign banks, 17 - with contribution of the foreign capital in the authorized capital. BTA will leave the list.

Contribution of the foreign capital in the total paid-in capital of the banks exceeds to 75%.

CREDITING VOLUME GROWS BY 22%

uring the year, a volume of bank lending in Georgia increased by 22%, including consumer loans issued to individuals - by 35%.

At the same time, almost 50% of the population is in debt to the banks, microfinance institutions and private moneylenders - it clearly demonstrates that the majority of the citizens of Georgia have the financial problems they are struggling to cope.

According to the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), loans w in the amount of GEL 11 151 743 were issued in January-September 2014 in Georgia which is 22% more than in the same period of 2013 – GEL 9, 14 billion.

During the year, a volume of consumer loans increased by 35% and amounted to GEL 2 billion, whereas in the same period of 2013 – GEL 1.5 billion.

Experts believe such a growth of consumer credit is dangerous and indicates that the country’s economy is not growing and the citizens still have no savings even at a minimal level. And buying the necessary items on credit people, as a rule, are getting poorer.

According to the expert Vazha Kapanadze, credit growth in Georgia is directly related to the difficult economic situation of citizens.

“The fact that consumer lending has grown so dramatically shows that the economy is not growing at the required rate, and consequently, poverty is still prevalent in the country. However, Georgia still has a high level of unemployment, and people are forced to buy the most necessary things on credit. Population will have money only when the pace of economic growth increases and becomes more pronounced. While this trend is not observed,”- Kapanadze notes.

The expert Lia Eliava considers lending growth positive when it comes to business loans, however, focus on consumer lending raises concerns.

“The growth of consumer lending shows that a credit boom is recorded in the country and 35% is a very

sharp rise in such a short period of time. If such growth was in business lending, the country would have blossomed, but unfortunately the commercial banks in Georgia are not focused on lending to the real sector. The growth trend in consumer credit is due to several factors – primarily it can be explained by the fact that commercial banks have reduced the study of risk factors and provide loans even to those who may not be able to pay their debts. The second factor is an intense competition in the financial market. The demand for consumer loans has always been high despite the low growth rate of income. This is due to the natural desire of people to live well not tomorrow but today. Ordinary citizens, who, unfortunately, badly can count, cannot calculate their solvency. In addition, consumer loan does not require collateral, and is simple from a procedural point of view. It is this factor that caused the growth of consumer lending. But in fact, this process is very negative for the banking system, for citizens, and ultimately for the country as a whole. For banks because it impairs the loan portfolio, as the population is poor and this leads to an increase in the number of problem loans that in turn can lead to a banking crisis. For the population because thanks to the debt on loans, poverty is growing and people have to pay more on loans. And it is bad for the state because eventually a negative social fund is growing and the received amounts basically go on providing import and the country does not develop, “- she says.

The expert Mikheil Tokmazishvili doesn’t consider growth of consumer lending dangerous, as in his opinion, it will not reach a level that will create serious problems in the country.

“Overall share of loans in respect of money in circulation is still insignificant. Consumer credit helps business sell products. Though, of course, the risk exists - for the banks as they give a loan without collateral, for business because it depends on the state of the banking system. In general, the growth of consumer lending suggests that the population has almost no savings, “ - the expert adds.

CASPIAN ENERGY NAMED PASHA BANK GEORGIA AS THE BANK OF THE YEAR

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ASHA Bank Georgia, a full service corporate bank, received award prize – the Bank of the Year – by Caspian Energy group. On an awarding ceremony President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili awarded a prize and diploma to the CEO of PASHA Bank Georgia, Shahin Mammadov. In line with the contribution to the further development of Georgian economy and enhancement of its investment climate, PASHA Bank Georgia was a Golden Sponsor of Caspian Energy Forum 2014, which this year was held in Tbilisi on 14th of November, 2014. Representatives of key governmental and commercial structures participated in the forum.

Caspian Energy Forum will be held annually as a general meeting of the Caspian European Club (CEIBC) in Tbilisi.

The first part of Caspian Energy Forum included discussions on all aspects of energy integration of the countries of the Caspian, Black Sea and Mediterranean regions into global energy markets. The focus of speakers, delegates and forum participants was on the key role of Georgia in energy, transport and infrastructure projects, the growing upstream gas sector, the Southern Corridor projects and the resource potential of the Caspian Sea. “Caspian Energy Forum – 2014 became a platform to discuss different areas of the Georgian economy, and contribute to attraction of new investments and integration of the financial sector across the Caspian-Black Sea region countries”, said Shahin Mammadov, Chairman of the Executive Board at PASHA Bank Georgia.

“PASHA Bank is proud to support Georgian business and contribute to its development. We are happy to have the opportunity to sponsor the 2nd international Caspian Energy Forum, which I strongly believe was one more step towards

achieving our common goal of growing the Georgian economy and strengthening the relationship between Azerbaijan and Georgia ”, added Shahin Mammadov.

The second section of the Caspian European Forum was focused on the development of the hydro and geothermal energy sector of Georgia and its prospects. Modern double cycle geothermal power plants were discussed on the example of New Zealand. Participants talked about the prospects of oil and gas production sector of Georgia.

The third and fourth sessions covered the infrastructure, industry, tourism, transport as well as investment, financial, IT & communication industries of Georgia.

The event was attended by heads of government institutions, ministries, committees and agencies of Georgia and the countries of the Caspian, Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, representatives of diplomatic and international missions accredited in Georgia, and also heads of large international companies.

On the same day, the international Caspian Energy Award prize awarding ceremony was held as a part of the official gala reception, attended by officials from Georgian governmental and business society, as well as President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili.

The organizer of the forum was the Caspian Energy International Media Group. The official support to the Forum was provided by the Ministry of Energy of Georgia, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, the State Ministry of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, SOCAR Energy Georgia LLC, the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and the Caspian European Club.

VTB ASKS FOR ASSISTANCE TO AVOID BANKRUPTCY

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ussia’s second biggest state bank VTB Bank asks the Russian Government for allocating 250 billion Rubles to support the state capital, Reuters reports referring to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

“We have to resolve two issues simultaneously: on the one hand, we provide fast capitalization of banks and, on the other hand, we support projects through commercial banks. These projects were to be financed from the National Welfare Fund”, Siluanov said.

The issue will be discussed with the Prime Minster on Thursday. He has not named the funds the Ministry is ready to allocate to the bank.

It should be also noted the bank published a financial report on November 20. Under the report, the bank’s profits in July to September period have shrunk 0.4 billion Rubles, down 98% from 18.4 billion Rubles compared to the period of 2013.

VTB has been founded by the Russian government. The stat ratio in the bank makes up 60%.

VTB Bank Georgia is a subsidiary of Russian VTB. The Georgian subsidiary is among six leading commercial banks in terms of assets. VTB Bank Georgia assets are valued at about 1 billion GEL.

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BUSINESS caucasian business week

NABEGHLAVI PHOTO CONTEST MIXTERIA - PROLONG SUMMER ENDS

November 24, 2014 #77

FOODPANDA AND DELIVERY HERO CLOSE MULTIPLE ACQUISITIONDEALS Global online food delivery marketplaces announce acquisitions in India, Mexico and South America

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abeghlavi officially awarded winners of the Photo Contest Mixteria-Prolong Sumer with special prizes at Loft Restaurant. In the course of 3-week contest over 36 works were received. The Jury chose photos of Oto Gordeladze and Zourab Loladze.

Contest Mixteria-Prolong Summer contest was going on for three weeks on the company’s official facebook page. “Use Nabeghlavi mineral water in preparation of your favorite cocktail, take a well designed photo, send to us and wait for your victory!” – it was a simple requirement the company set for participants.

Participation in the contest was interesting for persons of any age. Those with creative views and distinguished fantasy were given the opportunity to show their talent and creativity.

Contest participants could send the cocktail photo, taken according to their fantasy to the respective e-mail address. The cocktail should include Nabeghlavi water, as a major ingredient.

Oto Gordeladze the Winner: “I liked Nabeghla-

vi’s official facebook page and that is how I learned about the contest. My cocktail is containing alcohol. It is gin and tonic. Nabeghlavi very much resembles the tonic and that is why I made this cocktail.”

Zourab Loladze, the Winner: “I often take part in contests and win them. It can be said that I am lucky. I learned from my wife about the contest and decided to take part. My cocktail contained lime, peppermint, apple juice and Nabeghlavi.

Then I took photo and sent it.” „The photo contest was of promotional type.

Nabeghlavi water has been frequently used in preparation of various cocktails by barmen and we decided to engage ordinary consumers of our products in the project. Everyone could use the mineral water according to his/her taste and send creatively made photo to our e-mail. We would like to congratulate the winners and thank for participation in the contest. Nabeghlavi will also hold the other similar contests on a larger scale”said Victoria Zhizhko, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Company.

4S – OBJECTIVE INSTRUMENT IN RECRUITMENT PROCESS

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R Forum was held in Courtyard Marriott, organized by Intelligence Development and Assessment Centre (IDAC). Forum was attended by HR Managers of 25 private companies and state organizations.

The objective of the forum was (a) discussing the problematic issues in recruitment, job assessment and introduction/implementation of testing for recruitment process and (b) sharing of current practices in the sphere.

Speeches were delivered by Teona Samsonadze, HR partner at Bank Republic; Irakli Dadiani, Founder and Managing Partner of Easy Recruitment LLC; Nino Beruashvili, Chief of Staff and Head of HR Management and Development Unit at National Bank of Georgia; Sergo Nozadze, Head of Student Employment Department at University of Georgia; Melano Sirbiladze, 4S Project Manager, Intelligence Development and Assessment Centre; Interesting and active discussion was held on the topics of speeches. In the final part, Melano Sirbiladze spoke about 4S test, reasons for creation of such test, its’ advantages towards other instruments, methodology and norms according to which the test was structured. Forum participants discussed the perspectives of using 4S, during recruitment/promotion process and future cooperation plans.

Irakli Dadiani, Founder and Managing Partner at Easy Recruitment LLC: “it was very interesting and well organized forum. Topics were chosen perfectly and actual, towards the current problems”.

Teona Samsonadze, HR Business Partner at Bank

Republic: “there is no analogue product on the market, which could be served as objective instrument for recruitment process. I’m glad 4S already exists for that purpose and welcome the initiative”.

Sergo Nozadze, Head of Students Employment Department at University of Georgia: “This is a very good initiative, to share opinion in our sphere, to raise problems which already exist and to find the ways for problem solving. In general 4S test is a very good initiative. This is very transparent tool, which can be very helpful for private companies and state organizations during recruitment process. Such instrument was never offered before. This will help HR managers to introduce test methodology culture in recruitment process”.

Nino Beruashvili, Chief of Staff and Head of HR Management and Development Unit at National Bank of Georgia: “Forum was very interesting. It is necessary to offer such test to the market, which can objectively solve the problems in recruitment process. These problems can be developed very problematically during personal interview”.

George Chkhaidze, HR Development Manager at GAAM, Gerogian Manganez: “I’m glad that 4S, such type of test was created. It is open resource, which we - HR managers can use successfully during recruitment process”.

Intelligence Development and Assessment Centre intends to continue this interesting and new initiative, which means organizing of meetings between HR Managers who are working in different sphere and promoting of interaction between them.

- Foodpanda acquires Delivery Hero’s TastyKhana in India and fosters its leading position in one of the biggest food delivery markets worldwide - Foodpanda acquires Delivery Hero’s Mexican business of PedidosYa, as well as SeMeAntoja and Superantojo, targeting leadership in the Mexican market - Delivery Hero acquires hellofood businesses in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, strengthening its position as a market leader in Latin America Berlin, 17th November 2014: Global online food delivery marketplaces foodpanda and Delivery Hero today announce a series of separate acquisition deals. The acquisitions enable both companies to optimize their international growth strategy. foodpanda takes over TastyKhana in India, extending its leading position in one of the biggest food delivery markets worldwide. TastyKhana, started in 2007, has been one of the first food delivery portals in India. TastyKhana will remain an independent brand. Together, foodpanda and TastyKhana will partner with over 10,000 restaurants in India, covering over 173 cities. foodpanda also acquires the Mexican food delivery businesses PedidosYa, SeMeAntoja and Superantojo and targets market leadership in Mexico. The group has been has been operating in the Mexican market since December 2012 under the hellofood brand. After the acquisitions, Mexican customers in 10 cities will have the selection from over 2,500 restaurants.

Delivery Hero acquires the hellofood businesses in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and captures its market leading position in these markets, aggregating 17,500 restaurants across eleven countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

RALF WENZEL, Co-Founder and Managing Director of foodpanda group: “The acquisitions allow us to extend our market leadership in India and improve our strong position in Mexico.

Combined with our efforts in other important markets such as Russia, Brazil and South East Asia, where we already gained a leading position, we are best positioned to accelerate growth and become the ‘Amazon’ of food ordering in emerging markets.“

NIKLAS ÖSTBERG, CEO of Delivery Hero Holding: “Latin America holds a central role in our long-term strategy. With these acquisitions we further extend our leading position in a region with tremendous growth.”

ABOUT FOODPANDA/HELLOFOOD foodpanda together with its affiliated brands hellofood and Delivery Club, is the leading global online food delivery marketplace, active in 38 countries on five continents. The company enables restaurants to become visible in the online and mobile world and provides them with a constantly evolving online technology. For consumers, foodpanda/hellofood offer the convenience to order food online and the widest gastronomic range, from which they can choose their favorite meal on the web or via the app. foodpanda operates in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia and Serbia. hellofood operates in Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Algeria. Delivery Club operates in Russia. www.foodpanda.com / www.hellofood.com / www.delivery-club.ru ABOUT DELIVERY HERO Delivery Hero is a global network of online food ordering platforms with more than 75,000 partner restaurants worldwide. Delivery Hero has over 1000 employees in 23 countries, including 440 in its Berlin headquarters. Investors in the company include among others Insight Venture Partners, Kite Ventures, Team Europe, ru-Net, Tengelmann Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Phenomen Ventures and Vostok Nafta. www.deliveryhero.com

DRINKING BEER REGULARLY LOWERS KIDNEY STONES DISEASE RISKS

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he Washington Post reports that a study found in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology compared the effects certain beverages had on a person’s chance of developing kidney stones. It was found that daily doses of sugary soft drinks could increase the chance of kidney stones, while other drinks — such as coffee and beer — reduced the risk.

Folks who drank one or more sugar-sweetened colas per day had a 23 percent higher risk than those who drank them once a week. Those who

drank sugary, clear non-cola sodas daily experienced a 33 percent higher risk as opposed to weekly consumers.

But a daily regimen of other tasty beverages were found to lower the risk of kidney stones compared to weekly intake: risk was reduced 26 percent for caffeinated coffee, 16 percent for decaffeinated coffee, 12 percent for orange juice, 11 percent for tea, 31 percent for red wine and 33 percent for white wine.

And finally, beer was found to reduce the risk of kidney stones by 41 percent.

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RATING November 24, 2014 #77

caucasian business week

THE WORLD’S MOST GENEROUS COUNTRIES

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THE WORLD’S 50 MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

or nine years in a row, Apple has been the most innovative company on the planet.

That designation comes care of Boston Consulting Group, the elite consultancy.

Since last year’s list, Google climbed over Samsung to take the second spot, sliding the South Korean manufacturer into third.

Three companies vaulted into the top 50: The Japanese conglomerate Hitachi landed at No. 37, Marc Benioff‘s SalesForce.com landed at No. 40, and the Chinese phone maker Xiaomi made it all the way to No. 35. Automobiles saw the biggest drop-off of any industry. A full 14 made the 2013 list, and that number fell to just nine this year.

Every year since 2005, the firm has surveyed more than 1,500 senior global executives for a snapshot of the most innovative companies in the world. Each executive is asked to rate the companies in their industry by how innovative they are, and those results are then weighted to reflect three-year shareholder growth, revenue growth, and margin growth.

Here are this year’s 50 most innovative companies:

Georgia 123rd among 135 candidates

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or the fifth year running, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has released it’s annual World Giving Index, a study that investigates and ranks the charitable behavior of different countries around the world.

Sharing the top place in their 2014 list is Burma (Myanmar) and the United States, closely followed by Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

The British-based foundation, which works to facilitate and encourage donations to charity, uses its own system to come up with its rankings, using information from Gallup’s World View World Poll about how much people help strangers, how much money they donate and how much time they spend volunteering.

The use of three different factors may help to explain the diverse nature of the list. While the presence of the United States, the country with the highest Gross Domestic Product in the world, at the top of the list may seem somewhat logical, American readers might be surprised to see they share that top spot with Burma, a relatively poor country that only emerged from a decades-long dictatorship in recent years.

However, CAF’s report notes that Burma’s high position is largely due to specific aspects of Burma’s religious makeup and culture: Whilst America’s strong performance across all forms of giving contributes to its top ranking, Myanmar’s position is driven primarily by an incredibly high proportion of people donating money (91%). This reflects the strong Thera-

vada Buddhist community within Myanmar, with its estimated 500,000 monks (the highest proportion of monks to population of any Buddhist country) receiving support from lay devotees.

Indeed, the practice of charitable giving or dana is integral to religious observance amongst Theravada Buddhists, with it being one of the key paths to earning good merit. The position of Myanmar reminds us how important each country’s distinctive culture is in the predilection of its people to be charitable.

The U.S. lags behind here, only ninth in the rankings of amount of people donating money, though it ranked high in the two other categories. It should be noted that the donating money score refers only to the percentage of people who gave money in the last month, and not the sum total of the amount given, which may hinder countries with large individual donors.

The report also notes that global events play a major role. For example, look at Malaysia, another high entry: Malaysia has experienced a significant improvement across all three ways of giving, resulting in a 26 percentage point increase in its World Giving Index and a move from seventy-first place to seventh. This behavioral change is likely to reflect the humanitarian effort undertaken following Typhoon Haiyan in the neighboring Philippine archipelago, and is in line with giving uplifts recorded following other natural disasters in China and Japan.

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CURRENCY caucasian business week

November 24, 2014 #77

EXCHANGE RATE MONITORING

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he national currency exchange rate was stable last week. From 14 to November 20 the GEL exchange rate against EUR fell by 0.7% and one EUR rose to 2.2164 GEL from 2.2007 GEL. The GEL exchange rate against USD slightly rose by 0.1% to 1.7652 point from 1.7675 point.

As to GBP, the GEL exchange rate against GBP rose by 0.4% to 2.7721 point from 2.7828 point.

An about 2% upturn was seen in relation to Russian Ruble. The value of 100 Rubles shrank to 3.7583 GEL from 3.8271 GEL. The GEL exchange rate has shrunk by 1.7% YTD against USD, grown by 8% against EUR, increased by 3.2% against GBP and risen by 30% against Ruble.

As to the historical retrospective, that is the same period of the last 10 years, the GEL exchange rate against USD recorded the highest figure on November 20, 2007 with 1.6240 point. The weakest rate of 1.7950 was registered on November 20.2005.

The GEL exchange rate against EUR was strongest on November 2008 with 2.0823 point and the rate saw bottom of 2.5020 point in November 2009.

The GEL exchange rate against GBP was strongest on November 20, 2008 with 2.4709 point and the rate saw its bottom on November 20, 2007 with 3.3275 point.

The GEL exchange rate changes against various currencies YTD are as follows:

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EUR/GEL

GBP/GEL

USD/GEL

US DOLLAR BULLISH TREND REMAINS INTACT

ighter economic calendar restricted any big moves in the Forex market. US monthly retail sales surprised on the upside, reversing previous month’s declines, while Euro-zone GDP expanded at a sluggish pace, registering a modest growth of 0.2% in the third-quarter.

Meanwhile, slightly weaker-than-expected UK employment data coupled with dovish BOE’s quarterly inflation report triggered bearish move for the British Pound. Last week’s mixed performance against other major currencies led to a range-bound move for the overall US Dollar Index (I.USDX), that measures US Dollar’s performance against its major counterparts.

After last week’s lull movement, will the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting help US Dollar continue with its strong up-trend? Minutes of the Fed’s October policy meeting is scheduled for release and would now be looked for some hints of considering an earlier-than-expected interest rate hike by the central bank. Apart from the Fed minutes, investors will also have a look at the latest reading on US headline inflation, consumer price inflation (CPI), for October. Following a modest rise 0.1% in September versus the expectation of CPI to remain unchanged, economists are expecting October reading to drop by 0.1% on a month-on-month basis. The Core CPI figure, which excludes the volatile food and energy prices, is expected to register an increase of 0.2%.

Investors will also watch two regional manufacturing indices along with the housing data from US economic calendar for fresh signs of strength in the ongoing US economic recovery, which could be helpful in determining further strength for the US Dollar.

The release of government’s report on building permits and housing starts for the month of September are scheduled for release. Economists expect the number of building permits to hold steady above the 1 million mark, at 1.04 million units annualized rate and housing starts are also expected to reclaim the annual pace of 1 million units in the month of September. Meanwhile, existing home sale are also expected to continue reflecting positive momentum in the US housing market and expected to come-in at an annualized rate of 5.16 million units.

Manufacturing data for the month of November includes the release of Empire State Manufacturing Index and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index. Following an unexpected sharp drop to 6.2 in October from 27.5 in September, the Empire State Manufacturing Index is expected to climb and print 12.1 for

November. Meanwhile, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index is expected to register a decline and reach 18.9 from 20.7 recorded in October.

This week’s inflation data and FOMC meeting minutes could possibly hint towards sufficient headroom for the central bank to keep lower interest rates. This in the short-run could extend last corrective move for the US Dollar, but the same is unlikely to distort the well-established medium-term bullish trend for the US Dollar.

From the UK, inflation data, minutes from Bank of England’s latest monetary policy meeting and retail sales data are likely to continue probing some volatile moves for GBP pairs. Last inflation report, expected to remain at 1.2%, the lowest level since Sept. 2009, already seems to be priced in by the market. However, subdued inflation seems to further push the expectations of a interest rate hike by BoE, which would eventually result into continuing weakness for GBP in the near-term. The same is likely to be reflected in minutes from BoE’s latest policy meeting and is not expected to show any change in the number of MPC members showing willingness to raise benchmark interest rates. Meanwhile, consumer spending, which remains supportive pillar of UK’s economic recovery, is expected to have bounced back in October with consensus forecasting retail sales to register a 0.4% growth following a decline of 0.3% in the previous month.

Elsewhere, investors will be particularly focusing on the release of PMI data, a leading indicator of economic health, for both manufacturing and services sector from the Euro-zone. The flash reading of the PMI numbers from Euro-zone’s two largest economies, France and Germany, along with the broader Euro-zone PMI for the month of November are scheduled for release. The German manufacturing and services PMI are expected to show continuous expansion while the French PMI figures are expected to reflect contraction in manufacturing and services sector. The overall Euro-zone PMI figures, however, are expected to show activity in manufacturing and services sectors expanding at a similar pace witnessed in the previous month. Other key economic release featuring Euro-zone economic calendar include German ZEW Economic Sentiment for November, scheduled for release. Even if the PMI figures print better-than-expected results, looming risk of deflation in the Euro-zone is likely to limit any major upside for the common currency, Euro.

Following the Bank of Japan’s surprise announcement on Oct. 31 to expand its annual asset purchases, BoJ’s monetary policy decision is likely to prove a non-event for the Forex market. However, market player would be keen to see BoJ’s evaluation of the latest economic conditions after the release of GDP data, that showed Japanese economy shrank by 0.4% in the July-September period. The surprise Q3 contraction is a clear reflection of the economy struggling to overcome the effects of a sales tax hike introduced in April.

Also watch-out for HSBC’s flash Chinese manufacturing PMI data for the month of November, which is scheduled for release. Being the largest consumer of commodities, Chinese economic data always bears a material impact on commodity currencies and being Australia largest trading partner, the last PMI data is likely to spark some meaningful move for AUD pairs.

HARESH MENGHANI Senior Market Analyst Admiral Markets

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RESEARCH November 24, 2014 #77

caucasian business week

NEIGHBORHOOD

Azerbaijan, Spain to open direct air service

Toyota to launch hydrogen fuelled car

irect air service between Azerbaijan and Spain is planned to open in 2015.

Nazim Samadov, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism made the remark during the EIBTM international tourist exhibition in Barcelona, Spain.

Samadov said currently, the negotiations on opening a direct air service between Madrid and Baku are at the final stage.

The route is a big leap forward in facilitating the flow of tourists and boosting business between the two countries.

He admitted that the main obstacle towards attracting more Spanish visitors is the fact that Azerbaijan is unknown in Spain and emphasized the need to increase Baku’s commercial activities in this sphere.

OYOTA Motors will start selling its first hydrogen fuelled car, the Mirai, in December, making it the first vehicle of this type produced in series to hit the market THE Mirai (meaning “future” in Japanese) will be available in Japan from December 15.

It’s recommended selling price inclusive of taxes is $US62,094, according to a company statement.

Toyota aims to sell about 400 units in Japan until the end of 2015 and plans to launch the vechile in Europe and the United States around next summer.

Toyota Executive Vice President Mitsuhisa Kato says that in terms of innovation the car goes far beyond even the Prius (a hybrid manufactured by Toyota, which also was a market pioneer) The Mirai can run around 650 kilometers on a tank of hydrogen which takes about three minutes to recharge completely and emits only water vapour.

The sedan also includes a hybrid system that allows the car to run on petrol.

The Japanese government earlier in 2014 announced that these cars would have a special subsidy plan which, in Mirai’s case, would cut its price in Japan by up to $US42,880. This formula was used to introduce the Toyota Prius in Japan, the first hybrid to be manufactured in series in 1997 and the initial price of which was around $US20,000 at the time.

Toyota competitor Honda Motor on Monday presented its own hydrogen-fuelled model due for release in March 2016 with limitied marketing.

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TENDENCIES RELATED TO PURCHASING REAL ESTATE Saburtalo is the most desired district in terms of acquiring real estate

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urchasing real estate is one of the ways of investing money. It is becoming particularly popular in stable political and economic situation. ACT was interested to find out tendencies related to behavior of Tbilisi residents and preferences related to purchasing real estate especially due to political events taking part recently which obviously make an influence on activism of real estate market and purchasing value of citizens.

As a result of survey conducted by ACT, it was revealed that 16% of Tbilisi residents plan to purchase different types of real estate within the future 1-2 years. It is worth mentioning that relatively more demand goes towards purchasing of residential area – apartment or private house.

3% 81% 1% 1% 1% 2% 5% 6%

As for preferences related to location of real estate, tendencies show that the most demandable district is Saburtalo (30% of them who plan to purchase real estate are interested in this district). It is quite interesting that in general, central and/or so called prestigious districts are not in such a high priority and Tbilisi residents prefer to purchase real estate in districts such as Didube (including Dighomi massive), outskirts of Tbilisi and Nadzaladevi.

6% 4% 4% 5% 6%

Kazakhstan-China economic cooperation issues in focus

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azakh Minister of National Economy Yerbolat Dossayev and Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce (Assistant Minister) Tong Daochi discussed the trade-economic cooperation between the two countries.

“Taking into account that China is one of the world’s largest investors, we expect a significant intensification of investment activity in Kazakhstan after a new package of incentives was created for investors,” Dossayev said.

The sides also discussed the preparation for Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang’s upcoming visit to Kazakhstan in December.

“China is the closest neighbor and strategically important trade-economic partner for Kazakhstan,” Dossayev said. “We have quite friendly and allied political relations.”

“The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China amounted to $13.3 billion in January-September 2014,” he said.

The inflow of direct investments from China to Kazakhstan from 2005 to the first half of 2014 amounted to more than $ 11.8 billion (mostly construction, mining and oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan).

6% 7% 9% 11% 13% 17% 30%

It is quite interesting, that potential buyers prefer to buy real estate in the district they are familiar with – where they live, which is familiar or where friends live. Besides, ecological situation and proximity to work/education institution are rather popular factors while selecting a certain district.

And finally, potential buyers of real estate are mostly 25-44 years old married men who are employed as hired workers and whose income exceeds 500 GEL. The survey was conducted on 417 adult residents of Tbilisi in October, 2014. The statistical error of the data does not exceed 4.84%.

The survey was conducted exclusively for internet magazine “Marketer”. Third party must give a notice before using the given information fully or partially. http://www.act-gr.com/

WORLD NEWS

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H&M’s October sales up 14 percent, above expectations

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ennes & Mauritz, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, posted on Monday a 14 percent rise in October sales from a year ago, beating forecasts.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average predicted a 10 percent rise.

The Swedish budget fashion firm, which has the bulk of business in Europe, has said that in September, when sales growth landed at 8 percent, many customers delayed purchases of cold-weather gear amid unusually warm weather.

Russia, Iran ink new contract on Bushehr nuke plant

Coca –Cola Opens its Startup Incubator

ussia and Iran signed a contract in Moscow to construct two new power units at Bushehr nuclear power plant in accordance with Russian technology.

Russia’s State Nuclear Corporation JSC NIAEP - JSC Atomstroyexport (ASE) and Iran’s Nuclear Power Production and Development Company signed the contract on November 11 in Moscow, RIA Novosti reported.

The document envisages the construction of two power units at Bushehr nuclear power plant with the possibility of increasing the number of power units to four.

Earlier, Deputy Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi said that Iran plans to start construction of two new nuclear power plants by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21).

“The two power plants will most probably be constructed near the Bushehr nuclear power plant,” he said, adding that the two plants will have the capacity to produce 1,000 megawatt of electricity.

“The construction plan will be complete in 5 to 7 years,” Kamalvand added.

avid Butler, VP of innovation at Coca-Cola, says that his company has created a program called the Coca-Cola Founders Program to provide funds ranging from $1 to $1M, along with the resources of his company to help experienced entrepreneurs from around the world with cool ideas get off the ground.

Butler says it’s not a simple matter because often times large brands, no matter how good their intentions, don’t mix well with small startups, so it’s not as easy as saying you are going to provide some money. It takes work and commitment to experimentation to build a program like this and let it blossom without being overly controlling.

The first group is truly international too with groups from Sydney, Buenos Aries, Bangalore, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and more.

Once these entrepreneurs join the program, they get the benefit of funding and access to a range of resources that only an organization the size of Coca-Cola could provide.

The reason this startup project appeals to Coke is that its target market is between 13 and 24, which is certainly a demographic that Coca-Cola and other brands want to access

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PUBLICITY caucasian business week

November 24, 2014 #77

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TBILISI GUIDE November 24, 2014 #77

Embassy United States of America Embassy 11 Balanchivadze St., Dighomi Dstr., Tbilisi Tel: 27-70-00, 53-23-34 E-mail: tbilisivisa@state.gov; askconsultbilisi@state.gov United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Embassy 51 Krtsanisi Str., Tbilisi, Tel: 227-47-47 E-mail: british.embassy.tbilisi@fco.gov.uk Republic of France Embassy 49, Krtsanisi Str. Tbilisi, Tel: 272 14 90 E-mail: ambafrance@access.sanet.ge Web-site: www.ambafrance-ge.org Federal Republic of Germany Embassy 20 Telavi St. Tbilisi Tel: 44 73 00, Fax: 44 73 64 Italian RepublicEmbassy 3a Chitadze St, Tbilisi, Tel: 299-64-18, 292-14-62, 292-18-54 E-mail: embassy.tbilisi@esteri.it Republic of Estonia Embassy 4 Likhauri St., Tbilisi, Tel: 236-51-40 E-mail: tbilisisaatkond@mfa.ee Republic of Lithuania Embassy 25 Tengiz Abuladze St, Tbilisi Tel: 291-29-33 E-mail: amb.ge@urm.lt Republic of Latvia Embassy 16 Akhmeta Str., Avlabari, 0144 Tbilisi.

E-mail: embassy.georgia@mfa.gov.lv Greece Republic Embassy 37. Tabidze St. Tbilisi Tel: 91 49 70, 91 49 71, 91 49 72 Czech RepublicEmbassy 37 Chavchavadze St. Tbilisi ;Tel: 291-67-40/41/42 E-mail: czechembassy@gol.ge Web-sait: www.mzv.cz Japan Embassy 7 Krtsanisi St. Tbilisi Tel: +995 32 2 75 21 11, Fax: +995 32 2 75 21 20 Kingdom of Sweden Embassy 15 Kipshidze St. Tbilisi Tel: +995 32 2 55 03 20 , Fax: +995 32 2 22 48 90 Kingdom of the Netherlands Embassy 20 Telavi St. Tbilisi Tel: 27 62 00, Fax: 27 62 32 People’s Republic of China Embassy 52 Barnov St. Tbilisi Tel: 225-22-86, 225-21-75, 225-26-70 E-mail: zhangling@access.sanet.ge Republic of Bulgaria Embassy 15 Gorgasali Exit, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia Tel: +995 32 291 01 94; +995 32 291 01 95 Fax: +99 532 291 02 70 Republic of Hungary Embassy 83 Lvovi Street, Tbilisi Tel: 39 90 08; E-mail: hunembtbs@gmail.com State of Israel Embassy 61 Agmashenebeli Ave. Tbilisi Tel: 95 17 09, 94 27 05 Embassy of Swiss Confederation’s Russian Federation Interests Section Embassy 51 Chavchavadze Av., Tbilisi Tel: 291-26-45, 291-24-06, 225-28-03 E-mail: RussianEmbassy@Caucasus.net Ukraine Embassy 75, Oniashvili St., Tbilisi Tel: 231-11-61, 231-12-02, 231-14-54 E-mail: ukraina_pu@wanex.net; emb_ge@mfa.gov.ua Consular Agency: 71, Melikishvili St., Batumi Tel: (8-88-222) 3-16-00/ 3-14-78 Republic of Turkey Embassy 35 Chavchavadze Av., Tbilisi Tel: 225-20-72/73/74/76 E-mail: turkemb.tbilisi@mfa.gov.tr Address: 8, M. Abashidze str.

Batumi, Georgia; tel: (8-88-222) 7 47 90 Republic of Azerbaijan Embassy Kipshidze II-bl . N1., Tbilisi Tel: 225-26-39, 225-35-26/27/28 E-mail: tbilisi@mission.mfa.gov.az Address: Dumbadze str. 14, Batumi Tel: 222-7-67-00 Fax: 222-7-34-43 Republic of Armenia Embassy 4 Tetelashvili St. Tbilisi Tel: 95-94-43, 95-17-23, 95-44-08 E-mail: armemb@caucasus.net Web: www.armenianembassy.ge Consulate General, Batumi Address: Batumi, Gogebashvili str. 32, Apt. 16 Kingdom of Spain Embassy Rustaveli Ave. 24, I floor, Tbilisi Tel: 230-54-64 E-mail: emb.tiflis@maec.es Romania Embassy

caucasian business week 7 Kushitashvili St., Tbilisi Tel: 38-53-10; 25-00-98/97 E-mail: ambasada@caucasus.net Republic of Poland Embassy 19 Brothers Zubalashvili St., Tbilisi Tel: 292-03-98 Email:tbilisi.amb.sekretariat@msz.gov.pl Web-site: www.tbilisi.polemb.net Republic of Iraq Embassy Kobuleti str. 16, Tbilisi Tel: 291 35 96; 229 07 93 E-mail: iraqiageoemb@yahoo.com Federative Republic of Brazil Embassy Chanturia street 6/2, Tbilisi Tel.: +995-32-293-2419 Fax.: +995-32-293-2416 Islamic Republic of Iran Embassy 80, I.Chavchavadze St. Tbilisi, Tel: 291-36-56, 291-36-58, 291-36-59, 291-36-60; Fax: 291-36-28 E-mail: iranemb@geo.net.ge United Nations Office Address: 9 Eristavi St. Tbilisi Tel: 225-11-26/28, 225-11-29/31 Fax: 225-02-71/72 E-mail: registry.geo@undp.org Web-site: www.undp.org International Monetary Fund Office Address : 4 Freedom Sq., GMT Plaza, Tbilisi Tel: 292-04-32/33/34 E-mail: kdanelia@imf.org Web-site: www.imf.ge Asian Development Bank Georgian Resident Mission Address: 1, G. Tabidze Street

Freedom Square 0114 Tbilisi, Georgia Tel: +995 32 225 06 19 E-mail: adbgrm@adb.org; Web-site: www.adb.org World Bank Office Address : 5a Chavchavadze Av., lane-I, Tbilisi, Georgia ; Tel: 291-30-96, 291-26-89/59 Web-site: www.worldbank.org.ge Regional Office of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Address: 6 Marjanishvili St. Tbilisi Tel: 244 74 00, 292 05 13, 292 05 14 Web-site: www.ebrd.com Representation of the Council of Europe in Georgia Address : 26 Br. Kakabadze, Tbilisi Tel: 995 32 291 38 70/71/72/73 Fax: 995 32 291 38 74 Web-site: www.coe.ge Embassy of the Slovak Republic Address: Chancery: 85 Irakli Abashidze St. Tbilisi, 0162 Georgia Consular Office: 38 Nino Chkheidze St. Tbilisi, 0102 Georgia Phone: 2 222 4437, 2 296 1913 e-mail: emb.tbilisi@mzv.sk

Hotels in Georgia TBILISI MARRIOTT Tbilisi , 13 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 77 92 00, www.marriott.com COURTYARD MARRIOTT Tbilisi , 4 Freedom Sq. Tel: 77 91 00 www.marriott.com RADISSON BLU HOTEL, TBILISI Rose Revolution Square 1 0108, Tbilisi Tel: +995 32 402200 radissonblu.com/hotel-tbilisi RADISSON BLU HOTEL, BATUMI Ninoshvili Str. 1, 6000 Bat’umi, Georgia Tel: 8 422255555 http://radissonblu.com/hotel-batumi SHERATON METECHI PALACE Tbilisi , 20 Telavi St. Tel: 77 20 20, www.starwoodhotels.com SHERATON BATUMI 28 Rustaveli Street • Batumi Tel: (995)(422) 229000 www.sheratonbatumi.com HOLIDAY INN TBILISI Business hotel Addr: 1, 26 May Square Tel: +995 32 230 00 99 E-mail: info@hi-tbilisi.com Website: http://www.hi-tbilisi.com BETSY’S HOTEL With Marvellous Tbilisi Views Addr: 32/34 Makashvili St. Tbilisi Tel: +995 32 293 14 04; +995 32 292 39 96 Fax: +995 32 99 93 11 E-mail: info@betsyshotel.com Website: http://www.betsyshotel.com

Restaurants RESTAURANT BARAKONI Restaurant with healthy food.

Georgian-European Cuisine Agmashenebeli Alley 13th Phone: 555 77 33 77 www.barakoni.com CHARDIN 12 Tbilisi , 12 Chardin St. , Tel: 92 32 38 CAFE 78 Best of the East and the West Lado Asatiani 33, SOLOLAKI 032 2305785; 574736290 BREAD HOUSE Tbilisi , 7 Gorgasali St. , Tel: 30 30 30 BUFETTI - ITALIAN RESTAURANT Tbilisi , 31 I. Abashidze St. , Tel: 22 49 61 DZVELI SAKHLI Tbilisi , 3 Right embankment , Tel: 92 34 97, 36 53 65, Fax: 98 27 81 IN THE SHADOW OF METEKHI Tbilisi , 29a Tsamebuli Ave. , Tel: 77 93 83, Fax: 77 93 83 PICASSO Tbilisi , 4 Miminoshvili St. , Tel: 98 90 86 SAKURA - JAPANESE RESTAURANT Tbilisi , 29 I. Abashidze St. , Tel: 29 31 08, Fax: 29 31 08 SIANGAN - CHINESE RESTAURANT Tbilisi , 41 Peking St , Tel: 37 96 88 VERA STEAK HOUSE Tbilisi , 37a Kostava St , Tel: 98 37 67 BELLE DE JOUR 29 I. Abashidze str, Tbilisi; Tel: (+995 32) 230 30 30 VONG 31 I. Abashidze str, Tbilisi Tel: (+995 32) 230 30 30 BRASSERIE L’EXPRESS 14 Chardin str, Tbilisi Tel: (+995 32) 230 30 30 TWO SIDE PARTY CLUB 7 Bambis Rigi, Tbilisi Tel: (+995 32) 230 30 30

SH. RUSTAVELI STATE THEATRE Tbilisi. 17 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 93 65 83, Fax: 99 63 73 TBILISI STATE MARIONETTE THEATRE Tbilisi. 26 Shavteli St. Tel: 98 65 89, Fax: 98 65 89 THEATRE OF PANTOMIME Tbilisi. 37 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 99 63 14, (77) 41 41 50 Z. PALIASHVILI TBILISI STATE THEATRE OF OPERA AND BALLET Tbilisi. 25 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 98 32 49, Fax: 98 32 50

Galleries ART GALLERY LINE Tbilisi. 44 Leselidze St. BAIA GALLERY Tbilisi. 10 Chardin St. Tel: 75 45 10 GALLERY Tbilisi. 12 Erekle II St. Tel: 93 12 89

Akhvledianis Khevi N13, Tbilisi, GE. +995322958377; +995599265432

Cinemas AKHMETELI Tbilisi. “Akhmeteli” Subway Station Tel: 58 66 69 AMIRANI Tbilisi. 36 Kostava St. Tel: 99 99 55, RUSTAVELI Tbilisi. 5 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 92 03 57, 92 02 85, SAKARTVELO Tbilisi. 2/9 Guramishvili Ave. Tel: 8 322308080,

Theatres A. GRIBOEDOV RUSSIAN STATE DRAMA THEATRE Tbilisi. 2 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 93 58 11, Fax: 93 31 15 INDEPENDENT THEATRE Tbilisi. 2 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 98 58 21, Fax: 93 31 15 K. MARJANISHVILI STATE ACADEMIC THEATRE Tbilisi. 8 Marjanishvili St. Tel: 95 35 82, Fax: 95 40 01 M. TUMANISHVILI CINEMA ACTORS THEATRE Tbilisi. 164 Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 35 31 52, 34 28 99, Fax: 35 01 94 METEKHI – THEATRE OF GEORGIAN NATIONAL BALLET Tbilisi. 69 Balanchivadze St. Tel: (99) 20 22 10 MUSIC AND DRAMATIC STATE THEATRE Tbilisi. 182 Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 34 80 90, Fax: 34 80 90 NABADI - GEORGIAN FOLKLORE THEATRE Tbilisi. 19 Rustaveli Ave. Tel: 98 99 91 S. AKHMETELI STATE DRAMATIC THEATRE Tbilisi. 8 I. Vekua St. Tel: 62 59 73

THE BEST GEORGIAN HONEY OF CHESTNUTS,ACACIA AND LIME FLOWERS FROM THE VERY HART OF ADJARA MATCHAKHELA GORGE IN THE NETWORK OF GOODWILL, NIKORA AND SMART

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PUBLICITY caucasian business week

November 24, 2014 #77