Issue #1271

Issue no: 1271

• NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

PRICE: GEL 2.50

In this week’s issue...

Georgia Resumes Regular Flights to Several More Cities NEWS PAGE 3

Protesters Rally & March, but to What Effect?

POLITICS PAGE 4

To Stop the Counting or to Recount, Trump’s Real Question POLITICS PAGE 5

How a Team of 4 Students Became a Beeline Business Partner BUSINESS PAGE 6

FOCUS ON GLORIA JEANS A new brand of coffee enters Tbilisi, with plans to expand

PAGE 9

Carrefour Continues Digital Expansion: Products Now Available on Wolt BUSINESS PAGE 7

The Better Alternative: Solving Disputes through Mediation BUSINESS PAGE 9

Embassy & MASHAV Georgia’s 2020 Parliamentary Israeli Deliver Half Ton of Equipment to Georgia's National Center Elections: Results & Reactions for Disease Control SOCIETY PAGE 10

BY ANA DUMBADZE

Guide to Georgia’s Regional Theaters 2020

O

n Saturday, October 31, one of the year's most important political events, the 2020 Parliamentary Elections, took place in Georgia, allowing voters to elect 150 members of parliament for a four-year term with a mixed model: 120 MPs elected through the proportional system, and 30 through the majoritarian system.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that 3,526.023 voters were registered for the elections, of which 3,511.853 live in Georgia, and 14,170 are abroad.

A total of 3,657 polling stations were open across Georgia and 52 abroad.

The vote-counting procedure was launched after 20:00 following the completion of the polling process, however, the Central Election Commission announced the preliminary results later than expected, in the early hours of the following morning, reporting that the percentage dis-

CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

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GD celebrating. Source: GD Facebook Page

tribution of votes at that time, based on the data collected from 1085 precincts, was the following: Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia - 54.72%, National Movement - Power is in Unity - 23.61,

European Georgia - 3.99%, Alliance of Patriots - 3.32, Lelo - 2, 66%; Strategy Builder - 2.46%; Girchi - 1.91%; Labor Party - 0.92%.

Continued on page 2

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NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

Corona Updates: Georgia Has 15,332 Active Cases

BY TEAM GT

A

s of November 5, 2401 new cases of coronavirus had been detected in Georgia, bringing the total number of infected people to 49,218.

The majority of the newly detected cases were recorded in Tbilisi.

At the same time, the country recorded 2289 recoveries and 20 deaths in the previous 24 hours.

“We still maintain positive dynamics in terms of the growth of recovering people,” the government administration reported. “In particular, 2289 people recovered in the last 24 hours, and the total number of recoveries since February has thus increased to 33,459.”

Unfortunately, 20 people died over those 24 hours. Including 10 people in Tbilisi, 2 in Adjara, 7 in Imereti and 1 in Mtskheta-Mtianeti. Since February 26, 2020, Georgia has seen a total of 401 deaths.

Of 2401 cases detected [Thursday], 976 cases were detected in Tbilisi, 328 in

Adjara, 368 in Imereti, 61 in Kvemo Kartli, 135 in Shida Kartli, 62 in Guria, 280 in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, 70 in Kakheti, 31 in Mtskheta-Mtianeti, 55 in SamtskheJavakheti, 35 in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti.

Based on the official data, 293 patients infected with the coronavirus are currently on artificial respiration and there are 638 seriously ill patients, including 316 in Tbilisi and 100 in Adjara.

At this stage, there are 15,332 active cases in the country.

WEARING FACE MASKS IN OPEN SPACES BECOMES MANDATORY Wearing a face mask has become mandatory outdoors as well as in, the Interagency Council of the Government of Georgia decided this week.

“We have made a decision to make it mandatory not only to wear a face mask indoors but also in open spaces,” Deputy Prime Minister Maia Tskitishvili stated, adding that the decision serves to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“Face masks are recognized worldwide as one of the best means of slowing down

the spread of the virus; therefore, the use of face masks by citizens both indoors and outdoors is now considered of particular importance, as the correct use of face masks by 90% [of the population] is said to reduce the risk of the spread of infection by 70%,” she added.

Citizens seen by police not wearing face masks in both closed and open spaces from November 4 will be asked to pay a 20 GEL fine.

“The sanction and regulation on wearing face masks will be the same both for open and closed spaces,” the Vice Prime Minister said.

will be temporarily closed until the epidemiological situation improves,” Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze announced on Wednesday. The move does not apply to private kindergartens or those in other parts of the country.

“We launched studies in kindergartens, and had to close about 40 [cases]. Due to the current epidemiological situation, there has been a lot of discussion on this issue, and from tomorrow, Tbilisi’s kindergartens will be completely closed until the epidemiological situation improves. We care about the health of our children,” Kaladze said.

STUDIES TO CONTINUE REMOTELY IN 10 CITIES OF GEORGIA

GEORGIA’S HEALTHCARE SERVICE

The government has decided to keep the system of distance learning ongoing in several Georgian cities.

The Deputy PM stated that studies will continue remotely in 10 big cities of Georgia: Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Telavi, Zugdidi, Zestaponi, Gori, Poti, Marneuli and Gardabani from November 4-25, as the second round of the parliamentary elections is scheduled to take place on November 21, and the school buildings will be used as polling stations during the voting process.

“In many settlements, we have to conduct a second round of voting, and hundreds of schools have already been set up as polling stations. Given the importance of reducing mobility in big cities, we decided today to keep the distance learning regime in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Telavi, Zugdidi, Zestaponi, Gori, Poti, Marneuli and Gardabani. Study in Adjara is also being carried out remotely,” Tskitishvili noted.

STATE KINDERGARTENS CLOSED “Effective tomorrow, state kindergartens

At Wednesday's session of the Interagency Coordination Council, which was held via video conferencing and chaired

by Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, Council members discussed the growing pattern of the global number of people infected with coronavirus, as well as the situation in clinics and the operation of the primary level of healthcare. It was noted that the Ministry of Healthcare is constantly working to mobilize additional beds in clinics, as necessary. The Ministry was instructed during the session to enhance the medical component in COVID hotels where mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients are receiving treatment. Family doctors of insurance companies are also involved in the process of managing the treatment of patients with mild cases of infection who are undergoing treatment at home. The Central Online Clinic, which systematically monitors patients who are being treated at home, as well as those who are self-isolating together, is also operational; if a patient's condition worsens, the Clinic ensures that the appropriate steps are taken in response.

GOVERNMENT MEMBERS, MINISTERS GO INTO SELF-ISOLATION AFTER EXPOSURE TO COVID-19 On Monday, the Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia tested positive for coronavirus.

He is said to be feeling well and is continuing his treatment, and his job, from home.

Gakharia began to self-isolate on 31 October following contact with a member of the security staff who was diagnosed with coronavirus as a result of targeted selective testing.

The head of the Government Administration, Natia Mezvrishvili, also tested positive for coronavirus the same day, as did the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, and the Minister of Health and Social Care of Adjara, Nino Nizharadze.

“I have tested positive for COVID-19.

I'm fine, undergoing treatment at home and I will continue working as much as possible,” Mezvrishvili wrote. It was a sentiment echoed by all the above.

Georgia's Minister of Education Mikheil Chkhenkeli was another to move to selfisolation this week, as a family member had tested positive for coronavirus.

“The Minister has no symptoms typical of COVID-19 and is feeling well. He will continue his activities remotely,” the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

The state leaders and members of the Georgian Dream party were not alone in their coronavirus afflictions, however, as Salome Samadashvili, a leader of the opposition United National Movement party, also tested positive for coronavirus.

She wrote on social media that she has no symptoms typical of COVID-19.

“Friends, I've tested positive for coronavirus. However, I'm asymptomatic and remain in self-isolation,” Samadashvili wrote.

Georgia’s 2020 Parliamentary Elections: Results & Reactions Continued from page 1 “1085 polling stations have been counted.

These are mainly polling stations that are small in the number of voters, and there are still a lot of protocols to be received, both from Tbilisi and big cities. It may change the results,” said Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Georgia.

Shortly after, Georgian Dream declared its victory and started preparations for a celebration.

“We’ve won,” Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated.

Prior to that, the public saw four different exit polls conducted by various TV Channels, showing ruling Georgian Dream party leading in the elections, but with different percentages. The above caused confusion among society, with the main question “Who won?” as both the opposition and the government started to celebrate a victory.

An exit poll conducted by Imedi TV showed Georgian Dream leading with 55% of votes, while the polls conducted

by Rustavi 2 showed GD as having secured 52.26% of the votes cast. Oppositionminded channels Mtavari Arkhi and Formula TV consecutively showed the party winning, with 41% and 46% of votes respectively.

However, the opposition refused to accept defeat, and claimed that they had secured enough votes to form a coalition government. They added that “This is not the real picture.”

In order to protest the results, the opposition held a rally on November 1, first in front of Parliament and then in front of Bidzina Ivanishvili's Tbilisi residence, demanding an annulment of the election results.

Throughout the following day, the Central Election Commission gradually updated the data, counting more polling stations, but still showing the ruling party leading amid opposition protests in the streets. In the afternoon of November 2, the CEC published the final results and distribution of mandates.

Based on the results, voter turnout was

Zaal Udumashvili, UNM. By Irakli Gedenidze/ Reuters

56% and 9 parties crossed the threshold for proportional representation, while a second round will be needed in 16 out of 30 majoritarian constituencies, including the eight constituencies of Tbilisi, on November 21. In all of them, a candidate from Georgian Dream will compete with an opposition candidate.

The final results of the CEC proportional list: • Georgian Dream ruling party: 48.15% of votes (61 mandates) • United National Movement - United Opposition election bloc: 27.14 % of votes (34 mandates) • European Georgia: 3.78 % of votes (4 mandates + one undistributed mandate) • Strategy Agmashenebeli: 3.15 % of votes (4 mandates) • Lelo: 3.15% of votes (4 mandates) • Alliance of Patriots: 3.14% of votes (4 mandates) • Girchi: 2.89% of votes (3 mandates + one undistributed mandate) • Aleko Elisashvili Citizens: 1.33% of votes (1 mandate + 1 undistributed mandate) • Labor Party: 1% of votes (1 mandate)

However, the United National Movement and all other above-mentioned opposition parties are refusing to enter the Parliament of the 10th convocation or to recognize the election results. They claim that the election was rigged by the government and plan a mass protest rally outside the parliament building in Tbilisi on November 8 to express their distrust in the results and to demand an annulment.

“After the population saw that there were no elections in the country, nor even a sign of elections, of course, we, the united opposition, made the decision not to enter Parliament. Our demand remains unchanged: new elections in a free environment,” said Nika Melia, one of the leaders of the UNM. Former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, the leader of the United National Movement, called on the public not to be afraid to join the scheduled rally despite the current epidemiological situation in the country. In his interview with TV Pirveli, the ex-president stated that the main thing at the rally scheduled for November 8 is the consolidation and unity of society, and the citizens should

“not be afraid of anything, including the virus.”

On November 3, all Georgian opposition parties signed a joint statement renouncing their seats in Parliament until the elections are repeated.

Irakli Kobakhidze, Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream party, told reporters that if a party refuses mandates, it should not receive any funding from the state, and that “it would be good to make such changes apparent in the legislation.”

“It would be logical that if a party refuses to enjoy the privileges granted to it by the people, it should not receive any other privileges related to the elections and mandates. This also includes state funding. In this regard, of course, it would be good to make relevant changes to the legislation, according to which, if a party treats the will of its own voters inappropriately and refuses mandates, it should be deprived of state funding.

It would be natural, very logical,” Kobakhidze said.

In turn, the authorities denied the allegations of vote rigging and voter intimidation, claiming that the opposition simply doesn’t want to accept defeat and “is trying to gain power and attention through mass demonstrations.”

The elections were monitored by 70 teams of European diplomats. International partners assessed the country's parliamentary elections of October 31, welcoming Georgia's reforming of the electoral system and its having conducted the election smoothly despite the difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they do point out that there were certain shortcomings and violations that need to be addressed.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly stated that the “elections were competitive", while also reporting “pervasive allegations of pressure on voters and blurring of the line between the ruling party and the state.”

Observers critically assessed the alleged pressure on voters, intimidating atmosphere outside polling stations, the significantly unequal distribution of registered voters amongst the constituencies,

issues with campaign financing, unaddressed ODIHR and CoE recommendations concerning certain areas in need of improvement, and more.

The United States Embassy in Georgia, commenting on the OSCE statement, said: “We call on all parties to address these deficiencies in advance of the second round and future elections. These efforts to corrupt the electoral process through voter intimidation, vote buying, interfering with ballot secrecy, blurring of party and official activities, and violence against election observers and journalists, while not sufficient to invalidate the results, continue to mar Georgia’s electoral process and are unacceptable.”

The EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Peter Stano, also commented on the Georgian parliamentary elections with a statement, noting that the elections were competitive and, overall, that fundamental freedoms were respected.

“The observers noted, however, that the conduct of the elections was impacted by pervasive allegations of pressure on voters and a blurring of the line between the ruling party and the state throughout the campaign and on Election Day, reducing public confidence in some aspects of the process,” the statement noted.

Based on the analysis issued by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), “Alleged irregularities in results protocols, widespread reports of potentially intimidating behavior in or around polling stations, delays in the publication of results and persistent perceptions of pre-election abuses of power detracted from notable improvements in the legal framework and administrative procedures for Georgia’s October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections.”

“As the results of the first round are finalized and the country heads to runoff elections on November 21, government leaders and election authorities will need to take extraordinary steps to address the concerns that have been raised and ensure public confidence in the overall process and final results,” the NDI concluded.

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

3

Georgia Resumes Regular Flights to Several More Cities

BY ANA DUMBADZE

G

eorgia this week resumed direct regular flights in several more directions.

The flight schedule from November 1 to 30 was published on the website of the Civil Aviation Agency.

Georgia suspended flights to all destinations in mid-March, when the World Health Organization declared the spread of coronavirus infection a pandemic.

Since then, only special flights have been carried out from Georgia and back, aimed at returning the citizens of the country to their homeland.

Regular flights to Munich, Paris and Riga were resumed mid-summer. In early October, low-cost airline Wizzair resumed regular flights from Kutaisi to Riga.

In November, direct regular flights from Tbilisi International Airport will

also be carried out in the directions of Doha, Istanbul, Warsaw, Athens, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, Minsk, Kiev and Aktau, and from Kutaisi International Airport to Vilnius and Dortmund.

The decision on the frequency of flights is made by the Civil Aviation Agency individually in agreement with the Ministry of Economy of Georgia, and also depends on the companies themselves

and their commercial capabilities.

The Georgian government has changed the rules for quarantine for foreign citizens, and now a number of foreigners and citizens of Georgia will no longer

be forced into quarantine zones.

Georgian citizens arriving from 13 European countries, and their family members, will not have to undergo quarantine upon arrival in the country if they have a negative PCR test for coronavirus, done within 72 hours. These countries are Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Sweden, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Slovenia and Iceland.

Georgian citizens and their family members, if they have a PCR test, will only go through self-isolation for 8 days.

If the test is not available, quarantine will be required.

The same applies to citizens of the above countries and those with a residence permit in these countries, but only if they arrive from these countries by air.

However, foreign students will need quarantine even with the mandatory presence of coronavirus test. At the same time, they will be required to cover the costs of quarantine themselves.

POLITICS

New Book ‘Luna & the Planet of Fireflies’ Published in the Framework of the MenCare Campaign

Photo by Levan Kapanadze / MenCare Georgia

L

una and the Planet of Fireflies, written by Dato Gorgiladze and illustrated by Tatia Nadareishili, is a story created for children and their parents.

The book tells the story of an ordinary family surrounded by magic adventures, in which the mother and the father equally share the responsibilities related to child care and domestic work.

“Luna and the Planet of Fireflies” was developed on the initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia Country Office, with the support of the European Union in the framework of the MenCare Campaign and published by “Palitra L”.

“The purpose of the text is to overcome stereotypes surrounding the family arrangements and distribution of domestic work that still exist in Georgia. Society still strongly believes that there are jobs for men and jobs for women. Caring for children, changing diapers, cooking and feeding children is the mother’s primary responsibility and the father can do it only during his free time, when he can,” states Dato Gorgiladze, the writer and author of the text.

The goal of the book is to highlight the importance of men’s role as caring fathers, husbands and partners, and to promote their involvement in child care and family affairs, which is the primary condition for

achieving practical gender equality and improving the wellbeing of women, children and family. Data on gender relations show that stereotypes and established clichés around traditional gender roles stop fathers from equal sharing of responsibilities and becoming caring fathers, husbands, partners and family members.

“The United Nations Population Fund Georgia Country Office has prioritized men’s active involvement in the process of working for the gender equality,” says Lela Bakradze, Head of the United Nations Population Fund Georgia Country Office.

“The MenCare Campaign was launched with this mission and we are pleased that for many years now we are witnessing a clear advancement: the number of our supporters is growing and men’s attitudes towards gender equality are changing. However, this is just the beginning. In order to live in a harmonized society, where women and men are sharing responsibilities equally, it is important to find innovative ways of communicating with people. Therefore, we believe that ‘Luna and the Planet of Fireflies’ is a message to parents, children and families that will help them to reflect on a number of issues.”

According to Maia Aludauri, Chief Editor of Palitra L Publishing, “there are short, seemingly simple stories on important and serious issues. ‘Luna and the

Planet of Fireflies’ is already the second book published in partnership with the campaign. We totally support the important idea promoted by the MenCare campaign. Although at the first glance, it seems like a very simple text, in it we see a significant message: a family where people understand and care for one another, and share responsibilities among themselves as well. That’s why I think that this is rather a family book.”

Illustrations of the book belong to Tatia Nadareishvili. According to her, the illustrations depict caring and harmonious relationships. Looking at these pictures from early childhood, which have positive meanings, may have an important impact on children and their parents in the fight to overcome existing stereotypes.

The book was published within the framework of “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence” implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Organization for Women (UN Women) with the support of the European Union. The goal of the program is to contribute towards overcoming gender stereotypes and discriminatory norms, to support the equal rights and opportunities for women and men and ensure active participation of men in the process of strengthening gender equality.

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Contact the owner directly – archiliko@gmail.com

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POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

Protesters Rally & March, but to What Effect?

BLOG BY MICHAEL GODWIN

S

unday night in the center of Tbilisi, the sights and sounds of thousands gathering outside parliament saturated the atmosphere. From the hardcore opposition supporter to the family going out to get away from the daily television programing, people came from all motivations. However, it seemed to be more than a congregation: it was a movement. While there are some confirmed instances of voter fraud and intimidation, the influence was judged to me of minimal influence in its worst cases. However, there are hushed reports that there was more at play, and it seems many people knew it. Now, the deciding factor was whether or not it could be proven, and the changes made.

The people outside parliament this past weekend were questioning the validity of the elections’ outcome, something not unusual for any government this day in age. Despite this, Georgia has largely been on track to be one of the most progressively headed countries in the former Soviet Bloc, not to mention Europe as a whole. As the people stood in the street in defiance, many of their leaders gave impassioned speeches. Calling for the rallying of the people and the emboldening of the citizens’ patriotism, even those with imperfect Georgian knew that change was being demanded.

The local police meanwhile maintained a peaceful atmosphere during this, allowing the protests to go on, and handling traffic in their professional manner. However, things changed when the speaking opposition members pulled a card that not many expected to come

Source: metronome.ge

out. At the climax of the speeches, a call was made to march to the hillside estate of Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili is a controversial figure, to say the least. Coming from a simple family in Imereti, he made his fortune following his early 1990s ventures in the emerging realm of Russian banking. With the era of great privatization in postSoviet Russia, Bidzina acquired many of the formerly government run industries, developed them to the new proto-capitalist model, and sold them for a profit.

As the years became decades, he found himself with a healthy sum of money, as well as a growing interest in a political career. This led to the founding of the Georgian Dream political party, now the

ruling party in the nation’s Parliament.

The compilation of these events has recently elicited the ire of many, given the already salty relationship with Russia and its politicians.

Many of the opposition feel disenfranchised, and unrepresented in the electoral process. This has been fueled more recently by a mixture of rumors and truths that some of the electoral processes have been less than honestly carried out. This is what ultimately led to the march that carried on into Sunday night. With several thousand followers, opposition leaders commanded a march from the steps of Parliament, through to Liberty (Freedom) Square, and then on to the road leading to Ivan-

ishvili’s home.

Along the way, many of the members would chant, sing, and generally wave various national and political party flags.

With the press intermingled in the crowd, they seemed to draw new supporters as they meandered through Tbilisi’s winding residential streets, albeit many simply joining for the excitement of it all. All the while, numerous bystanders and local residents came to their balconies and to the street to voice their support for the march. Interestingly, much of the populace seemed to display sympathy with the movement.

Despite the loud noises and marching, many came out at the late hour to video the people in the streets on their phone

and cheer along with the shouted slogans.

At the gates of the residence, they were finally met with police barricades.

After their pushing past the first barricade, the police managed to contain the advance. While many fervent statements were made towards the law enforcement officials, cooler heads prevailed as political leaders, police commanders, and the press managed to diffuse the situation. Slowly, the masses began to pull away from the police line, and the rally began to slowly move back to their original position.

As they moved back towards Freedom Square, the leaders of the opposition, and ostensibly the march itself, locked arms and walked down the streets of Old Tbilisi. Surrounded by the press corps, they made their way back with a trail of supporters still waving their flags. The movement morphed back into a gathering in the late hours of the evening, with groups of friends and families enjoying the night in front of the parliament building.

With the elections coming to a close and opposition efforts increasing to demand change, it remains the duty of the citizenry to stay disciplined, informed, but also vigilant on holding their elected officials responsible. Free and impartial elections are the last line of defense between the relics of the past, where power was bought, sold, or inherited, and the modernity that Georgia has thus far embraced. Corruption must be ripped out like a weed, but a fair result must be observed even if it delivers a less than one’s personally desirable end state. The effectiveness of the night’s rally is debatable, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that it may set a precedent for future events.

The Next US Administration & Georgia ANALYSIS BY EMIL AVDALIANI

U

nder the next US administration, the general approach to the South Caucasus and Georgia in particular will see little change, as US strategic interests in the region prevail over some of the the past years’ foreign policy inconsistencies and the growing disparity between America and the regional powers. After all, continuity in the US approach toward the Protest rally in front of Georgian parliament, June 20, 2020. Image by Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

South Caucasus has been the general pattern of US diplomacy since the 1990s.

There will be troubles too, though. The US is decreasing its military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and has been, if not overly isolationist, then more inward-looking in the past several years. It might take some time for the US to rewind its active involvement in Georgia and the South Caucasus at large.

Indeed, it is not only about winding down operation in Afghanistan: China's economic and military growth will continue to attract much of Washington's attention. Greater competition between China

and the US will follow, and in many respects, the next four years will be decisive. It requires attention from US policy-makers and national resources to be moved away from Western Eurasia and more towards the Indo-Pacific region.

Though Georgia has traditionally enjoyed US economic and military aid, it is still vulnerable to the changing global geopolitical landscape. Georgia fears that in the long term, the recalibration of US foreign policy could spell trouble, as Tbilisi’s aspirations for NATO membership and therefore national security, have traditionally hinged on close rela-

tions with Washington.

Still, for the next four years, some basic US interests in Georgia will persist. One of the imperatives of the US policy since the breakup of the Soviet Union was to enable governments in Tbilisi to use the country’s geographic position as a nodal point in the nascent South Caucasus energy and transport corridor. The effectiveness of the Georgian corridor also underpins a bigger vision, i.e. the TransCaspian Corridor, which, under improved circumstances, could turn into a geopolitical reality. This would inevitably increase Georgia’s independence vis-à-

vis Russian transportation networks, and create an alternative route for the Caspian states.

In the next four years, we could also see Georgia having to choose between two techno-economic blocks which are being created across Eurasia: one associated with the US, another increasingly with China. Georgian leaders would have to walk a diplomatic tightrope, keen not to draw ire from China, while preserving ties to the West. But as America’s stance on China hardens, it will be more difficult to maintain this balance. Georgia, with its geographic position, will be growingly seen as yet another divisive issue. Navigating Georgia to avoid entanglements with China and sticking closely to Western standards and trade practices will be a hallmark of the US foreign policy.

In a way, the balancing act will prove unsustainable. Georgia’s NATO and EU membership aspirations, the cornerstone of its geopolitical orientation, as well as other issues, will drive a wedge between Georgia and China. Other countries’ experience shows the trend, as the US diplomatic offensive proved successful in Europe in limiting the 5G network operation by Chinese telecom giants.

True that at this point, criticizing China openly would cost Georgia a lot, but as tensions ratchet up between the West and China, Georgia will have to pick sides openly and vocally, though strategically it has already done so in favor of the West.

Emil Avdaliani (Twitter – @emilavdaliani) is a non-resident fellow at the Georgian think tank, Geocase, and teaches history and international relations at Tbilisi State University and European University.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

5

There Goes a Novel Term – Trumpism OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

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y amateurish view of modern political science depicts the course of global politicking as ‘flexible’ which is good, ‘fickle’ which is unsafe, and ‘dubious’ which is bad. On the other hand, there are some attractive sides to this worldwide process, like the Trumpesque style of handling the inner workings of the United States, as well as America’s niche in the international family of nations, its rights, obligations and attitudes towards the countries who in fact are not capable of survival without America lending them a Good Samaritan’s hand, our Georgia being one of the kind.

Trump came to the helm and things changed, and the change has drastically told on internal and external American policies, irritating the liberally charged American citizenry to a hysterical degree, and turning upside down the democratic political kitchen headed by the current speaker of the house. The sitting American president didn’t need the headache of the world’s key country’s chief executive because he is as rich as Croesus and could have lived longer, healthier and happier without the heavy golden saddle on his back, but he chose to make America great again. Bravo!

Trump knows well that the refreshed world order has to be met by new tools for its treatment, and he is daringly applying those innovative geopolitical vehicles. Who would’ve thought that he might challenge the rules of paying dues to NATO and the United Nations, or grow apprehensive of the fairness of international trade, or doubt the virtue of environmental treaties and continue fortifying the country’s borders with concrete walls by hundreds of miles? Who is not aware today that America’s commercial enslavement to Chinese shoddy cheap-mania has come to a finale, and that the markets around the world have in panic perked their flapping ears, with stocks going through heads-up quakes? Who doesn’t know that the Russian-American adversity is methodically being cast into a potential mutual cooperation to the benefit

Source: poynter.org

of the rest of the world, whereas the pre-Trump Russian-American reset was a total fiasco? Who would not admit that the Euro-Union is looking at the USA with goggle eyes, at a loss about the unpredictability of America’s global behavior? Who will believe that America is really giving in to deliberately exacerbated racism and artificially overblown white supremacy, undermining the fairest and most powerful constitution in the history of Mankind?

Who on earth, except the idle and cowardly democrats, would wish to close the country to trigger more hunger

deaths than any pandemic pest would manage to kill? Who would trust the histrionics of perpetually losing liberals, staging their preposterous acts in the corona-ridden streets of America’s towns and cities?

Meanwhile, the second-term-happy Donald Trump will not allow the enemies of America to weaken the large-scale influence of the United States, to fail its authority among peers, or to abate its power of universal decision-making.

Trumpism is on the assault, and America should be proud of it. The United States has in the last hundred years patronized

the world in the most positive meaning of this statement, for which it has patiently and unreservedly used its every available resource. But no resource is infinite, and no patience is endless. Incidentally, President Lincoln’s famous quote is asking here to be paraphrased: “You can feed some of the countries all of the time, and all of the countries some of the time, but you cannot feed all of the countries all of the time.”

Donald Trump has probably gotten right the words of that genius sooner than any other living or dead American politician in history. Understandably,

some of us can take it easy and others might drop dead having faced the gist of Trumpism’s historic value.

Without an iota of doubt, America has its merits and flaws, like any other nation, and Trumpism is part of that kind of valuation, but whether the liberal democracy wanted the guy to be or not to be the President of the United States, he has already secured his fascinating spot in the annals of the nation which nothing and nobody can change, even the filthiest attempt of his recent stillborn impeachment. That’s what Trumpism is all about!

To Stop the Counting or to Recount, Trump’s Real Question

BY NINI DAKHUNDARIDZE

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his week, Georgians were not alone in experiencing election anxiety: Americans are still going through it, and perhaps they have it even rougher. The presidential elections took place in the United States on Tuesday, November 3, and as of early Thursday, the vote counting process had still not finished. At the time of writing, there are six battleground states where the ballot counting continues: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Alaska. In a tight race, the Democratic Party’s Joe Biden is leading with over 50% of the votes, and 253 of the electoral votes. However, these last two days have shown that the tables can turn any minute: both of the candidates have declared that they have won at different times, and then the polls change. Some politicians warned this would happen.

Bernie Sanders, the former Democratic Presidential candidate in the 2016 and 2020 elections, in an interview taped well before the elections, shared his fears with Jimmy Fallon. “You're going to have a situation, I suspect, in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and others, where they are going to be receiving huge amounts of mail-in ballots,” he said.

President Trump has never been in favor of mail-in ballots. A few months back, when more and more states started giving people the option to vote via mail because of the pandemic, Trump and his

Image source: newsx.com

supporters raged that the mail-in ballots could easily be rigged. That is why more of the mail-in votes would “probably belong to the democrats.”

“Democrats are more likely to use mailin ballots: Republicans are more likely to walk into polling booths on Election Day. It is likely that the first votes that will be counted will be those people who came in on Election Day,” it was said.

“It could well be 10 o'clock on election night, Trump is winning in Michigan, he's winning in Pennsylvania, he's winning in Wisconsin and he gets on the television and he says: 'Thank you, Americans, for re-electing me. It's all over. Have a good

day.'” Sanders said in his interview. “But then the next day, and the day following, all of those mail-in ballots start getting counted and it turns out that Biden has won those states. At which point, Trump says: 'See? I told you the whole thing was fraudulent. I told you those mail-in ballots were crooked. And, you know, we're not going to leave office’.”

As you would expect from any interview with Jimmy Fallon, it will be humorous, and the humorous thing about this October 23 interview with Sanders is that it predicted today’s reality almost to the election polls we have at the time of writing.

On early Wednesday morning, the President addressed a crowd of people from the White House, most not wearing masks. He had already won, according to him, and announcing his will to refute millions of votes, cast legally, he said: “We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.”

This came after the former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won Michigan and Wisconsin, the two battlegrounds of a tight race where Trump actually won in 2016. Commenting on his party’s win, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler told MSNBC on Thursday that “it’s really been the ‘every vote

counts situation’ in this state.”

After losing Michigan and Wisconsin, the Trump campaign announced they would be demanding a recount in Wisconsin, and then proceeded to take legal measures to halt the ballot counting in Michigan. Other lawsuits of Republicans included challenging the extension of ballot deadlines in Pennsylvania, and seeking to segregate the late absentee ballots in Georgia. Trump, ever conflicting, wants the counting to stop and the recount to happen at the same time.

Biden is closing in on Trump in Georgia, while the Democratic candidate’s lead narrows in Arizona. The contrasting protests are already hitting the US streets, while some are demanding every vote be counted, some see fraud in the counts. Around 150 Trump supporters, many of them with guns, in Arizona took to the streets to support their candidate.

“At several points, protesters contended that Adrian Fontes, the county official who oversees elections in Maricopa County, was improperly failing to count some ballots and costing Mr. Trump votes in Arizona’s most populous county, although there was no evidence that any ballots had been improperly tossed,” wrote the New York Times.

The election updates are not scheduled until later on Thursday or even Friday.

While the democrats are looking at higher chances (even if Biden only wins Arizona and Nevada, where he is slightly ahead, he will have the needed 270 presidential votes), the polls can still change.

Keep up-to-date with the results on georgiatoday.ge.

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BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

How a Team of 4 Students Became a Beeline Business Partner INTERVIEW BY ANA DUMBADZE

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he digital direction has long been an integral part of Beeline's strategy, and this is reflected in the company's activities, among them sponsorship of hackathons, support of technology conferences, and cooperation with startups.

The company is actively involved in the development of Georgia's digital ecosystem, even in the face of the pandemic. However, this time Beeline held a hackathon, Beeline Game Jam, and appeared in the role of organizer. GEORGIA TODAY talked to Jaba Shavishvili, Beeline Digital Products Manager, and members of the winning team, AbsoluteZero, about the results of the event and future plans.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA OF THE HACKATHON, AND WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF IT? After activating the gaming direction of the company at the beginning of the year, and gamifying our telecom services, we actively started searching for Georgian partners in this direction, thinking that a hackathon would be the easiest way to meet the right people and would also establish Beeline as an innovator in the local space in terms of gaming, for the first time. Game Jam had two goals: first, of course, to find a partner we would work with in the long run, and second, to support the local developer community, as we think such events (especially in this situation) help generate new ideas, encourage startups, and so on. The main concept was to bring together teams working in the field in a single space.

WHAT RESULTS DID YOU GET AND HOW WELL WERE YOUR EXPECTATIONS MET?

Considering we had to hold the event online, we had very good results. We deliberately chose not to restrict the teams participating in the hackathon so newcomers were also given the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities.

Up to 26 teams and more than 70 people participated in the Beeline Game Jam online event. We had 10 mentors with different competencies who helped the teams to create the right prototypes for the games and also held presentations from speakers on five unique and specific topics, whose tips proved important to the teams.

In the end, we got prototypes of very interesting games, the further development and ideological expansion of which is only a matter of time. Beeline selected only three teams for collaboration this year. The business partnership includes a revenue-sharing model, which means that the winners will not only receive motivational prizes, but also the products created at the hackathon will become a source for their long-term income.

WHAT FUTURE PLANS DOES BEELINE HAVE IN TERMS OF GAMES, AND WILL A SIMILAR HACKATHON BE PLANNED IN FUTURE? Based on the results of Beeline Game Jam, we want to make this event an annual tradition and cooperate more actively with the community of local game developers. We hope that next year we will be able to carry out this process in a physical space and on a much larger scale. Regarding Beeline games: very soon we’ll add games that will allow users to win not only internet packages, but also voice packages. In addition, we’ll soon be inviting customers to our updated portal, which will include a list of leaders, blogs and a lot of other interesting information. We also plan to hold regular incentive competitions, which I think will further increase engagement. The goal is to get

both consumers and game developers interested in our offerings and to create exciting products with them for the digital ecosystem of the future.

Arcade / Runner style game, which in the end turned out to be very catchy.

We became intrigued ourselves and just followed the idea to the end.

TEAM ABSOLUTEZERO

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO CREATE A PROTOTYPE OF THE GAME, AND HOW DID YOU ASSIGN THE ROLES?

high and we did our best to make our final product special. Regarding the experience: First of all, we developed the ability to work in a team. We listened to each other, agreeing on every detail, from the schedule to the audio effects. We had a shared screen, which made us feel as if we were sitting next to each other and helping each other.

Rati Alania: It took us 8-10 hours to create a prototype of the game. We assigned roles within minutes of starting work, and then worked synchronously on everything, so we gained time, which we then used to correct any flaws we encountered.

WHAT DO YOU THINK CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR VICTORY, AND WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO THE PARTICIPANTS OF FUTURE HACKATHONS?

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BEELINE GAME JAM, AND WHAT WAS YOUR MAIN MOTIVATION? Beka Tsintsadze: We like hackathontype events, and as soon as we saw that Beeline was hosting Beeline Game Jam with interesting prizes and mentors, we immediately decided to participate.

WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE WORKING ON THE IDEA? Beka Darjania: Due to the HTML5 format, we were limited in resources and had to give up sophisticated technologies, which led to the creation of an

HOW WELL DID THE HACKATHON MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND WHAT EXPERIENCE DID IT BRING APART FROM WINNING? Saba Sakvarelidze: It exceeded our expectations. The competition was quite

AbsoluteZero: Before they start working on planning and coming up with an idea, create a vision, assign responsibilities, and create a prototype as soon as possible to see if it is worth continuing, or if it’s better to return to the idea phase. We followed this path, which probably led to our victory.

Announcing the 3rd Annual Georgian Responsible Business Awards - Meliora 2020

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eliora is the most visible award in Georgia recognizing Georgian business efforts in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The goal is to raise awareness of the need for CSR among businesses and citizens, and acknowledge those companies making progress in this area.

Meliora is organized by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), with the support of the European Union and Konrad-Adenaer-Stiftung (KAS).

The focus of Meliora 2020 will be Corporate Social Responsibility in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. As such, applications will be accepted from Georgian businesses in the following four categories: ● Supporting employees during the COVID 19 pandemic ● Supporting clients, customers and suppliers during the COVID-19 pandemic ● Supporting society /communities during the COVID-19 pandemic ● Supporting SMEs and most-suffering industries during the COVID-19 pandemic Winners, receiving awards for recognition, will be selected by an independent

jury consisting of the leading Georgian and international experts who evaluate nominees based on the consistency and effectiveness of their effort, sustainability of the results, and proper design of the initiatives.

THE DEADLINE FOR THE APPLICATIONS IS 7TH DECEMBER. Winners will be announced in spring 2021.

This unique competition provides business companies a chance to promote their efforts in CSR and gain recognition for the best practises. Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards, held with the partnership of international and local expert organizations and business platforms, was launched in 2018 and to date counts 140 submitted CSR projects.

Detailed information about Meliora 2020 can be find on www.meliora.ge

ABOUT THE PROJECT "GEORGIAN CIVIL SOCIETY SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE” Since January 2017, a consortium led by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, in partnership with four Georgian civil society organisations: Civil Society Institute

(CSI), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Education, Development and Employment Center (EDEC), have been implementing the Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative (CSSIGE) in order to address key challenges in the Georgian civil society sector.

The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

ABOUT THE IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION CSRDG has been focused on results that can improve the lives of individuals and societies in general. It was the first Georgian organization that prepared and published: the sustainability report in accordance with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) sustainability reporting guidelines; the first Georgian-language textbook on CSR for higher educational institutions; and comprehensive analytical research on “Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Sector’s Role” (analysis and recommendations for the Government of Georgia); Toolkit about CSR for SMEs; established Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards Meliora.

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

7

Carrefour Continues Digital Expansion: Products Now Available on Wolt

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arrefour, operated in Georgia by Majid Al Futtaim, has underlined its commitment to creating convenient and seamless shopping experiences in line with today’s fast-paced modern lifestyle with products now available on food-delivery platform Wolt.

In these difficult times, Carrefour has actively worked to develop its digital direction and expand its delivery service.

Starting 6 November, customers in Tbilisi and Batumi will enjoy a wide

assortment of more than 1000 products available for delivery including fresh fruits and vegetables, household items, and hygiene supplies. Moreover, the brand’s e-payment partnership ensures that when shoppers pay using MasterCard, they will further enjoy free delivery service for entire month.

Carrefour’s recent partnerships with Wolt and Mastercard are aimed at simplifying the lives of its customers and complementing its physical expansion of six newly opened stores across the coun-

try in Batumi, Gori, Zugdidi and the capital, Tbilisi. The combined physical and digital expansion once again underlines Carrefour’s commitment to the local economy, and the brand’s sincere wish to contribute to the employment and well-being of the communities it serves.

Christophe Orcet, Country Manager of Carrefour Georgia at Majid Al Futtaim Retail: “At Carrefour, we aim to serve our customers and communities by offering the very best service delivery possible.

To that end, everything we do is guided

by our commitment to value, quality and choice: these three factors being fundamental to our customers’ happiness. Today, especially in the wake of the coronavirus, more customers are turning to online shopping in search of greater convenience and safety. This is why we have enhanced our platforms by building partnerships with reliable and efficient brands such as Wolt and MasterCard to ensure our customers have as seamless a shopping experience as possible. We are wholly committed to offering the people and communities we serve access to quality products at the best prices. The growth of our product range, in addition to our expanded network, is fully geared towards realizing this commitment.”

With 31 local stores now in operation

throughout the country, Carrefour continues to provide its customers with more access to fresh and healthy products at affordable prices.

In the coming month, Carrefour plans to open five additional stores complemented by a strong technological backbone to be as close as possible to its customers, satisfy their needs and offer the best value. This is at the very heart and core of the brand’s mission, vision and values; it is what sets it apart and distinguished it as a truly communityminded and customer-focused one. Ultimately, be it with its expansion or its focus on quality, the brand simply wants to reward its loyal Georgian customers and communities; creating great moments for everyone, every day.

Luxembourg Permits Holding & Registering Securities through Blockchain Technologies

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an electronic asset, which constitute means of representing a security. “Token” can be used as a proof of holding the relevant security; yet it does not confirm the validity of the security and its rights.

As the above demonstrates, to keep pace with technological advances and constant changes; Luxembourg focuses most of its efforts on supplementing guidance and implementation of laws with respect to new technologies rather than introducing entirely new regulatory regimes.

The Blockchain Bill is likely to induce investors to tap in the real potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies and to give them confidence in the market and in a wide range of blockchain-related initiatives.

G Law Office, through the contribution of partners Archil Giorgadze and Nicola Mariani, joined by senior associates Ana Kochiashvili, Tamar Jikia, associate Mariam Kalandadze, junior associates Ana Jikia and Lasha Machavariani is partnering with Georgia Today on a regular section of the paper which provides updated information regarding significant legal changes and developments in Georgia. In particular, we highlight significant issues which may impact businesses operating in Georgia. *** Luxembourg has continuously been an attractive hub within the EU for its financial services activities. Today, Luxembourg is emerging as a hub for FinTech and RegTech. Its pragmatic approach to laws and regulations was already demonstrated in 2013-2014 when the country’s financial sector regulator took an early stance on the regulation of virtual currencies and authorized several cryptocurrency exchanges as payment institutions. Moreover, since then, Luxembourg has also made it possible to legally issue “dematerialized securities”.

More recently, Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies, the country’s parliament, passed the blockchain bill (the Blockchain Bill) and amended the Law on the Circulation of Securities (the Law on Securities), dated 1 August 2001. In view of technological developments, the Blockchain Bill clarifies the existing provisions of the Law on Securities so that securities may also be registered and transferred using secure electronic registration mechanisms. According to the drafters of the Blockchain Bill, the purpose of this bill is to create a legal framework for the circulation of securities through new secure electronic registration technologies with the aim of enhanc-

GEORGIAN POTENTIAL

Image source: techentice.com

ing legal certainty in this area.

Although the Blockchain Bill remains technologically neutral, blockchain most aptly assists as a technology that could serve as a distributed electronic register and an electronic registration device. The Blockchain Bill will likely facilitate the use of blockchain technologies in financial services and in the process of trading securities. Hence, it is highly anticipated that the transfer of securities will be more efficient as a result of reducing the number of intermediaries in the trading process. Furthermore, by using blockchain technologies, (i) transaction costs will be lower; and (ii) risks associated with intermediaries will be eliminated.

Therefore, the Blockchain Bill provides a robust and innovative legal framework

for financial market participants by bringing transactions performed using blockchain and distributed ledger technologies at par with traditional ones.

THE BLOCKCHAIN BILL The Blockchain Bill introduced a new Article 18a into the Law on Securities.

This Article regulates holding of securities accounts and registration issues within or through secure electronic registration devices. As noted, Article 18a does not explicitly mention the blockchain technologies; nevertheless, blockchain is specifically referenced in the explanatory commentary provided to the Blockchain Bill by its drafters.

Article 18a of the Law on Securities permits the registration of securities in

the securities accounts within or through secure electronic registration devices, including distributed electronic registers or databases. Successive transfers recorded in such a secure electronic registration devices are considered like transfers between securities accounts.

Accordingly, the flexibility of securities transfers through these new arrangements does not affect the fungible nature of the securities concerned.

Commentators recommend use of a token concept with regard to the operation of the securities accounts. A token is schematically a digital asset stored in a blockchain that, like a title, paper or a classic paperless title, represents the “title”. As the legislators explained, “tokens” in a blockchain are regarded as

Examples of international practice have demonstrated that financial markets can significantly benefit from incorporation of blockchain technology in its activities.

The overall system transparency, fault tolerance, reduction of costs and time consumption are the key reasons why Georgia should consider implementation of similar blockchain technologies for the Georgian financial market.

Georgia has already successfully integrated blockchain technologies in the public sector. The Ministry of Justice of Georgia became a pioneer in introducing blockchain-based mechanism in operations of governmental bodies. The Georgian National Agency of Public Registry initiated the use of blockchain in property-related government transactions, such as registry of real estate titles, which has become a success story broadly known at the international level.

Use of blockchain technologies will simplify access and processing of market transactions thereby demonstrating Georgia’s potential to develop and further advance financial markets.

8

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

ISET | Business Confidence Index Q4 2020: Back to Despair

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fter a significant improvement in the previous quarter, the BCI has decreased by 18.7 points compared to Q3 2020 and reached -28.6.

Expectations in the Georgian private sector have deteriorated by 62.5 index points, reaching a new historic low of -41.7. As for business performance over the past three months, they have increased slightly, reaching -40.4 points, related to a small upturn in production, turnover, and sales. Compared to the previous quarter, the Sales Price Expectation Index has increased, showing growth in the market share of business owners who anticipate increasing prices on their products.

The BCI decreased in most economic

(27.7) and financial (0.3) sectors.

Business confidence in the fourth quarter of 2020 has decreased both for SMEs (-3.6), and large firms (-19.0).

PAST PERFORMANCE The Business Past Performance Index, which shows the development of business production, turnover, and sales in the past three months, increased slightly further by 0.2 points compared to Q3 of 2020 and reached -40.4 sectors, with the highest decline in construction (-81.8), followed by service (-24.9), manufacturing (-20.7), and agriculture (-9.5) sectors. Compared to Q3 2020, the BCI increased in the retail trade

for Q4 2020.

A significant deterioration in performance was observed in the construction sector (-131.7), followed by the manufacturing (-38.3), and agriculture (-29.9) sectors. An increase in past performance was observed in retail trade (59.7), financial (41.2), and service (10.6) sectors.

EXPECTATIONS The Expectations Index decreased significantly by 62.5 index points for Q4 2020 and stopped at -41.7. Prospects for the next three months have deteriorated for every sector,

except retail trade (30.6-point increase). The most significant decline is observed in the construction (-182.6), followed by manufacturing (-86.6), service (-85.5), financial (-43.8), and agriculture (-8.6) sectors.

Business expectations have, on the whole, decreased for both, large firms (-65.1) and SMEs (-32.2).

66% of the surveyed businesses do not expect any changes in employment over the next three months, however, 22% of firms stated that they would hire fewer employees in the future and only 11% think that they would hire more.

Only 21% of the firms surveyed expect the economic condition of their businesses to improve over the next three months. 37% do not predict any changes in the future, leaving 42% of businesses that believe their business conditions will worsen.

SALES PRICE EXPECTATIONS The Sales Price Expectations Index increased from -8.3 points (Q3 2020) to 2.7 points for Q4 2020. The index increased in every sector, except service (1.9 points decrease) and agriculture (-12.5 points decrease). The overall Sales Price Expec-

tations Index has increased for both SMEs and large companies.

Around 58% of all firms surveyed do not intend to change their prices over the next three months. 26% of firms expect to increase their prices, and the remaining 16% will consider decreasing their prices in the future.

A lack of demand and limited access to financing continues to be the most significant obstacles for both large companies and SMEs. For Q4 2020 access to finances and lack of demand became more important for both types of firms, especially for large companies (in the

last four quarters, on average, 34% of large companies mentioned access to finances as a limiting factor, while, 30% mentioned lack of demand), which, together with an increased share of "other" factors could reflect the postCovid-19 situation that business sector is currently facing.

It should be noted that the present BCI results may be overestimated, as the survey only covers businesses currently operating and not those that have already exited the market. Firms, which exited the market are, to some extent, more likely to demonstrate a negative outlook.

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

9

The Better Alternative: Solving Disputes through Mediation

BY NINI DAKHUNDARIDZE

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n January 1, 2020, the Law of Georgia on Mediation was enacted, on the basis of which the Mediators Association of Georgia, a legal entity of public law, was established for the first time in Georgia. The presentation of the legal entity was held at ‘Rooms’ hotel where Carl Hartzell, the Ambassador of the EU to Georgia and Louisa Vinton, the Permanent Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Georgia, congratulated Georgian society on officially putting the alternative mechanism of dispute resolution to work.

GEORGIA TODAY sat down with the chairman of the recently-founded association, Mr. Irakli Kandashvili.

WHAT IS MEDIATION? Mediation is a new word for the Georgian legal reality. This is honestly an unprecedented reform, enforced in the past decade, which allows the disputing parties to resolve their own conflict themselves, this is to say that it is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism in which the parties, without a judge, have the power, with the help of a third independent and neutral person, a mediator, to accomplish the desired goal: an agreement. This is a process that leaves both of the parties satisfied, that is, if they reach an agreement, of course.

TO CLARIFY: THOSE WHO CURRENTLY HAVE A DISPUTE IN COURT, CAN THEY ALSO APPLY FOR MEDIATION OR IS IT POSSIBLE ONLY BEFORE TAKING MATTERS TO COURT? Mediation is possible even if the dispute’s been taken to court. The newly enacted law allows individuals who have ongoing court proceedings to seek mediation.

I would like to add that the court will be unburdened at the expense of this. As you know, especially in civil disputes, the court is extremely overloaded, and parties sometimes have to wait for years for its decision. Mediation will radically alleviate this problem.

The success of this reform is a precondition for the greatest step on the path of democratic development of our country, for an unequivocal change in the worldview of the society, when the society shifts from the rails of tension to the rails of mutual tolerance, now that the parties understand they must reach an agreement.

And most importantly, on the other hand, the parties in a conflict situation, without having addressed the court, have the possibility to end the dispute through mediation, select a mediator acceptable to them, and negotiate an agreement tailored to their interests.

HOW LONG DOES THE MEDIATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS TAKE? The unequivocal advantage of mediation is that it takes a very short period in time,

and is at the same time less costly, which is no less important for the parties. This is an absolutely confidential process, so our union has a crucial role to play in the introduction of this mechanism in Georgia, and we understand and feel the great responsibility associated with all this, as well as the full public support in this important cause. Mediation will play an

important role in the the further development of the country.

It should be noted that the agreement reached by the parties through mediation, subject to the will of the parties, is subject to confirmation by the court, and therefore the parties make a legally binding court decision, which I think you would agree is a prerequisite for effec-

tive results for all, and especially business representatives.

Mediation is a form of dispute resolution that should become an non-alternative dispute resolution mechanism for any stakeholder, and we will offer a number of interesting projects and initiatives in this area to the public in the near future.

SOCIETY

Famous Gloria Jean’s Coffees Can Now Be Enjoyed in Georgia

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ife starts after coffee, they say, and the majority of us would probably agree of an early morning. And for all coffeelovers, the quality of coffee and its preparation are of the utmost importance.

For real connoisseurs of coffee; those who appreciate the unforgettable taste and flavor of the highest quality special coffee, there is an exciting news: Gloria Jean’s, an Australian coffee brand with 40 years experience, is now available in Tbilisi on Liberty (Freedom) Square!

The new branch at Aleksandr Pushkin Street 1/3 continues the tradition of the brand by sourcing quality coffee beans, training the best baristas to serve up

their unbeatable coffee with a smile.

The very first Gloria Jean’s opened in a small town outside Chicago in 1979.

Gloria Jean Kvetko was a determined young mum from Chicago with a dream to own a coffee shop where she could combine her passion for caffeine and meeting people. In 1996, the first Gloria Jean’s Coffees opened in Sydney, Australia, and today, the Gloria Jean’s team serves extremely delicious coffees in more than 50 countries around the world, now including Georgia.

The cozy Georgian branch was opened at a difficult and strange time for businesses, due to the global pandemic.

However, its management team maintains optimism and enthusiasm and plans

to offer a lot of pleasant novelties and surprises to customers.

As soon as you enter the coffee house, it becomes clear that serving customers with love and care is one of the main principles of its staff. A pleasant environment and interior filled with the appetizing smell of distinguished coffee, friendly and polite staff, and high-class service puts the facility among the mustvisit places while exploring the districts of Old Tbilisi.

The team of Gloria Jean’s is united as a family, a special relationship also easy to see on entering the branch. All staff members have undergone special training, conditioning their professionalism and high qualification to guarantee full customer satisfaction.

As autumn is often associated with Halloween, Gloria Jean’s Coffees decided to present a 10% discount to those who visit the coffee house before October 31 dressed in a Halloween costume.

Happy Hour at ‘Gloria’ is no less intriguing. Every day from 08:30 to 11:30, customers can grab a mouthwatering Americano and Chocolate Biscuits for just 6 GEL. Starting a day with one of its freshly brewed coffees is the perfect solution for positive energy and a better mood.

Original Blend Dark Roast is the signature taste of Gloria Jean's. However, coffee lovers can find a wide variety of special coffees suitable for any taste, from delicate and creamy Cappuccino to intense and aromatic Americano. And only original top quality beans roasted in Australia are used during the preparation process.

The Tbilisi branch of ‘Gloria’ is distinguished by its image, the result of the rebranding carried out at the company.

The particularly cozy and comfortable environment makes Gloria Jean's Coffees the perfect place for meeting friends.

Moreover, as these days many people have to work remotely due to the pan-

demic, it can also serve as a workspace thanks to its high quality internet, outdoor seating and wide selection of coffees to keep the brain awake.

Each cup of coffee at ‘Gloria’ is controlled by professionalism, with the condition of the beans to milk temperature carefully maintained. No burnt milk, or dissatisfaction here!

Gloria Jean’s Coffees plans to further develop the ‘pick up’ service in Georgia, as the majority of locals are used to sitting in the cafe, drinking coffee and enjoying snacks and sweets, while the take away service, which is one of the main characteristics of ‘Gloria,’ is less popular.

The newly opened branch also uses its unique interior to promote talented young artists, offering them a brilliant opportunity to decorate its walls with their artworks, so contributing to increasing their sales and popularity among visitors. Of special note is the fact that the full amount of any sales goes straight to the artists.

Gloria is set to expand and open more branches not only in the capital but countrywide, so that more citizens have a chance to enjoy their coffees.

Apart from quality coffees, customers can also enjoy a wide variety of tea imported from Australia, and the exotic tastes of fruit, rose, and tropical green aromas which can’t be found in other such coffee establishments in the country.

Yet another special feature of ‘Gloria’ is decaffeinated coffee, which a rarity in Georgia. It is noteworthy that all coffee beans for sale at ‘Gloria’ are placed in special packaging, so they never lose

their distinguished components or aroma.

Visitors can also dine on a light and quick breakfast of sandwiches, cakes or salad. Naturally, coffee will remains the main component to a good start to the day.

While visiting the Tbilisi branch of ‘Gloria,’ it is clear that the destination is relatively more popular among foreigners, as the brand itself is as yet lesserknown among Georgians. However, it is gradually gaining popularity, and based on the quality of its products and services, Gloria Jean’s Coffees are expected to become a favorite place for many locals in the near future.

In future, the brand is planning on developing a delivery service for customer comfort, and many exciting events and offers are in the pipeline for the New Year and other special occasions, so loyal customers of ‘Gloria’ are unlikely to get bored!

10

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

Rachaaaah: 3 BLOG BY TONY HAMNER

T

ime had flown, and with one more day to look around Racha province, we packed up camp. Our driver had promised us some more outstanding views, so expectations were high. Before we left the lake, though, I had the opportunity to see it and the reflections in it by light about 180 degrees away from that of the previous evening.

The stillness, with no wind remained, and the wonderful autumn trees looked entirely different that morning.

As I have been doing for some years now, I took the time to shoot a series of frames to “stitch” together later into a panorama. Much practice has allowed me to do this without a tripod with generally good success. As long as exposure and focus don’t change, and you allow a straight line of images and enough overlap for the automatic stitching software to join images, it’s not that hard.

Shoot vertically oriented frames for a horizontal image, horizontal ones for a vertical image, to take advantage of maximum image dimensions and get the largest possible final picture. It’s even possible to turn in a complete circle and return to where you started, and end up with a 360-degree image…

The way out of our muddy patch of road which had given such problems the day before proved not to be nearly so bad in the other direction, and we continued up, up, to a ridge and cliff which were to offer outstanding visibility. Mravaldzali village, another towering ridge, and beyond that, far in the distance, enough clarity to see snow-capped peaks.

All draped in the reds and golds of autumn, this being mostly a deciduous forest area. At about 2200 m of altitude, many km were within our view.

There, too, was our little lake, and it turned out to be rather heart-shaped, though this outline was a little obscured by the detritus of fallen leaves at its edges. But the symbolism of one of the few lakes in the world to have this shape

Israeli Embassy & MASHAV Deliver Half Ton of Equipment to Georgia's National Center for Disease Control

BY TEAM GT

T

his Tuesday, the Israeli Embassy and MASHAV (Israel's International Development Cooperation Agency) delivered nearly half a ton of equipment to Georgia's National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), including 6,000 face masks, 300 waterproof boiler suits, 311 visor face shields, 250 N95 face masks and 240 waterproof gowns.

This gesture forms yet another link in the ongoing Israeli-Georgian bilateral cooperation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, following training seminars, lessons and best-practice sharing and numerous humanitarian donations.

“Israel has recently emerged from a

second 'wave' following a very strict second 'lockdown',” the Ambassador of Israel to Georgia, Ran Gidor, told GEORGIA TODAY. “We extend not only assistance but also empathy to our Georgian friends, who are struggling to contain the current outburst. MASHAV has supported Georgian professional women and men for almost 30 years, and we are proud to be able to stand by the Georgian NCDC in this crucial time."

Since 1992, MASHAV has trained more than 1,500 Georgian women & men in various professional fields - many of them in public health and disease prevention.

The Israeli Embassy and MASHAV both noted they are proud to stand by their Georgian friends and partners in this critical period and that they salute the NCDC for the excellent work it has done so far.

was not lost. On the way down, a few of us left the van for some more photos (who knows when we’ll be back!), and several others had the driver stop for a berry-picking time. It was a good opportunity to experience more of what makes Racha unique among the landscapes and nature of Georgia, all of which have their distinct features. The very shape of the mountains here was different from those of, say, Khevsureti, Tusheti, Svaneti or Adjara, all of which I had had more opportunities to see this year and compare.

We stopped in Ambrolauri for some of the local lobiani, bean bread, which In My Humble Opinion is redeemed from the dish’s usual blandness by hav-

ing ham inside as well to liven up its flavor. The service in our chosen restaurant was delightfully fast enough to dispel the myth of Racha’s people being slow…

The next stop was supposed to be another high viewpoint overlooking Tqibuli, called Tskhra Jvari (Nine Crosses). However, there was road work being done below it, and it was closed, as the foreman apologetically informed us, even to the mayor of the town who had tried to take a group up earlier that day.

We couldn’t really complain, though, as Racha had shown us so much that my wife and I had never seen (and all of the province was new to the rest of our party

anyway, the driver excepted). They dropped Lali and me off at our 4x4 near the Terjola turnoff on the main Georgian highway, and we parted, sated for now but determined to continue seeing as much as possible of Georgia while we can.

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

Clean Energy Helps Protect Georgian Rivers & Forests

A

100 kW solar panel was installed in the Krtsanisi Park with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), serving to supply the area with renewable energy, irrigate 50 hectares of protected forest, and help restore eight oxbow lakes drying out because of the sand-and-gravel extraction from the Mtkvari riverbed.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) under the regional Kura II Project, the initiative was carried out in close partnership with Georgia’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and its National Wildlife Agency.

“Krtsanisi Park is a natural ecosystem and recreational zone that serves the Tbilisi and Rustavi cities. Access to green and sustainable energy is critical for its development and is in line with the policies and priorities set by the Georgian Government,” Minister of Environ-

mental Protection and Agriculture Levan Davitashvili said.

“Our future depends on how smart we are in using zero-emission renewables instead of fossil fuels. The restoration of the Krtsanisi Park will set an example of how solar energy can benefit the economy while protecting the environment,” UNDP Head Louisa Vinton said.

“The Mtkvari River feeds agriculture and sustains ecosystems in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Sustainable management of this critical transboundary water resource will protect the environment, contributing to water security in the region,” said UNDP-GEF Kura II Regional Project Coordinator Mary Matthews.

The Krtsanisi Park is situated on 210 hectares of land on the outskirts of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. Once famous for its 170 species of trees and populations of rabbits, wild ducks and lake fish, the park's ecosystem has been degrading over the past decades, affected by the excessive use of firewood, illegal hunt-

ing, and the extraction of sand and gravel from the Mtkvari riverbed.

The rehabilitation of Krtsanisi Park kicked off in 2019 and a state program for biodiversity protection was launched on the decision of the government.

The solar panels installed by UNDP with GEF support will provide the Krtsanisi Park with a source of clean energy that will be used to pump water from the Mtkvari River, irrigating 50 hectares of forest and filling up the eight oxbow lakes. In addition, UNDP will help construct a groundwater intake gallery, providing water to a fish farm established to restore the fish population in the lakes. Water abstraction from the river will not exceed 0.14% of its minimum daily flow, ensuring that it has no impact on the ecosystem or the water supply to downstream villages.

The Kura II Project assists Azerbaijan and Georgia in harmonizing water use policies and practices. It has a total budget of $5.3 million, shared between both countries, and is due to conclude in 2020.

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2020

11

A Team of Georgians in the Final of NASA Hackathon the SpaceApps Organizing team once travel is deemed safe. They will also receive an invitation to present their

BY TEAM GT

projects to NASA, ESA, JAXA, CNES, and CSA personnel.

The winners will be announced shortly.

G

e o rg i a n te a m ‘Argonautica’ is one of the 40 international nominees of Space Apps Challenge - an annual hackathon organized

by NASA. The “Argonauts” designed an augmented reality game, designed to raise awareness of satellites orbiting the Earth.

The app allows teams to capture satellites around the globe.

The first team to collect information about all artificial satellites gets to name the next one launched into the sky.

The hackathon welcomed 2,200 teams from 150 different locations. Argonautica is one of the final 40 international nominees. The team consists of six members: Giorgi Chanturia, Gigi Butbaia, Mariam Rogava, Giorgi Kvantrishvili, Guri Sitchinava, and Giorgi Chilaia.

The six Global Winners will be invited to visit a NASA Rocket Launch site to view a spacecraft launch along with

Winners of ‘Keep Georgia Tidy’ Environmental Essay Competition Revealed

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non-governmental organization ‘Keep Georgia Tidy’ (KGT) has announced the winners of the Environmental Essay Competition for high school students.

The authors of the best works are: Anano Peikrishvili - Free University; Nomination: Medical Waste and Pandemic Saba Iobashvili - Ilia State University; Nomination: Waste Management

Giorgi Javakhishvili - Ilia State University; Nomination: Biodiversity KGT was created on the basis of association of scientists, experts, activists environmentalists and volunteers working in different fields; the organization aims to ensure environment protection and reduction of climate change impact through challenging waste management and enhancing population awareness in Georgia.

Dollar Price Hits Guide to Georgia’s GEL 3.3409 Regional Theaters 2020 CULTURE

BY ANA DUMBADZE

T

he National Bank of Georgia has set a new exchange rate, based on which, the official price of 1 dollar has become GEL 3.3409.

The exchange rate in force on Wednes-

day was 3.2988 GEL. Accordingly, the change in the dollar against the national currency amounted to 0.0421 GEL. The Euro exchange rate is 3.9042 GEL, while the previous rate was 3.8586 GEL. Accordingly, the change in the Euro was 0.0456.

The rates obtained as a result of Wednesday's trading took effect as of Thursday.

T

he Georgian Regional Theater Network, with the support of Creative Georgia, has created an online platform ‘Guide to Regional Theaters 2020’, which unites the country’s regional theaters on a single Internet portal.

‘Guide to Regional Theaters 2020’ is a bilingual (Georgian-English) guide to regional theaters in Georgia, specifically designed to guide professionals and

PUBLISHER & GM

George Sharashidze COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT

Commercial Director: Iva Merabishvili Marketing Manager: Natalia Chikvaidze

GEORGIA TODAY

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT:

Editor-In-Chief: Katie Ruth Davies

Journalists: Ana Dumbadze, Vazha Tavberidze, Nini Dakhundaridze, Tony Hanmer, Emil Avdaliani, Nugzar B. Ruhadze, Beka Alexishvili, Elene Dzebizashvili Photographer: Aleksei Serov

amateurs on topics related to theater and theater arts.

From now on, interested persons can surf through the site to learn about the history of Georgian regional theaters, information about theater buildings and technical capabilities (lighting and sound resources), repertoire and number of seats, to name a few.

A total of 25 professional theaters (including drama, opera and puppetry) are presented in the guide.

Website Manager/Editor: Katie Ruth Davies Layout: Misha Mchedlishvili Webmaster: Sergey Gevenov Circulation Managers: David Kerdikashvili, David Djandjgava

The ‘Guide to Regional Theaters 2020’ is available on the web portal www.theatrelife.ge and on the websites of regional theaters.

The project was implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia and Creative Georgia. The partners of the project are the Research Center of Contemporary Georgian Theater and the Electronic Archive of Georgian Theater.

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