Issue #1323

Issue no: 1323

• NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

PRICE: GEL 2.50

In this week’s issue...

Corona Updates: European Commission Recognizes Georgian Covid Passports NEWS PAGE 2

When Avoiding and Hiding from the Essence of an Issue. Part II POLITICS PAGE 5

FOCUS ON 125 YEARS CARING FOR PEOPLE'S LIVES Roche has developed many innovative medicines and diagnostic tests that have radically changed approaches in the treatment and diagnosis of numerous patients

BUSINESS PAGE 6

Nexia Has Been Named ‘Network of the Year’ 2021 Globally BUSINESS PAGE 7

PAGE 9

Saakashvili’s Case Continues to Divide and Distract the Country

BY TEAM GT

T

he opposition this week announced its plan to hold a rally in three different locations on Friday.

Nika Melia, the leader of the United National Movement, said that a rally at Avlabari metro station would be led by the UNM, at Station Square by Lelo, and at University by the leaders of Girchi for More Freedom and Droa.

The rallies are scheduled to start at 3pm and are being held to demand the transfer of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili from Gldani Prison’s hospital facility to a civilian hospital.

"It depends on us, the citizens of Georgia, regardless of profession or status. We all have one goal and task to prevent what happened in Russia and Belarus. Russian-style autocracy should not take root in Georgia! We must continue this non-violent protest,” Melia told supporters Wednesday.

Yet the government shows no signs of budging,

Celebrating Compliance, Ethics and Culture as a Vital Part of Company Performance

ISET GDP Forecast | Georgian Economic Growth in 2021 Driven Mainly by the Recovering External Sector ISET PAGE 8

Meet Nina Tsagareli, Director of the 13th 'Night Serenades' Festival CULTURE PAGE 10 CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

Markets As of 15ͲNovͲ2021

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discuss Saakashvili’s case, reminding the PM that he is a citizen of Ukraine put under arrest in Georgia.

Continued on page 3

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insisting that Saakashvili is fine where he is.

On November 12, Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, called Georgia’s Prime Minister to

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Georgians protest over the arrest of former president Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi. Source: Reuters

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2

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

Corona Updates: European Commission Recognizes Georgian Covid Passports

BY ANA DUMBADZE

T

he epidemiological situation in Georgia remains tense, with more than 80 deaths being reported almost daily this week.

Health officials note that only immunization will put an end to the difficult epidemic situation.

THE STATISTICS On Tuesday, Georgia recorded 5204 coronavirus cases, 4785 recoveries, and 83 deaths. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 1857 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 1008 cases, and the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region with 443 cases.

On Wednesday, the country reported 4732 coronavirus cases, 4812 recoveries, and 72 deaths. Tbilisi recorded 1884 cases, followed by Imereti with 878 cases and Kvemo Kartli with 425 cases.

On Thursday, Georgia reported 4446 coronavirus cases, 5320 recoveries, and 77 deaths. Tbilisi again recorded the highest number of 1646 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 819 cases, and Shida Kartli with 422 cases.

Georgia’s total case tally since the first case in February reached 800, 293, among them 737, 316 people recovered and 11, 289 died.

As of November 18, 1 074 270 people got the Covid-19 vaccine.

TRAVEL This week was marked by important news for travelers: the European Commission decided to recognize Georgian passports.

Georgia, for its part, also agreed to accept the EU COVID Certificate for travel from the EU to the country.

The decision implies Georgian citizens who have a certificate of full vaccination will be able to move around the EU. The Covid Certificate issued by Georgia on vaccination, tests and recovery from Covid is recognized by the European Union and is equivalent to the certificates issued by the relevant EU regulation, which aims to promote the free movement of people within the EU. The decision of the European Commission is valid from November 16 and also concludes that Georgia has joined the EU digital certification system.

For waiving free movement restrictions, EU member states are obliged to accept the vaccines the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has authorized – Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) jabs. Some member states have also opted to accept vaccines on the WHO emergency list, including Sinopharm and Sinovac, which Georgia administers.

Alongside Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, and New Zealand were also connected to the EU’s travel pass system.

Georgia’s COVID certificate can be obtained at Public Service Hall and its Service Centers, or digitally on covid-

pass.moh.gov.ge. The authorities are also testing a smartphone application for the passes.

people over the age of 60 have been vaccinated in the last week,” NCDC Head Amiran Gamkrelidze added.

THE VACCINATION CAMPAIGN

THE CASES WORLDWIDE

Following the announcement of the introduction of the Green Passports concept from December 1, the vaccination rate across the country has increased, which is promising, reports the Ministry of Health.

“On November 8, the vaccination program launched a financial incentive scheme for people over the age of 60, which gave impetus to the expansion of the vaccination program in this age group.

“Among the vaccinated, the number of people in the 60-year-old age group increased structurally from 28% to 44%.

Yesterday's vaccination rate exceeds 8000, which is promising, and we think an even greater increase can be expected.

“The booster doses are also being administered in any age group over 12 years of age. Booster doses are especially high in the age group of 18 to 49. As for the vaccination of children aged 12 to 15 years, 643 doses were administered. More than 11,000 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 have been vaccinated,” Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia announced on November 16.

“Vaccination dynamics have improved slightly over the last week, in the range of 8,200. What is promising is that for 60% of them, it was the first dose. The share of vaccines in the age group above 60 is also increasing. More than 12,000

Regarding the epidemiological situation worldwide, important news is that the US drug company Pfizer penned a deal to allow its experimental Covid-19 treatment pill to be made and sold in 95 developing nations.

The deal with the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool non-profit could make the treatment available to 53% of the world's population, the BBC reported.

Yet it excludes several countries that have had large Covid-19 outbreaks, including Brazil.

In a statement on Tuesday, Pfizer said the agreement will allow local medicine manufacturers to produce the pill "with the goal of facilitating greater access to the global population."

Pfizer says the pill lessens the risk of severe disease in vulnerable adults, while in early November, Pfizer said clinical trials suggest that its Covid-19 pill, Paxlovid, cuts the risk of hospital admission or death by 89% for high-risk adult patients.

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement to the Associated Press that it was "disheartened" that the deal doesn't make Pfizer's Covid-19 pills available everywhere in the world.

In October, another drugmaker, Merck, announced a similar deal with the Medicines Patent Pool to allow manufactur-

ers to produce its own Covid-19 pill, Molnupiravir.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Europe was the only region in the world where Covid-related deaths increased last week after a rise of 5%.

In its weekly report on the pandemic issued on Tuesday, the WHO also said cases jumped 6% globally, driven by a rise in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

WHO said Covid-19 deaths in all regions other than Europe remained stable or declined last week, totaling 50,000 worldwide.

It was the seventh consecutive week that COVID-19 cases continued to mount across the 61 countries that WHO counts in its European region, which stretches through Russia to Central Asia.

Within Europe, WHO said the highest numbers of new cases were in Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom. It noted that deaths jumped by 67% in Norway and by 38% in Slovakia.

In the last week, Austria put tight restrictions on the movement of unvaccinated people, while the Netherlands and some other European countries reintroduced lockdown measures, and the UK decided to roll out booster doses to everyone over 40.

The Chinese Are Doing What the Mongols Did Before Them, Only Better

BY EMIL AVDALIANI

T

he vast attention paid to China’s Belt and Road Initiative misses the historical precedents on which it is based. Hearkening back to the nomadic understanding of geography of medieval times, the Chinese are following through on what the Mongols, and later Tamerlane, attempted: to unify the Eurasian landmass by establishing

trade routes and encouraging commercial activities from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.

Nascent Chinese Eurasianism is slowly taking shape. It is a concept not so much of forceful engagement of Eurasian states

by China, as some in the West view it, but rather an economic initiative that aims to gain access to the natural and financial resources of major Eurasian states by providing them with large sums for infrastructure projects.

The Chinese idea obviously requires control over major trade routes to and

from Europe (a market of almost 500 million people).

Though invisible on geographic or political maps, trade corridors and control over them have been a major driving force in the development of Eurasia. Conquests and invasions were often motivated by the need to secure financial resources running through major trade routes in Central Asia and from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

Western powers have sought access to the huge Chinese market for centuries.

Geography has largely precluded this,

however, as the Chinese hinterland is closed off by the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert, and the Eurasian steppes. In ancient and medieval times, the only land route connecting the Chinese kingdoms to the outer world was through the modern Xinjiang province.

A further limiting factor was that the Chinese were never particularly eager to trade with foreigners (the country had most of what it needed and functioned primarily as an autarkic state).

Chinese policies did not reflect any kind of Eurasian vision. The country’s rulers

considered neighboring states tributaries, but knew little of far-flung Eurasian lands. No economic necessity propelled them to venture far away.

But today’s nascent Chinese Eurasianism can nevertheless be dated to back to medieval times. It parallels what other Asian powers tried to do centuries ago.

Ironically, it was China’s gravest enemy, nomads, among them the Mongols,who had a clear vision of transcontinental trade between China and the Mediterranean world.

Continued on page 6

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

3

Saakashvili’s Case Continues to Divide and Distract the Country Continued from page 1 Garibashvili is reported to have told him that, “the condition of all prisoners, including Mikheil Saakashvili, is closely monitored at penitentiary institutions of Georgia, and adequate medical services are rendered to inmates round the clock, 24/7.”

He further emphasized that “Saakashvili is a citizen of Georgia,” and as such “is permitted to accept visitors.” Garibashvili noted that lawyers, family members and members of the Parliament of Georgia have visited him unhindered, and since admission to the penitentiary institution, he has received over 100 visitors.

“President Zelensky touched upon the topic of Mikheil Saakashvili's transfer to the prison hospital, upon which PM Garibashvili noted that the prisoner in question expressed resistance, along with verbal and physical abuse towards the staff and physicians of the facility,” the government administration reports.

“Accordingly, the administration of the penitentiary institution carried out measures promulgated in the law.

“During the conversation, the Head of Government of Georgia assessed the unlawful behavior of Mikheil Saakashvili as provocative, destructive and threatening to the stability of the country. He also highlighted to the Ukrainian president that citizens of Ukraine have no legitimate right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Georgia.”

“The Prime Minister of Georgia also told the President of Ukraine that fugitive Saakashvili had entered the country by illegally crossing the sovereign border, when he was already convicted and charged for various grave crimes,” the administration wrote.

President Zelensky is said to have inquired whether Ukrainian doctors could be permitted to check Saakashvili’s condition, to which PM Garibashvili assured him that prisoner Saakashvili is “being taken care of by high-caliber healthcare professionals of Georgia.”

“Mikheil Saakashvili's basic laboratory indicators are normal, other diagnostic tests are being carried out intensively, and his life is not in danger,” Giorgi Chidrashvili, Deputy Head of the Medical Department of the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia, said on Tuesday.

He explained that the life of the convict Mikheil Saakashvili is not in danger at the 18th medical institution, adding that his condition is stable and his vital signs,

such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and saturation, are normal.

“Key laboratory indicators are also within the norm. He is under intensive laboratory and other diagnostic examinations. Accordingly, he is being provided with appropriate medical services. His condition is under constant control and is not in danger,” Chidrashvili said.

Although Saakashvili said on November 12 he would consider ending his hunger strike, he noted that he will only do so if he is moved to a civilian hospital for treatment and recovery.

“The process of rehabilitation after starvation is much more complicated than the process of starvation management, and Gldani Hospital has neither the technological conditions nor the properly qualified medical staff,” he wrote.

On Thursday, a multi-profile group of nine experts created by Public Defender Nino Lomjaria prepared a report on Saakashvili's condition. All nine agreed that Saakashvili's condition is “critical” and they recommended he be immediately transferred to a multi-profile civilian hospital for treatment.

The content of the conclusion was introduced to the media by Dr. Giorgi Grigolia.

“We assessed the condition of Mikheil Saakashvili as critical as he has been on a hunger strike for 48 days,” he said. “He needs intensive treatment. His condition becomes more complicated on a daily basis. All organs are damaged as a result of hunger. The patient needs to receive treatment from multidisciplinary specialists, endocrinologists, nephrologists, gastroenterologists, etc. Unfortunately, the Gldani Prison clinic does not provide their service permanently - they can be called, but they are not present on-site 24/7. In the event of a possible aggravation of the situation, the Gldani Prison Hospital will not be enough,” Grigolia noted.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday this week decided to indicate interim measures in the case Saakashvili v. Georgia concerning the applicant’s health.

“The Court has requested that the Government inform it about Mikheil Saakashvili’s current state of health, ensure his safety in prison, and provide him with appropriate medical care,” the ECHR announced.

The Court also clarified that interim measures are urgent measures which, according to the Court’s well-established practice, apply only where there is an

Mikheil Saakashvil after his transfer to Gldani Prison Hospital. Source: newsline.news

imminent risk of irreparable harm.

“The applicant, Mikheil Saakashvili, is a Ukrainian national… who has been serving a sentence since 1 October 2021, following convictions for a number of crimes committed while in office. He considers the prosecutions to be “politically motivated persecution” and has been on hunger strike as a result since, a total of 41 days at the time of the current request.

“He has twice been examined by a panel of doctors, who have confirmed, among other things, that he is on hunger strike, taking only liquids and vitamins, and that he has lost 10% of his body mass, although there has been no serious deterioration in his health.

“Mr. Saakashvili went to the courts, seeking his transfer to a civilian hospital, but the request was denied.

"Mr. Saakashvili asserted that the authorities had failed to hand over his medical file, that the prison hospital was not properly equipped to meet his needs, and that his safety could not be guaranteed there. He thus requested, relying on Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) that he be transferred to a multispecialty civilian hospital, as recommended by the medical panel and the Public Defenders of Georgia and Ukraine. The application was lodged with the European Court on 10 November 2021.

“On 10 November 2021 the Court decided to indicate to the Government

of Georgia, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, to inform the Court about the applicant’s current state of health, to ensure his safety in prison, and to provide him with appropriate medical care for the post-hunger-strike recovery period. A treatment plan for the applicant’s recovery should also be drawn up. At the same time, the Court urged the applicant to call off his hunger strike.

It also proposed that the parties make submissions in two weeks’ time (by 24 November 2021) concerning these interim measures.

“The Court also decided to grant the case priority under Rule 41,” the ECHR stated.

On November 12, Member of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga (Poland), flew to Georgia with the intention of meeting Saakashvili in prison. She was denied entrance. Saakashvili responded via Facebook.

"Fotyga fights ardently for Georgia and is against Putin - it is not surprising she was not allowed to see me, a personal prisoner of Putin,” he wrote, thanking the MEP for her solidarity.

“During the last meeting in Strasbourg in September, Anna Fotyga asked me if I thought I would be a victim of torture after returning to Georgia. I replied that I did not think so.

“Anna Fotyga was the Minister of Foreign Affairs when Lech Kaczynski came to save Georgia, at risk to his own life.

Fotyga is a noble and strong person who fights ardently for Georgia and is against

Putin. It is not surprising is that she was not allowed to see me, a personal prisoner of Putin.

“Thank you, Anna, for your humanity and solidarity. I am sure that those who did not let you in will soon not be close to the levers of power and Georgia will meet you with its old hospitality and gratitude,” he wrote.

MEP Fotyga addressed Mikheil Saakashvili following the decision of the Ministry of Justice not to allow her to see the ex-president.

“Mr. Mikheil, be strong, we are on your side,” she said.

As part of her visit, the MEP met with political party Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria, who is also on a hunger strike in the Parliament building in support of Saakashvili.

"All I can do is to say encouraging words," Fotyga commented after the meeting. Mikheil Saakashvili was visited by his American lawyer John Sandweg.

"It's worrying how he should feel safe here because there is no proper medical equipment. That said, he is in a great mood. You will not encounter a case like this in the US and it is not a case that is subject to criminal law. This is not an institution where he feels safe,” Sandweg said.

He also commented on Saakashvili's video footage, noting that it was “quite disturbing” how he was treated on entering the Gldani medical institution.

Sandweg added that such treatment is “not appropriate.”

Galaktion Tabidze Jubilee Week to be Held as Part of “Tbilisi – World Book Capital”

BY KETEVAN SKHIRTLADZE

T

his year marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Galaktion Tabidze, and, as part of the “Tbilisi – World Book Capital,” a celebration week is to be held to honor the fact, starting with a jubilee event on November 20, at 19:00, in Gudiashvili Square.

The moderators of the evening will be Vakhtang Javakhadze, Lasha Bakradze, Nene Kvinikadze, and Nino Kasradze, who will speak about important and unknown details of Galaktioni’s biography and will read excerpts from the poet’s work.

The stage will be lit up with illustrations created by artist Giorgi Jincharadze,

inspired by archival photos of Galaktioni.

Performers of the evening: Davit Evgenidze, Erekle Deisadze, Anuka Chkheidze, Sandro Bibicha Kvachadze, Tsotne Zedginidze, Maia Djabua, Tbilisi Women’s Choir led by Omar Burduli. Director: Davit Sakvarelidze.

Galaktion Tabidze (November 17, 1892 – March 17, 1959), was an influential 20th century Georgian poet. He survived Stalin’s Great Purge of the 1930s, which claimed the lives of many of his fellow writers, friends and relatives, but came under heavy pressure from the Soviet authorities. Those years plunged him into depression and alcoholism. He was placed in a psychiatric hospital in Tbilisi, where he committed suicide. He was named “The King of Poets” and even today inspires generations of poets and is well-loved by the public in Georgia.

4

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

“A Threat to Belarus’ Sovereignty" - Pavel Latushka on the Union State, Migrants, and the Putin & Lukashenko Paradigm INTERVIEW BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

last day in the post of president for President Putin, because it would be impossible to explain to a Russian why they were shooting at Belarusians.

L

WHY ARE YOU SO CERTAIN THAT ANY SHOOTING WOULD BE NECESSARY IN THE FIRST PLACE?

ast week we witnessed yet another Lukashenko maneuver: the Belarus strongman smuggled thousands of illegal migrants across Belarus to the PolishLithuanian border in a self-styled response to EU sanctions.

The influx of migrants, which Brussels has dubbed a "hybrid attack" and "gangster tactic" on the EU, exacerbates internal tensions in the EU, which no doubt both Lukashenko and his main ally Putin are happy to achieve, as the West has less time to respond to the dire situation in Belarus itself.

What should the West's answer be? What is the strategy of the Belarusian opposition? What are the Belarusians going to do if Putin decides to complete the "Union State" project with Belarus? GISP spoke to one of the opposition leaders and former Belarusian Minister of Culture, Pavel Latushka.

THE ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ISSUE – LUKASHENKO AND THE KREMLIN HAVE BEEN USING IT TO CREATE TURMOIL IN BELARUS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. WHAT SHOULD THE WEST’S RESPONSE BE? As a former minister of culture, I realize that the humanitarian angle is of utmost importance here – saving peoples’ lives should be the top priority.

Lukashenko is using these people as instruments of war against the European Union. As a diplomat, I realize how important it is to have one’s borders secured; as a politician, I cannot understand why the EU isn’t using the leverages at its disposal – the rule of law, first and foremost. If we are dealing with an organized crime group here, and everybody can see that it’s a special operation orchestrated by Lukashenko and his cronies to cause turmoil, then why is there no question about criminal responsibility for Lukashenko? Why aren’t there any suits against him related to the deaths of these migrants?

Start an international court trial and summon Lukashenko there to argue his defense- that would be the adequate step. And then there is the economic leverage – sanctions tailored to the situation, where Lukashenko has to pay for every migrant. He is earn-

Pavel Latushka. Source: NN.BY, Nadzeya Buzhan

ing money on them today, so make him pay for it, so that he starts thinking whether it’s worth it.

WHILE THE OPPOSITION SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN, IT’S ALSO SAFE TO SAY THAT LUKASHENKO ISN’T GOING TO HAND OVER THE REINS OF RULE VOLUNTARILY ANYTIME SOON. WHAT’S THE CURRENT STALEMATE AND WHOSE SIDE IS TIME ON? Even Russian opinion polls show that Belarussians don’t trust Lukashenko, and that the majority of them don’t want him to retain the post of President.

And Lukashenko himself looks at Belarussians as ungrateful traitors and enemies who betrayed him.

Like every other dictator, he needs an “enemy” to fight. His first enemy is the Belarussians themselves, the second is the West, and the third enemy, as much as he doesn’t want to admit that, is Russia.

Today, the Belarusians, despite of their disdain towards Lukashenko, aren’t allowed to express their position. He amended the constitution in a way that even a word written in social media against his regime is tantamount to a crime that can send you to prison for a minimum of 30 days. Fear has become his main weapon to keep the people silent. But this can’t go on forever – the situation is slowly but surely

nearing boiling point. He thinks he can prevent it if he puts everyone who wants to speak out in prison and keeps the rest living in terror. He’s building an upgraded version of North Korea. This is impossible for several reasons: one, we live in Europe; two, we live in an age of technology and information; third, Belarusians are smart and they’ve shown that they want freedom and that they’ll fight for it. For these reasons, this scenario won’t be turned into a reality, even though, tactics-wise, Lukashenko might look at his situation and think that it’s in his favor.

BELARUSIANS TRIED TO FIGHT FOR THEIR FREEDOM A YEAR AGO USING PUBLIC PROTESTS, BUT IT WASN’T ENOUGH. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE DIFFERENTLY IF ANOTHER WAVE OF PUBLIC PROTESTS BEGINS? For that, we need a strategy on both the domestic and international front. There are several elements to it: We need to achieve non-recognition of Lukashenko as a president. Many countries in the world have stated that they don’t recognize the elections as legitimate, but that’s different to not recognizing him as president or recognizing his government.

The European Parliament has just done that, but we need the same to happen at the national government level too.

The next step would be holding him responsible for the crimes he has committed through the force of international law, including seizing a plane with international passengers, as well as waging an illegal “migrant war” against neighboring countries, not to mention his crimes against his own people. He is a leader of a crime gang that operates at a governmental level. The legal leverage would be charging him for those crimes and holding him responsible.

Work is already being done to create something along the lines of an International Criminal Court case on Belarus.

The third element is sanctions, and they can only be effective when they are timely and hard-hitting.

If you drag your feet with sanctions, that gives him time to prepare for them.

On the domestic front, we should be preparing for countrywide, well organized strikes. It should be a unified front of all democratic forces who will call on all Belarusians to go on strike. One of the triggers for that could be the referendum that Lukashenko is planning to conduct in February next year, to basically give himself immunity guaranteed by the constitution.

LET’S ASSUME YOU ACHIEVE SOME OF YOUR OBJECTIVES. WOULDN’T THE INCREASED INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION OF BELARUS MAKE IT EVEN EASIER FOR RUSSIA TO FORCE LUKASHENKO TO ACCEPT RUSSIAN CONDITIONS AND SOLUTIONS IN BILATERAL RELATIONS?

Tbilisi, Georgia, Alexander Tsurtsumia 14, 0103 032 222 85 28

First off, I must underline that the only suitable scenario for deposing the current regime in Belarus lies in the hands of the Belarusians themselves. It is something Belarusians themselves must do – that’s the cornerstone of our strategy. Then there is another scenario, that we would rather not see occur, but it may happen – that’s the scenario you described. One option there would be Putin singlehandedly deciding that the time has come to remove Lukashenko and impose a new “ruler” according to the Kremlin interests, and another – leaving Lukashenko in place, turning him into a fully controlled puppet. And while the second scenario is undesirable, the third one is outright unacceptable. As I said, there is no scenario that would turn Belarus into a North Korea for the long term. Let’s also discuss the oft-speculated scenario of Putin ordering Russian military forces to enter Belarus – I don’t think such a scenario is realistic. I don’t believe Putin will command Russian soldiers to shoot at Belarusians. That would be the

Because Belarusians will take to the streets and they’ll want to make their own decision as to how the country should be governed. If the Kremlin wants to take away that decision from the Belarusians, they’ll have to do it by brute force. I don’t think that’s in the Kremlin’s interests, considering there is also another option available: to control whoever replaces Lukashenko. He is too toxic and high-maintenance for Russia. At this point, today, Russia isn’t ready to incorporate Belarus, but it will be ready to do it at every appropriate chance and in all likelihood, will attempt to do it in a few years. The vast majority of Belarusians don’t want to become a part of Russia, even Russian polls show that, but I’m afraid that if we play the waiting game, hoping that the problems will solve themselves, then that’s just not going to happen. I’m against such a scenario, because that means Belarus only existing on a map and having a flag in the United Nations. Russia doesn’t want Belarus to enjoy the choice of determining their own development – it follows the power doctrines of the last century. Where you have to make an ideological choice, and you’ve got to have an enemy.

TOGETHER WITH THE REST OF THE 28 “INTEGRATION PROGRAMS”, HOW BIG OF A STEP IS IT TOWARDS THE UNIFIED STATE THAT MOSCOW IS PUSHING FOR? I don’t think anybody could answer that question, because most of these documents are classified and nobody has seen their contents, what Lukashenko and the President of the Russian Federation agreed upon. What we are witnessing is that the man who usurped the rule in our country, has now taken it upon himself to decide its eventual fate as a sovereign state. The idea of a Union State irritates most Belarusians. This should be a transparent matter, and the Belarusian people themselves should be deciding whether they want it or not. It cannot be imposed from above or externally. And if Lukashenko and the Kremlin decide to go that route, then the new government of Belarus will have to annul any agreement reached that way. We consider this a real threat to Belarus’ sovereignty. If the Kremlin want to repeat the scenarios of Georgia and Ukraine in Belarus, that would be yet another colossal mistake for the Russian foreign policy – subjugating a nation, an independent state, through force. Turning Belarusians and Russians into enemies might satisfy somebody’s ambitions in the short term, but it is not a viable long-term strategy in the 21st century.

COULD A NEW REGIME IN MINSK BE MORE PLIABLE AND AGREEABLE TOWARDS THE KREMLIN’S INSISTENCE ON DEEPER INTEGRATION? I would have to upset the analysts in Moscow, but this scenario is not realistic. And that’s partly due to Lukashenko’s presence: as long as he’s here, he won’t allow the creation of any structure that will be on more amiable terms with the Kremlin than he is himself. That would be an existential threat for him. That means that either Moscow is stuck with Lukashenko, or they will have to find an agreement with the new democratic opposition – but Belarus’ sovereignty won’t be a bargaining chip in any such negotiations, I can assure you of that. Any negotiations would have to be on equal terms.

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT IT IS IN RUSSIA’S INTERESTS TO TALK TO BELARUS AS TO AN EQUAL PARTNER, INSTEAD OF TURNING IT INTO A FULLYFLEDGED SATELLITE? WHY WOULD THE KREMLIN SETTLE FOR LESS WHEN THEY THINK THEY CAN GET MORE? Is it a pragmatic choice to support a dictator and burn bridges to the Belarusian nation, to its people?

No. Is it a moral choice? No. Is it a choice based on values? Not really. I think as time passes, this will become more and more evident to Russians themselves. What we can do is to try and expedite that process, this is in our hands. And Belarusians wanted that, but it didn’t happen and Russia played a key role in it. Now they’ll have to put up with Lukashenko, from whom they won’t get any benefits anyway. He dislikes the Russian leadership, he loathed Medvedev and isn’t too fond of Putin either. I am sure Lavrov himself sees Lukashenko as a complete idiot, but he is a diplomat and he has to enact the Kremlin foreign policy. Lukashenko can’t be trusted – he only plays with Putin because he needs to survive.

How long Putin is prepared to take it remains to be seen.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

5

When Avoiding and Hiding from the Essence of an Issue. Part II OP-ED BY VICTOR KIPIANI, CHAIRMAN, GEOCASE

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summit of the EU and Western Balkans was recently held in Slovenia. Its agenda was dedicated to the EU integration of the “Balkan Six”—an issue which has recently gained particular importance and has become a test not only for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro’s full EU membership but also for the Union’s real readiness to pursue its eastward expansion. Opinions among EU members are split on this topic, and not only with regard to the Balkan Six and the progress of their reforms: the attitudes of certain EU member states towards Russia, China and Turkey as well as their interest in political or economic angles are additional important factors. If we set aside internal Balkan processes for a second, it is particularly noteworthy that the word “expansion” engenders noticeable levels of resistance in EU countries.

Presumably, the answer to this resistance could be the various quasi-integrational attempts of several Balkan countries (e.g. the “Open Balkans” initiative), as these improve their readiness for greater coordination and integration around overall European themes.

One specific angle (reviewed here) can help us to discuss the “Eastern Partnership”, particularly as the political and economic test of Europeanness for this platform is much more difficult and complex than it is for the Balkans. It should be enough to mention that the West still considers the Eastern Partnership countries as a so-called “buffer zone”, whereas Russian influence over these countries is increasing daily; and this problem is rendered even more acute by the open aggression and occupation of territories belonging to several members of this “Associated Trio”. As a result, the integration of these countries into the EU causes great difficulties and “archproblems”.

What should Georgia’s approach be towards European integration in such conditions? Where and to what extent do our interests overlap with those of the “Associated Trio”, as countries much closer to us in terms of their geopolitical aims?

I think that the best response of “Senior Europeans” would be the greater Europeanization of this Trio and the deepening of their EU integration in

The West still considers the Eastern Partnership countries as a so-called “buffer zone”, whereas Russian influence over these countries is increasing daily. Image source: belgradeforum.org

various sectors. Alongside various bilateral programmes with the EU, I would also consider establishing an overall regional market for the “Trio” with unified rules and regulations. In addition to previously mentioned bilateral processes, i.e. when we carry out reforms whereas the EU fulfills its promises, a greater synergy of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine within a regionally important trilateral association would serve as an optimal response to Western European skepticism.

Besides economic components, a much greater rapprochement and consultations between the foreign policies and national security systems of the “Trio” would be equally useful. It is a fact that knocking on the doors of the EU and NATO on our own and uniting our call with those of others are two diametrically different situations. Alongside these two components, I believe that the West would welcome a more systematic approach from the “Trio”. The institutionalization of cooperation along foreign and security lines, both among the “Trio” and with the EU, would also improve the effectiveness of the fight against hybrid threats and disinformation.

The reader will have noticed that we began by discussing the “Eastern Partnership” before shifting to the “Associated Trio”, and this was neither a coincidence nor an accident. Despite declared support for the “Eastern Partnership” (of which the European Parliament’s paper of the 16th of September 2021 on EU-Russian political relations is a further example), moving towards the EU along the route of this “partnership” will be much longer than via the “Trio”. It is not only about the ambiguity of certain EU statements regarding the Eastern Partnership, e.g. “everything but institutions”; nor is it about speculation that the “Eastern Partnership” is an attempt

by the EU to distance itself from the countries of the partnership. Yet nor is this thesis groundless… Essentially and importantly, the failing of the “partnership” in terms of European integration is a lack of overlap between the interests of its main members, making this union even more amorphous and “imminent” membership of the EU even more unrealistic.

Accordingly, I believe that the reality is that moving towards the EU along the “Associated Trio” path offers better prospects, for through such a homogeneous union Tbilisi could make it relatively easier for the EU to take practical counter-steps. Alongside the previously mentioned Europeanization, both parties to the integration process, i.e. us and them, must make political decisions. And this, along with common European values, rests upon the profitability, acceptability and pragmatism that are so characteristic of the modern world.

NATO: SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR… The problems that Georgia’s NATO membership faces are linked to one key issue: the differences of opinion among Alliance members regarding Eastern enlargement. From one summit to another, instead of the promises of 2008 being kept, we simply receive even more promises. Also, considering the anachronistic inclusion in the last summit’s declaration of an “individual membership plan”, I would read it as yet another appeal to “mark time”, if not actually another step back.

In general, expanding the Alliance has become a test of the modernization of the Western world as well as of its ability to adapt to the rapidly changing global security environment. As a result, we have ended up in a situation in which, alongside Tbilisi’s attempts to become a NATO member, we are also witnessing

the Alliance’s own attempts to redefine itself in new contexts.

According to current data, Georgia has still not clearly been given a specific date for its NATO membership; and as for the country’s “individual membership” plan, we still do not know what more we could do to achieve greater specificity. Additionally, there is also a need to clearly define what our partner countries may expect (in terms of defense and in other areas) from a country which, despite hundredfold pressures in this most complicated region, continues to be the standard bearer of the course of Western geopolitics.

We have therefore reached a demand for the primacy of political will: we have been waiting for NATO members to show unity and make a bold political decision for a long time. Moreover, considering current processes, it seems likely that we will have to wait much longer still.

If this turns out to be the case, it would be most unfair and should be mentioned immediately.

The word “unfair” was not mentioned accidentally. Georgia is currently much more advanced on the path towards NATO than, for example, Bulgaria and Romania were back in 1999 or Albania in 2007. Moreover, the picture of influences in the Black Sea region is changing very rapidly, requiring less talk of “values” and greater agility and dynamism in defense of “interests”.

The situation requires an honest and specific conversation with our Western partners regarding the “rules of the game”, in parallel with which the Georgian side is only left with the “option” of not stopping, not even for a second, its constant and unstoppable (!) work to fully and qualitatively reform its military and security sectors as well as its economy and democratic institutions.

Yet working on such changes should be done without self-satisfaction, groundless PR and reproaches. Real and comprehensive change is first of all useful to its real beneficiaries: our country and our society.

Also, if we cannot compel our partners and allies, we should at least call on them to turn our cooperation into an interallied effort, so that when they make a political decision, this relationship would only lack a signature.

Alongside Tbilisi’s necessary political and diplomatic efforts and before NATO’s possible replacement or the inactivation of its safety umbrella, I believe it would be appropriate to discuss the so-called security “compensation” model. This,

too, has become a much more frequent subject of discussion, and I shall now underline the two main formats that such a model can adopt.

One of them is structuring a certain kind of alliance based upon territorial arrangements around the Black Sea. The Black Sea’s role in the overall Eurasian system has been mentioned many times; the region really has unique meaning as a “security lock” at the geostrategic crossroads of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet states, Turkish space and Russia’s “New Kaliningrad” (the Crimea). It is therefore time to take practical steps towards making this evaluation a reality.

As an alternative (or overlap), one could also consider transforming Georgia’s bilateral strategic partnership with the U.S. into a bilateral strategic alliance; and here, too, with great results in terms of security. When mentioning this model, it is worth noting the recent visit to Tbilisi of the U.S. Secretary of Defense and considering what practical results this visit could have.

At the same time, such cooperation should encourage Georgia’s regional position and stability. Efforts to strengthen the country’s security should first of all be conditioned by our national and state interests, ensuring our citizens and society enjoy the peace and development that they need to prosper. It is equally important to note that this would in turn improve the stability and peaceful prospects of the wider Black Sea region and would be completely desirable for the South Caucasus—a neighborhood in which territorial integrity and civilized coexistence are fundamental principles.

IN A WORD… Our discussion of these topics is yet another invitation to debate these matters among ourselves in a realistic and specific manner. I believe that formulating such an approach would help practical policy makers to establish a principle-based and yet flexible position. Georgia cannot enjoy the luxury of being “incapable to agree” when considering the question of the country’s safe development. At the same time, systems of relations based upon framework agreements with our partners and neighbors can only be formed through a technocratic, rational and applied analysis. It is time for Georgian politicians to abandon their chestthumping patriotism and creation of fake media effects in favor of reflecting reality, for only the latter can lead to practical, tangible and long-term results.

Wrong & Guilty or Right & Innocent?

OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

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he nation is totally and absolutely overwhelmed with just one issue: how to handle legally and physically, in the fairest possible way, the convicted third president of Georgia. Any other problem of national magnitude has been overshadowed by this. Georgia has stopped development and is paralyze; split and polarized so disastrously that an optimistic projection of the situation has become practically impossible.

The people of this country, as socially anxious and politically obsessed as they happen to be right now, are losing the judicious ground under their feet. The political delirium in which our good citizens have found themselves is having a lethal effect on the nation’s future. All human interests have been dejected, elementary human pleasures have been eradicated, and most of our healthy minds have been warped to the extent of stu-

pefied stagnation. Lost between the two drastically differing psycho-political discourses, the ruinously dichotomized nervous system of the nation is being deleteriously shaken to the point of arresting its functionality. Our moral endurance capability is on the verge of explosion, and there is nobody out there to calculate the damage.

Are we going to recover from this diabolical quandary? Unlikely, because the nation has limited resources for survival, and that limit is currently at stake because of the uncanny self-exhaustion we are faced with. And no source to replete that vainly wasted national energy can be seen on the horizon. We certainly need help, the outside assistance, a friend’s hand and shoulder, but the world doesn’t seem to be handling our story in the wisest possible way. The casual world has standards of international behavior, deviation from which raises eyebrows, but raised eyebrows alone are utterly irrelevant to what’s going on with our blameless but terribly weakened people at this moment in time.

The question is still open why the for-

mer president wanted to permeate the already balanced and healed socialpolitical tissue of this society, and do so on Election Day. Everything is in doubt and under question. Most of us are at a loss, unable to tell wrong from right, having no clue how to discern between truth and lie.

Who is going to say whether the muchtalked-about convict, strangely swollen out of his significance as a political animal, is guilty or innocent? And if he is guilty, what should the State of Georgia do in order for all of us here to get the feeling of justice done? Or does justice matter no longer in this land? If he is innocent, will the world have a say in handling his innocence with genuine righteousness? There is something nearly suicidal in puffing the issue into hyperbolized parameters, where the bridges seem to be burning irretrievably.

There is a weighing scale of stakes that any nation must be equipped with, which Georgia seems to have lost for good. Our weathervane is flapping around like a broken toy and has no sensitivity to the climate around it. Why are all those

Image source: JamNews.net

stakes so badly ignored and forgotten?

Are we going to put an end to that development indispensable for our kids’ prosperous and healthy future? The invisible killer of joy is around to finally deprive us of hope and opportunity. Why are we giving preference to just one issue, determining if the renowned convict should be freed or stay jailed? Shouldn’t we care more of the happiness and wellbeing of the remaining four million Georgians that need to be taken care of? It seems our capability to handle both is at the nadir right now. There is something very dark about the whole thing. There is a huge devastating wave moving on Georgia, whose current government has been overwhelmed with unknown-before headaches: looking after the economy without which we are all in trouble; handling the notorious culprit so sagely

that not even a piece of hair falls from his head; coping with sporadic international discontent; remaining within the Euro-Atlantic framework of development; the perennial problem of territorial integrity; keeping together the spiritual integrity of our people; tolerating and handling with dignity the mixture of media rights and wrongs; optimal budgeting of the country’s financial and other resources; keeping intact our cultural and spiritual values; feeding the elderly and fortifying the youth for future struggles; being in close and useful touch with the rest of the world. How felicitous are meanwhile the forces of opposition: just take to the streets and talk at the highest pitch, and get in the way of those who are factually responsible for our survival at this harshest time in our history. Aren’t they lucky!

6

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

Celebrating Compliance, Ethics and Culture as a Vital Part of Company Performance

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n November 4, Veon Georgia held its first ever Compliance Fest - a one-day event jointly organized by the Ethics & Compliance and People & Organization functions.

The event brought together employees of Veon Georgia from various functions, top managements of Veon Georgia and the VEON Group. The main aim of the event was to sum up a year of work, and to celebrate Veon Georgia’s success in observing the highest standards of Ethics and Compliance in business and living by those values while fulfilling its responsibility as a company.

As Ethics and Compliance are an integral part of the way Veon Georgia does its business, they are also reflected in the values that company stands for. This is why the event aimed to observe both the ethical standards and the company culture. The event became a way to cement the work carried out by Compliance and Ethics function and the company as a whole.

Veon Georgia employees attending the Festival had a chance to participate in activities and games in connection with Ethics & Compliance policies and procedures and company values, to attend a presentation by the local Ethics &

Compliance function summing up the achievements, areas of improvement and future goals, and to hear from both Veon Georgia and VEON Group top management.

At an awards ceremony, which was one of the highlights of the event, the company recognized employees who have excelled at observing Ethics & Compliance standards, as well as employees who have been acting as role models for each of the company values. Covid-19 regulations were strictly observed at the event, with organizing staff and attendees all being fully vaccinated. The company is looking forward to holding the event annually.

“It is a signature event we are attending here today – a Compliance Festival, showing how important the principles, ethics, integrity, and code of conduct are to achieve success and to do so in a way to be proud of,” said Kaan Terzioglu, Group Chief Executive Officer of VEON. “Today, Veon Georgia held its first Compliance, Ethics and Culture Festival.

This event is a celebration of the way we live, the way we do business, and the values that are an integral part of our everyday work. In addition to following the highest ethical principles within the company, we are working with our business partners and suppliers in the same way – with responsibility, integrity and ethics in mind,” said Lasha Tabidze, Veon Georgia CEO.

The Chinese Are Doing What the Mongols Did Before Them, Only Better Continued from page 2 Living in the steppe lands of Eurasia, the Mongols saw the great potential of massive Eurasian trade and wanted to serve as a bridgehead between the Mediterranean and Chinese worlds.

Their expansion (the conquests of Central Asia, Iran, Syria, and the Russian steppes), often called chaotic, was in fact logical in light of their quest to control major trade routes emanating from the Middle East and Europe to South Asia and China.

For the Mongols, Central Asia was an economic hub from which trade routes emanated in many directions. The modern day Russian steppes were important as well, because it was possible to reach the Black Sea fairly quickly by horse, and trade with Eastern Europe.

Conquest was one approach. Another was to stimulate trade across these large swathes of land. The construction of roads, protection of caravans, provision of special financial rights to foreign merchants, and so on, were fundamental principles guiding the Mongols.

This concept of Asian “Eurasianism”

existed after the Mongols too. Tamerlane, with his capital in Samarkand (modernday Uzbekistan), invaded much of the Middle East, Caucasus, and north India.

Before his death, he was intent on invading China and thereby connecting two economic powerhouses: China, with its human and natural resources, and the Mediterranean.

Conquests by the nomads centuries ago were dictated by economic need and facilitated by Eurasian geographic landscapes. The modern-day Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), or Chinese Eurasianism, like its predecessor, nomadic Eurasianism, involves the Central Asian, Russian steppe, and Indian-Pakistani geographic corridors. It also entails the construction of roads, their protection, and the overall stimulation of fair trade.

The modern vision of Chinese Eurasianism, therefore, based as it is on economic connectivity, fits into Asian geopolitical thinking of the past.

Previous contenders to connect the whole of Eurasia lacked the necessary resources. The Mongols and later Tamerlane’s state lacked powerful economies of their own: they were simply trading

middlemen between China and the Mediterranean world. They also lacked human resources and technological expertise. As a result, the Mongols and other nomadic powers, though masters of half of Eurasia, largely depended on the more experienced Chinese, Iranians, and others to run their empires. This is why those pan-Eurasian concepts, though important milestones in human history, were short-lived.

Modern Chinese “Eurasianism” can be likened to past Asian prototypes, but it is inherently stronger and much more influential over the people of Central Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and South Asia.

The Chinese have what the nomads lacked: a large population, technological prowess, economically productive centers, and strong instruments of soft power.

The BRI is therefore likely to be more successful and thorough.

Moreover, unlike their Asian predecessors, who swiftly invaded large territories, the Chinese of today are very patient about their geopolitical goals. Any rush could bring about a coalition of forces that might preclude their initiatives.

The Silk Road. Image source: FT

Also, because the Chinese are working closely with states to protect Eurasian trade routes, it is unlikely that there will be a swift deterioration of security in any part of the BRI. The BRI, which clearly outstrips all previous Asian global initiatives, reflects a nomadic understanding of Eurasian geography combined with a Chinese vision of the continent that surpasses

military alliance models or closed security provisions among a group of states.

The initiative projects Beijing’s notion of economic interconnectedness, interwoven with the centrality of China in Eurasia.

Emil Avdaliani is a professor at European University and the Director of Middle East Studies at the Georgian think-tank, Geocase.

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

7

Nexia Has Been Named ‘Network of the Year’ 2021 Globally

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EXIA TA IS THE FASTEST GROWING COMPANY ON THE GEORGIAN AUDIT MARKET.

Brands with international experience operating on the local market is of utmost importance for the Georgian business sector. The prestige, knowledge and experience that their activities bring is the foundation for strengthening business and the economy.

In this regard, one of the most outstanding companies in the country can be named as "Nexia TA", which was able to position itself on the local market in a very short time as a brand providing high quality audit, accounting and tax services.

Nexia TA constantly supports business development and offers individually tailored services to each client. The company is maximally focused on the development of the business sector through the implementation of various projects and activities. The company further boasts a particularly high corporate social responsibility, which is expressed and proven in various directions.

Nexia TA has been the official representative of the independent international network, Nexia International, in Georgia since 2014, offering auditing, accounting and consulting services to industries. In this regard, it occupies an honorable place in the top ten companies worldwide. Nexia International was founded in 1971 by two firms - Oppenheim Appel Dixon & Associates (USA) and Spicer & Pegler (UK). Currently, Nexia's network unites 752 offices in more than 100 countries.

Today, more than 500 leading companies across the country entrust their accounting, auditing, tax or legal services to Nexia TA, and up to 250 highly qualified employees provide professional services to the client companies.

Like the last few consecutive years, 2021 has been remarkably successful and fruitful for the company, and Nexia has again become the holder of significant international awards.

In particular, at the Digital Accountancy Awards 2021, which has been held annually for 10 years by the # 1 accounting publication, IAB, in London, Nexia won two major awards: Nexia International was named “Network of the Year” among the accounting and consulting companies, and Nexia CEO Kevin Arnold received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The annual event held in London evaluates firms for using the best and most innovative approaches in modern accounting.

In 2020, the Nexia network advanced by another position to rank 8th among the world's largest global accounting networks. Its revenue was $4.5 billion, up 5% from a year earlier.

GEORGIA TODAY talked to Davit Lomidze, the managing partner of Nexia TA, about these and other achievements and successes and future projects planned in the Georgian business space.

“Nexia TA entered the Georgian market in 2014. We are the official representative of Nexia International in Georgia, which is among the top ten global brands, occupying 8th position,” he tells us. “Since then, we have achieved many successes both internationally and locally.

Over the years we have been one of the fastest growing companies in the entire Nexia network. In addition, Nexia grew at a fairly rapid pace upon entering the Georgian market.”

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MOST OUTSTANDING SUCCESS OF YOUR TEAM? Among the important successes, I would like to single out the following: In 2017, at the annual Nexia International Summit, we were named the best

company of the year in the entire Nexia network, which is represented in 120 countries and has more than 700 offices.

In the United States, the network awarded us the valuable title, "Company of the Year", which the company was able to obtain just three years after its inception.

In 2018, in London, the #1 accounting publication worldwide, the International Accounting Bulletin, recognized Nexia TA as the only company in the field of auditing from Georgia to be named Accounting Capacity Building Champion 2018. The award was received for special contributions in development of the field of accounting.

The company was nominated in two nominations and in the following years we are constantly on the list of nominees in different directions.

Then, in 2019, we won the "Responsible Employer of the Year” award. Almost every year is marked by success and recognition, which fills us with pride and at the same time increases our motivation.

TELL US ABOUT THE MAIN DIRECTIONS AND SERVICES OF THE COMPANY. We offer customers a wide variety of services. One of the main areas is accounting outsourcing, where we are represented by about 120 employees and serve more than 200 clients. In total, we are represented on the Georgian audit market with 250 employees and we are the third largest employer in the field of auditing. We serve more than 500 clients, mostly large and medium-sized businesses, however, it has been about a year since we introduced the "Accounting Simply" service to make our high qual-

ity international standards service available to beginners, even relatively small companies, where we have optimized pricing.

This was an important innovation that we implemented for our customers.

The slogan of our international brand, "Closer to You", means supporting customers, to work as closely as possible with them, and to take into account their interests, which we honestly do.

Nexia TA is a company where the process is as important as the outcome, which ultimately contributes to our successful growth and development. It is noteworthy that Nexia TA’s campaign - "where the process is as important as the outcome" - at the 2021 Digital Accountancy Awards was nominated among the finalists for the "Communications Campaign of the Year."

Regarding other services, we have a very strong tax department and we are successfully cooperating with international partners, including the German and Italian sides. We have developed an audit direction and are actively cooperating with the British office, where our staff gain experience which they use in Georgia. Exchange programs for employees are often held in Ukraine, their team often helps us during the busy period, which further enhances the experience of our employees. We also have a consulting direction, which includes business consulting, and, as well as property and business appraisals, we are also involved in the inventory process. One of our major inventory projects was also featured in the International Accounting Bulletin. In addition, we have a fairly strong legal direction, which includes civil disputes and legal advice. We also provide a software service that is presented under the Nexia Solution brand.

We are proud of Nexia Academy, where trainings are constantly underway for both internal team members and external users.

As part of our corporate social responsibility strategy, when the pandemic started, we conducted a lot of free training at the academy as part of the Move on Georgia project, to support the community from our side given the financial difficulties.

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE COMPANY’S CSR PROJECTS. In this regard, for instance, we had a project in terms of disputes, when a certain segment such as schools, etc., could not afford to appeal against accrued amounts. We thought that the amounts were charged unfairly, so our highly qualified tax consultants helped them for symbolical price of 1 GEL. We allocate a certain budget each year for CSR projects, which is then spent on charity or other useful activities. For us, supporting the surrounding community is of utmost importance.

IT SEEMS THAT SUCH A RESPONSIBLE ATTITUDE DETERMINES THE SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY GLOBALLY. Obviously. It is gratifying that this year, Nexia has achieved a lot of success worldwide - being named the Network of the Year by Nexia International, and the Nexia CEO Kevin Arnold receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.

During Mr. Arnold’s tenure, the Nexia network has grown significantly in the rankings and currently ranks 8th among the world's largest global accounting networks.

Kevin Arnold’s role is crucial to the

success of the network. Nexia's position - a brand in the top ten of international auditing and consulting companies - is due to his leadership, strategic vision and "member first" mantra. The 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award confirms his special work, dedicated energy and commitment to the brand.

The jury included Jon Lisby, FCA FIIA Director of Global Alliance Advisory Services, Chris Biggs, Partner at Theta Global Advisors, Rob Brown, Founder of BD Academy, and Christine Nicholson, who won the UK Business Mentor 2020.

Regarding the local scale, we are even further in this respect: in the 6th place among the ten international companies represented in Georgia, and we continue to strengthen our position every year.

HOW HAS THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC AFFECTED THE COMPANY? The pandemic affected almost every business, but Nexia supported its customers as much as possible during this difficult time. Mutual loyalty has led to the fact that we continued to grow even during the pandemic. The company strengthens existing directions and plans innovations, we care about customers and society in general, and we strive to bring maximum benefits to employees, customers and the country.

Our campaign - "The process is as important as the outcome," means establishing partnerships with clients, as well as maximum care for the comfort of employees and creating a pleasant work environment.

We started offering remote services even before the pandemic, so we continued this practice and gave employees the opportunity to work remotely. We have implemented enhanced security measures in the office, which means constant control of the temperature of the entrants in the office, and stopping unvaccinated employees from working in the office, having them work remotely instead. We call on everyone to get vaccinated as much as possible.

AND YOUR FUTURE PLANS? We constantly strive to introduce exciting innovations and products. Before the pandemic we had an important international plan to host business partners from Europe-Middle East-Africa, which was to be attended by up to 300 delegates and was to be a fairly large-scale event, including in terms of MICE tourism.

Unfortunately, the pandemic hindered the process, however, as soon as the situation improves, we will host such important events in Georgia.

Also, after the epidemiological situation improves, we are thinking of opening a new office. Currently, in addition to the head office, we have a branch in Tbilisi which serves customers. In the regions, we have clientele, although at this stage we are limited to serving them via business trips and remote services.

In the innovations part, we are going to make every effort to make our "Accounting Simply" service available to an even wider range of customers and to reach as many customers as possible.

In terms of price and quality, it is really a very interesting and competitive product for small and start-up businesses.

Customers interested in this product should contact us directly at Nexia TA, and after the start of cooperation we will provide the highest quality and affordable price.

8

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

ISET GDP Forecast | Georgian Economic Growth in 2021 Driven Mainly by the Recovering External Sector and 2.4% respectively. Appreciation of the REER is typically associated with domestic export goods losing competitiveness on the foreign markets, but it also translates into less pressure on the prices of imported goods. Overall, REERrelated variables had a small positive contribution to the real GDP growth projections.

EXCESSIVE INFLATION AND STRICT MONETARY POLICY STILL HINDERS ECONOMIC GROWTH

BY DAVIT KESHELAVA AND YASYA BABYCH

I

SET-PI has updated its real GDP growth forecast for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. Here are the highlights of this month’s release:

HIGHLIGHTS • According to Geostat’s updated estimate, Q3 2021 growth rate stands at 9%.

As a result, the real GDP growth estimate for the first nine months of 2021 is 11.3%.

• Geostat has also revised estimates for real GDP growth for 2020, and now it stands at -6.8%, which is slightly lower than the previous estimate of -6.2%.

• As a result of the update, ISET-PI growth forecast for Q4 of 2021 was changed to 10.9%. ISET-PI’s first forecast for Q1 of 2022 puts GDP growth at 7.8%.

• Based on September’s data, we expect annual growth in 2021 to be 10.8%. Historically, our model’s forecast based on September data is rather accurate, but this year the number is most likely slightly overestimated. This is because the nature of the shock (a transitory lockdown event and difficult epidemiological situation) in the last three quarters of 2020 and correspondingly abnormally high GDP growth (base effect, increased external demand and higher commodity prices) in the second quarter of 2021, had not had relevant analogues in the Georgian data.

• In addition, the National Bank of Georgia revised its expectation for the real GDP growth up from 8.5% to 10% in 2020 (very close to our current annual forecast). According to the Monetary

Policy Report, among the reasons behind the upward revision is the stronger-thanexpected impact of pent-up demand.

The main driving forces of this growth are final consumption and net exports (due to a significant increase in exports of goods, which has been accompanied by a partial recovery of the tourism sector). The real GDP growth forecast for 2022 is around 5%.

GEORGIA’S EXPORTS STARTED TO RECOVER In September, Georgia’s exports experienced a 12.8% annual growth, which was mainly driven by increased export/ re-export of motor cars and telephones to Azerbaijan; export of apparel, ferroalloys and scrap metal to Turkey; export of ferro alleys, potatoes, cigarettes and cigarillos, and mineral waters to Russia; export/re-export of spirits and telephones to Armenia; export of medicines to Uzbekistan; export of motor cars and industrial ovens to Kazakhstan; export of mineral and chemical fertilizers to Romania; and export of walnuts to Italy.

In contrast, Georgian exports to Spain (due to decreased export/re-export of copper ores and concentrates), and United Arab Emirates (due to decreased re-export of motor cars) declined notably.

During this period, the import of goods increased by 23.4%, driven by an increased import of cars with more than 10 passengers and carbon steel rods from Turkey; import of petroleum and petroleum products from Turkmenistan, Russia and Azerbaijan; import of carbon steel semi-finished products and medicines from Ukraine. Among other affected imports were: petroleum and petroleum from Bulgaria and Italy; dish-

washers and various cranes from Germany; mixed goods from France; copper ores and concentrates from Indonesia; computing machines and their blocks from Hong Kong; polymers and ceramic tiles from Iran; and motor cars from Japan. In contrast, Georgian imports of copper ores and concentrates from Armenia and Brazil; and motor cars from USA declined notably. Consequently, the trade deficit widened dramatically by 31.8% yearly, and amounted to 552.2 million USD. Overall, trade related variables still had a small positive contribution to the GDP growth forecast.

REMITTANCES CONTINUE TO GROW After a significant slowdown in remittances inflows at the beginning of 2020, money inflows were on the path of recovery from June 2020 (in January-October 2021, money inflow increased by 26.1% annually, which was partially driven by increased use of bank transfers rather than physically carrying money via border due to COVID regulations ). In September, remittances increased by 8.8% annually and reached 209.7 million USD. The main contributors to this increase were Italy (by 16.6% YoY, contributing 2.5 ppts), Kazakhstan (by 204.8% YoY, 2.1 ppts), Russian Federation (by 9.8% YoY, 1.8 ppts), Germany (by 44.1% YoY, 1.7 ppts), Kyrgyz Republic (by 238.2% YoY, 1.3 ppts), USA (by 8.2% YoY, 1.0 ppts), and Israel (by 10.6% YoY, 0.8 ppts).

Whereas money inflows decreased from Ukraine (by 39.7% YoY, -2.7 ppts), and Greece (by 6.8% YoY, -0.8 ppts). Overall, the recovery of remittances flows made a positive contribution to the Q4 growth forecast.

TOURISM SECTOR REMAINS ONE OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES Tourism arrivals and receipts only partially recovered in September of 2021 after a sharp decline in 2020. In September, the number of international visitors increased by 348.8% yearly (decreasing by 71.1% compared to the same month in 2019), while the increase in tourist numbers (visitors who spent 24 hours or more in Georgia) amounted to 401.3% (decreasing by 61.1% compared to the same month in 2019). It is notable that annual increase in the number of international visitors was mostly driven by Russia (56.9 ppts), Ukraine (43.3 ppts), Turkey (27.2 ppts), Belarus (21.6 ppts), Kazakhstan (20.6 ppts), Saudi Arabia (18.5 ppts), Armenia (16.6 ppts), Israel (15.5 ppts) and Poland (13.8 ppts). Overall, the recovered numbers of visitors and tourists, along with a moderate increase in touristic spending has made a small positive contribution to the growth forecast.

REAL EFFECTIVE EXCHANGE RATE APPRECIATED MONTHLY AND DEPRECIATED YEARLY The depreciation of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) had a small but positive contribution to the real GDP growth projections. REER depreciated by 0.6% monthly and appreciated by 7.3% yearly in September. The Lari Real Exchange Rate (RER) depreciated monthly with respect to Turkish Lira (TRY) (by 0.6%), Russian Ruble (RUB) (by 1.3%) and Euro (EUR) (0.3%), and remained unchanged against USD. Notably, the GEL/USD, GEL/EUR, GEL/TRY, and GEL/RUB real exchange rate appreciated compared to the same month of the previous year by 8.5%, 10.7%, 8.2%

In September, the annual inflation of consumer prices amounted to 12.3%, which is notably higher than the targeted 3%. Approximately 4.5 percentage points of CPI inflation were related to higher food prices, which increased 16.5% annually (this was driven by the hike in food prices worldwide – FAO Food Price Index increased by 31.9% yearly). Furthermore, increased oil prices made a notable positive contribution (1.9 ppts) to the annual inflation measure. The latter trend is mostly a reflection of significantly increased oil prices on the global market (Euro Brent Spot Price (COP) increased by 82.1% yearly). The other important contributors were increased prices on healthcare (0.7 ppts), tobacco (0.2 ppts) and utilities (1.7 ppts). Meanwhile, the measure of core inflation amounted to 6.3%. Due to higher annual inflation rate compared to the targeted 3% and risks of emerging inflationary expectations, National Bank of Georgia (NBG) maintained Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) unchanged at 10% in September and October 2021. Overall, CPI related variables had a slight negative contribution to the GDP forecast.

CONSUMER CREDIT GREW IN YEARLY TERMS The other group of variables that had an important impact on the GDP growth predictions is related to the consumer credit. In September 2021, the total volume of commercial banks’ consumer credit increased by 23.7% yearly and 3.1% monthly. However, the volume of commercial banks' short-term consumer credits decreased by 24.3% yearly and increased by 3.7% monthly (both the foreign and national currency credit had similar -12 ppts contribution yearly).

Whereas, the volume of commercial banks' long-term consumer credits increased by 26.3% and 3.1% yearly and monthly respectively. Overall, the variables related to consumer credit have had positive impact on the growth forecast.

Our forecasting model is based on the Leading Economic Indicator (LEI) methodology developed by the New Economic School, Moscow, Russia. We have constructed a dynamic model of the Georgian economy, which assumes that all economic variables, including GDP itself, are driven by a small number of factors that can be extracted from the data well before the GDP growth estimates are published. For each quarter, ISET-PI produces five consecutive monthly forecasts (or “vintages”), which increase in precision as time passes. Our first forecast (the 1st vintage) is available around five months before the end of the quarter in question. The last forecast (the 5th vintage) is published in the first month of the next quarter.

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

9

Roche – 125 Years of Celebrating Life, 25 Years in Georgia INTERVIEW

L

ife is our purpose and the core of everything we do at Roche.

Each day, our bold science, breakthrough medicines and innovative diagnostic solutions improve the lives of countless people worldwide. This is our 125-year legacy. It is also our promising future.

On our 125-year anniversary, we see every reason to celebrate, because life is about celebration - whether creating new memories that resonate for years or pausing to reflect on the small precious moments of our past.

This year, we celebrate our history, our culture and the enduring purpose that guides Roche's next 125 years toward a sustainable, healthy future.

At Roche, we work towards a purpose – doing now what patients need next.

No matter which division, country or business area we work in, ultimately we know that the work we do can improve the lives of people in society, especially the lives of a patient.

THE HISTORY F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. was founded at a time when the industrial revolution was changing the face of Europe. On October 1, 1896, at the age of 28, Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche launched his company as the successor company to Hoffmann, Traub & Co in Basel, Switzerland.

He was among the first to recognise that the industrial manufacture of medicines would be a major advance in the fight against disease. Since then, Roche has grown into one of the world's leading healthcare companies. More than a century has passed since the search for ways to improve disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment began. The company aims not only to invent innovative drugs, but also to improve access to them for patients. More than 30 medicines created by Roche are included in the list of essential medicines provided by the World Health Organization, including life-saving antibiotics, anti-malarial, and oncological drugs. For the 12th year in a row, Roche is recognized as one of the most sustainable companies in the pharmaceutical industry according to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

Roche is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. It is represented in more than 100 countries around the world. As of 2020, the company employs more than 100,000 people. In 2020, Roche invested 12.2 billion Swiss Francs in research and development. Genetech is a member of the Roche Group in the United States, and Roche is also a major shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical Japan. Roche medicines are a significant innovation in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology, and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also a world leader in in vitro and molecular-level diagnostics of tumors, occupying leading positions in terms of diabetes management.

Roche headquarter, Basel, Switzerland

Roche has made major investments in genomic profiling and data collection in practice in recent years and has established itself as a leader in the pharmaceutical sector in this regard as well.

The company is constantly innovating in the field of healthcare. Over 125 years, many innovative medicines and diagnostic tests have been developed that have radically changed approaches in the treatment and diagnosis of many diseases. 125 years have been committed to caring for people's lives. There are millions of patients and their families who have benefitted from life-saving medications and innovative approaches over the years.

ROCHE IN GEORGIA The first medications appeared on the Georgian pharmaceutical market in the late 1990s, and the company's representative office was establish around this time. That was 25 years ago. The small office was represented by several employeess with medical backgrounds, who were constantly developing their knowledge and sharing information about new treatment approaches and innovative medicines with Georgian medical society.

Over the years, the representation has grown, and more and more breakthrough medicines have been brought to the market. Improving access to effective healthcare requires a combination of products, services, systems and resources in order to present or improve health.

The primary goal was to deliver innovative products for significantly better treatment than was available at the time.

‘Roche has existed more than a century in the search for ways to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease," says Maka Asatiani, Director of Roche Georgia. We asked her to elaborate.

EVALUATE WHAT THE GEORGIAN PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET WAS LIKE 25 YEARS AGO AND HOW YOU MANAGED TO ESTABLISH YOURSELVES. We all remember how difficult it was in the country 25 years ago. The healthcare system was practically broken: medical staff had to work in unbearable conditions, there was a shortage of medication, modern technologies and medical facilities. It was also a significant financial burden for patients who had to pay medical expenses on their own.

During this difficult period, we worked hard to keep the communication with medical society, providing them with information, medical news, innovative products and innovative approaches to treat different diseases.

COMPETITION 25 YEARS AGO AND COMPETITION TODAYHOW DO YOU DEAL WITH IT? There has always been and will be competition- it makes us stronger.

Roche supports all efforts to promote and protect competition, including the legitimate protection of intellectual

property and marketing rights. Roche respects the legitimate undertakings of its competitors, including generic and biosimilar manufacturers. However, it is expected that they comply with applicable laws, regulations and industry codes.

The Georgian pharmaceutical market is open for global pharmaceutical companies. However, over time we observe that many international companies have been closing their representative offices in the country. One reason is slowly development of the healthcare system and no reimbursement programs for many diseases. The financial burden is still high for most patients to get the right treatment.

The presence of global pharmaceutical companies lead to the establishment of high ethical working standards in the pharmaceutical field.

HOW IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECTIONS GOING IN GEORGIA? Roche medicines are a significant innovation in oncology, immunology, infectious pathologies, ophthalmology, and diseases of the central nervous system, as well as a world leader in in vitro and at the molecular level of tumor diagnosis, occupying leading positions in the management of diabetes.

More than thirty medicines created by Roche are included in the list of essential medicines provided by the World Health Organization, including life-saving antibiotics, anti-malarial, and oncological drugs.

Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of new technologies on the Georgian market.

In the 21st century, there is easy access to information and medical news. When a new medicine is introduced in any country around the world, the patient is informed about it quickly. Therefore, with the introduction of new approaches to treatment, we take care to make it accessible to our patients. Also, the existing legal framework allows us to register a medicine 3-4 months after the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) or EMA (European Drug Agency) approve. In many countries, this process can take up to a year, and patients can't wait for treatment.

ROCHE STANDS OUT FOR ITS ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS. TELL US ABOUT IT. Government bodies and public officials play an important role in society. We are convinced that proactively and responsibly engaging with public stockholders is a fundamental aspect of good governance. We seek to inform and closely work with government officials in order to highlight and address the issues that affect the healthcare industry and advance its regulatory framework.

We strive to strengthen stakeholder understanding of and trust in our business, explaining what, why and how we do it, and our impact on society.

Roche is a world leader in research and development investment. As a result of these investments, new medicines are developed that will greatly assist in the treatment of a variety of diseases.

We have good examples of partnering with health authorities in Georgia, such as the Breast Cancer Program which was launched in 2016. With this program, breast cancer is not a death sentence any more for many women and their families. Numerous successful projects can be implemented with the cooperation of the public and private sectors.

We work with patents groups, hospitals and health organizations to increase awareness of different diseases.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY THAT THE MEDICINE PRODUCED BY ROCHE IS INNOVATIVE? Innovative medicine is a unique, novel molecule on which a team of scientists

collaborated, and on which numerous studies were conducted to determine the molecule's effectiveness, safety, and quality. Like any other invention, an innovative pharmaceutical product is protected by a patent for 15-20 years.

Patents temporarily confer an exclusive right to market new products. The patent ensures that innovation is rewarded and the search of novel treatment continues. When a patent for a product expires, the information needed to manufacture it becomes available for others to use for local generic production.

Roche is in first place in terms of investment in innovation development research.

world situation, and our team was able to respond quickly to the changing reality, taking care of patients and responding to their needs in collaboration with our partners. We were in charge of supplying personal protective equipment.

Roche Georgia, as a member of the Association of Pharmaceutical Companies in Georgia, participated in fundraising to support to the Covid-19 Fund, which was be spent by the state as needed.

2020 WAS A CHALLENGING YEAR. WHAT DID THE PANDEMIC CHANGE IN ROCHE'S OPERATIONS AND PRIORITIES?

Roche is committed to delivering a leading antiviral and immunomodulatory therapeutics portfolio for Covid-19. As Covid-19 continues to spread globally, the need to identify the best possible prevention and treatment options for patients in different phases of the disease is intensifying. Because no one approach will be enough to match this global pandemic, we are collaborating with partners to identify and investigate multiple options that may help different patient subsets, ultimately aiming to reduce the need of Covid-19 patients to be hospitalized.

Covid-19 has profoundly impacted the world we live in. Within months, national lockdowns, business closures, and social distancing measures changed life as we knew it, while the novel coronavirus ravaged even the furthest corners of global society. We had to adapt to this new, fast-paced, and ever-evolving environment. This meant we needed an unprecedented drive in innovation across the globe; one that was only possible through tireless collaboration.

Around the world, industry, academia, governments, and non-profit organizations joined forces to fight the pandemic.

These partnerships have been paramount in combating the disease and investigating options that meet the varying needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and society as a whole.

At Roche, we have a vital responsibility as a healthcare company to help overcome the pandemic. We’re working to support countries in managing Covid19 by helping to track the spread of the virus, providing tools that help diagnose patients so that they may receive the appropriate treatments and can return to their normal lives more quickly.

Employees from across the business sector are still heavily involved in the Covid19 response as it continues to evolve. We aim to help reduce the spread of the virus, and ultimately to reduce the need for patients to be hospitalized.

Georgia was not exclusion from the

IN ADDITION TO DIAGNOSTICS, THE COMPANY WAS INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COVID-19 INFECTION MEDICINE, RIGHT?

WHAT IS THE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY? • Patients in the center of our business • People working in the company • Partnering with different stakeholders

FINAL THOUGHTS? We believe it’s urgent to deliver medical solutions right now, even as we develop innovation for the future. We are passionate about transforming patient’s lives. We are courageous in both decision and action. And we believe that good business means a better world.

That is why we come to work every day. We commit ourselves to scientific rigor, unassailable ethics, and access to medicinal innovation for all. We do it today to build a better tomorrow.

We are proud of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. We are many, working as one across functions, across companies, and across the world.

We are Roche.

10

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

Where We’re At: Etseri, Svaneti

BLOG BY TONY HANMER

W

ell, a little stressed out is where we’re at, what with the fits and starts of the café building process.

When we bought the house and started renovating it about 11 years ago, there was not a window in it, no electricity or water. The nearest place from which to have the necessary double-glazed windows ordered was Zugdidi, 110 km away.

Each hole had to have its old rotten thick wood frame knocked out and then be measured carefully. We could only bring 2 or 3 windows up at a time in my 4x4 Hyundai. But that was okay, as we couldn’t

afford more than that many at a time, anyway! 2 years later, we had all the windows in: 25 of them at about 220 GEL a pop.

Fencing was another big project, as the land had been open to the bovines for about 10 years. Slats, posts every two meters, and wire. A straight steel bar to make post holes in the ground with; a sledgehammer to pound them in; pliers and wire cutter. Plus at least 1 other person to help, initially showing us how fencing is done up here in Svaneti, then anyone who had learned that alongside me, such as my wife’s brother-in-law, because it’s much easier as a two-person job.

More and more: the garage, built by aforementioned bro-in-law plus Lali’s father, a legacy to him now he’s gone. A

gazebo by a travelling American who offered to make things for room and board. The initially essential outhouse, first new “building” on the land, made

by Lali’s brother and me.

As it was, getting materials and transporting them were always difficult procedures, given limited local availability and big trucks. Even planks had to be bought green, so very heavy, and dried by us on-site for at least 6 months if we needed them to be flat. Until Mestia developed, even sand and gravel had to come from around Zugdidi.

Now, at least, there is a BIG building shopping center in Mestia, for everything from the smallest nails to drywall/sheetrock, cement, all the tools you could want, electrical and plumbing supplies, and all in between. That cuts our buying distance from a 220 km round trip to about 60. Ditto for sand and gravel, dredged from the Enguri River in Mestia. Cement blocks too, even closer: from the factory at Becho, a 20 km round trip.

Transport, though, remains the bottleneck. It’s rare that the seller of your goods has any kind of vehicle available to get your things to you. I would simply throw money at it, but no: this you have to organize yourself. Also the warm able bodies to unload what you’ve bought (usually loading at the far end can be done by the seller). Schoolboys from grades 10-12 are our best source, when they’re available and not digging potatoes or cutting trees with their fathers in the forest for the winter’s stove supply.

Our café builders, from Chkaduashi near Zugdidi, come highly recommended and do good work. But, as always in Georgia, family matters often take them

away and delay work. Today it was an ormotsi, the 40 days after death memorial, of the aunt of the main guy. He drove down from Mestia, rounded up the other two before I could even give them brunch, promised an evening or tomorrow morning return, and whisked them off.

We are looking at weather forecasts, gritting our teeth at every lost sunny, warm day before the snow descends for good, and hoping to have done what needs to be completed before that: interior cement walls, windows and exterior walls, to at least weatherproof the place before winter. Once this is in place, the interior finishing work can also proceed at a more leisurely pace even during that season.

Opening ceremony? No date in sight yet. Scheme for keeping the local men

out of the place while still serving wine and beer, though no hard alcohol? Thinking carefully through options for that too.

Video cameras and perhaps initially a bouncer. This is where we’re at right now.

And…as always at the moment, in Georgia’s current political season, #mishavs means: “It matters to me”!

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

CULTURE

Meet Nina Tsagareli, Director of the 13th 'Night Serenades' Festival SERENADES SO SPECIAL?

T

he festival ‘Night Serenades,’ founded by the legendary musician Liana Isakadze, has got us into an annual habit of being able to enjoy interesting and enriching discoveries at numerous delightful musical evenings.

The company ‘Art Alliance’ has been the organizer of Night Serenades for four years, and so GEORGIA TODAY decided to sit down with the company's founder and festival director Nina Tsagareli to find out more about this year’s event.

WHAT DOES THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL NIGHT SERENADES PROMISE LOYAL LISTENERS? We promise you as unique and interesting evenings this year as ever, as we host famous, talented Georgian and foreign musicians. Renowned soloists and conductors, among them Maestro Vakhtang Machavariani, Italian bandoneonist Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, German clarinetist Sabine Grofmeier, Maestro Nikoloz Rachveli, singer Sopho Khalvashi, and

pianist and composer Sandro Nebieridze, will take part in the festival. For the second year in a row, Sandro has created new works for the festival as requested

by Giorgi Isakadze, the artistic director of Night Serenades and the founder and director of the Music and Dance Academy in Ingolstadt and Munich.

It is also noteworthy that this year's festival pays special attention to the cognitive-educational program for students and youth, which includes sectoral masterclasses and workshops. I should also mention that the festival is sticking to its tradition of inviting experienced and world-famous Georgian and foreign artists to share their experiences with the younger generations. As society and music lovers already know, our goal is to support the musical education of young talented teenagers and promote their professional development, not only in the capital but also in the regions of Georgia.

WHAT MADE THE BATUMI CONCERT NIGHT OF NIGHT

The Batumi Concert Evening was dedicated to the friendship of the Georgian and Italian people, and we celebrated the 110th anniversary of the famous Italian composer Nino Rota. The virtuoso Italian bandoneonist Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi really fascinated the audience with his amazing program. "The Italian People" is the name of a work written by Maestro Nikoloz Rachveli during the pandemic in support of the Italian people, and Night Serenades’ attendees got to hear it live for the first time. I should also mention the brilliant performance of the famous Georgian singer Sopho Khalvashi within the framework of the festival.

Astor Piazzolla's "Tango Oblivion" with Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, Maestro Nikoloz Rachveli, and Sopho Khalvashi was heard for the first time on stage.

Their creative collaboration left the audience very excited.

The festival, together with renowned and successful musicians, always pays great attention to talented young musicians. At this year's festival, we introduced the musicians of the Konstantine Vardel Quartet to the audience. During

the festival, they had the opportunity to work with maestro Nikoloz Rachveli and musician Mikheil Kartvelishvili, with virtuoso Italian musician Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi.

WHAT TREATS DOES THE TBILISI CONCERT PROMISE US? The Tbilisi concert will be a real celebration for music lovers. Maestro Vakhtang Machavariani, famous German clarinetist Sabine Grofmeier, young talented pianist and composer Sandro Nebieridze, and the main pearl of Night Serenadesthe festival's basic orchestra "Georgian Virtuosana," an amazing orchestra formed

by Liana Isakadze. It was created with a unique concept, as all members are musicians with distinguished talent, successfully working in Georgia or abroad. The main conductor of the orchestra will be Maestro Vakhtang Machavariani, the conductor is musician Sergo Eroyan, and the concertmaster is violinist Lela Mchedlidze.

As the director of the festival, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the traditional supporters of the festival: the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs of Georgia, Batumi City Hall,

Tbilisi City Hall, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, the Italian and German embassies in Georgia and the company "Ardi."

Thanks too, to all the supporters of the festival and all the media partners. Thanks to our team, musicians, and our festival listeners for their loyalty.

It is important to hold the festival continuously. Last year, when we finished negotiating with the festival guests and the contracts were signed, a world pandemic broke out. The solution was to hold the festival online. It is this format that made it possible for music lovers to enjoy the festival's concert program from anywhere in the world.

Lots of people watched the broadcast of the concerts, expressing amazing emotions and gratitude to the festival and the performers.

Music is an international language, the main thing is to enjoy it and perceive what is happening on the stage at a particular moment.

Night Serenades is the oldest festival in Georgia, created by a world legend, it counts decades, and I am proud of its existence.

CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 19 - 25, 2021

11

Unique Polymer Clay Accessories by io Art Studio - Handmade Accessories & Jewelry

BY ANA DUMBADZE

A

t times, our lifetime aspirations and dreams come true and become part of our daily activities. And what could be more pleasurable than doing what we love most? This is exactly what happened for Nina Tsikaridze, the founder of io Art Studio, a talented artist who produces unique and amazingly beautiful handmade polymer clay accessories.

Nina dreamt of producing handmade accessories and jewelry for years, but for various reasons was only able to make her dream come true a year ago. Today, she has a small, cozy, home-based work-

shop, where she creates exotic accessories distinguished by bright colors and creative shapes for both local and foreign customers.

She uses polymer clay in her works, and, along with accessories and jewelry, can also make decorative tableware to order. The choice is diverse, as is the material itself, as polymer clay flexibly allows the artist to create items that meet the tastes and needs of each customer.

Nina’s favorite works are her jewelry pieces, which are not only aesthetic, but functional too.

The founder of io Art Studio had always felt a strong inclination towards such work, and in September 2020, she finally decided to turn her aspiration into a real job and started producing items to sell, with help from her youngest daughter.

She already knew about the online platform Etsy.com, where only handmade accessories are sold, and within around two months, she had managed to improve her skills and create a collection she felt was worth putting on the market. When that collection was ready, she boldly placed it on Etsy, making it available to customers abroad this spring. Since then, she has created several collections, all of which merited very positive feedback and admiration among customers. Such a response motivated Nina to do more and continue her activities with even greater enthusiasm. In parallel, in addition to the foreign market, her accessories and other items are also sold on the Georgian market.

The brand’s original name, io Art Studio, comes from the name of her daugh-

ter – Ioana, whose “help” in the process of production means a lot to her mother.

In fact, the tiny workshop has only two employees right now– Nina and her daughter Ioana. In the future, Ioana might also become an artist and continue her mother’s activities.

The process of producing handmade items using polymer clay is a very long and hard one, but Nina says her love of the work and the amazing results bring

her unconditional pleasure.

Apart from creating items and collections according to her inspiration, the artist also works on private orders to bring bright colors and beauty into daily lives of her customers. Those interested in browsing and/or purchasing her works can visit the social media page of io Art Studio - www.facebook.com/io.Art.Studio, and/or shop online at the platform etsy.com.

BI Auction Launches Third Competition for Young Artists

BY KATIE RUTH DAVIES

B

I Auction, sponsored by IArt and We’Ar Art, has launched its third annual Competition for Young Artists. Young painters from around Georgia are invited to submit photos of their works by November 25.

GEORGIA TODAY spoke to BI Auction founder Bengü Akçardak Küçük to find out more.

“The idea came to mind during our 2nd BI Auction preparations in 2016,” she tells us.

“We had just a few young artists’ works in our first auction, which were successfully presented and auctioned. After this experience, these artists mentioned this success in their CVs, noting it as an important achievement in their careers as professional artists.

But it took time to make a good and effective

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, Tony Hanmer, Emil Avdaliani, Nugzar B. Ruhadze, Michael Godwin, Ketevan Skhirtladze Photographer: Aleksei Serov

start, and only in 2019 were we able to announce the 1st BI Auction Competition. It had a big impact, and we reached many more young artists.

“We really feel the happiness of doing ‘good’ for others, especially for younger generations.

I was young, you were (are) young. We all know how wonderful it is to be young, but it brings many questions, many uncertainties for the future. If something/someone opens a safe, reliable door, this is a good sign for a bright future to trust in. My aim is to create not only a real experience, but also to motivate young artists to create artworks for a better world and future.”

WHAT IS THE THEME OF THIS YEAR'S COMPETITION AND WHY? We don’t want to limit artists with specific themes, we want to feel their art and artistic visions, so we leave the theme up to them.

WHO TYPICALLY ENTERS

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

THESE COMPETITIONS? We call on all who believe in their artworks, who create original works. We do need a limit, though, so we restrict the age (up to 30 years).

WHO CHOOSES THE WINNERS? This is a competition of BI Auction and we want to offer a good experience to motivate young artists. Our BI Auction family chooses the winners considering artistic values and art market dynamics.

WILL THERE BE AN EXHIBITION OF THE ENTRIES? Yes, of course. After every competition, we organize a ceremony to announce the winners of the competition, and, depending on conditions, we organize an exhibition and auction only for ‘Young Artists.’ It would be great to have the support of more companies to sponsor our yearly artists’ competition to build a better future for Georgian art.

ADDRESS

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