Issue #1324

Issue no: 1324

• NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

In this week’s issue...

FOCUS

Carrefour, FinExCoop Organize Potato Fest to Support Local Farmers in Georgia

ON PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

Georgia Develops National Plastic Waste Prevention Program

PRICE: GEL 2.50

NEWS PAGE 2

PAGE 8

Prof George Mchedlishvili on Russia’s Hybrid Warfare and EU Stability POLITICS PAGE 4

Business and Technology University Hosts Unprecedented International Teaching Week in Region BUSINESS PAGE 6

The Impact of the Pandemic on Domestic Tourism in Georgia BUSINESS PAGE 7 Ambassador of Norway to Georgia, Helene Sand Andresen

Corona Updates: Certain Restrictions to be Lifted after Introduction of Green Passports Concept

CCR Enabled Better Social Inclusion of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Georgia

BY ANA DUMBADZE

SOCIETY PAGE 9

O

International Festival Night Serenades Closes on a High

n the decision of the Interagency Coordination Council, certain restrictions in the country will be lifted after the introduction of the Green Passports concept from December 1, which means that unvaccinated citizens and those without proof of corona-free status will not be allowed to enter public facilities, including bars, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, theaters and entertainment centers.

In relation to this, the restrictions on restaurant working hours will be lifted from December 1. Until now restaurants had to close at 23:00. However, the restriction on the number of restaurant guests remains in force.

“Restaurants, which can receive guests only with green passports from December 1, will have their hourly restrictions lifted. All restaurants are obliged to accept customers from December 1 only if they have proof of green status,” stated Giorgi Ghibradze, Chief of the Operational Staff of the Interagency Coordination Council.

Due to these changes, cinema, theater, and opera house attendances are expected to grow from 30% to 50%.

Continued on page 3

CULTURE PAGE 11 CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

Markets As of 22ͲNovͲ2021

BONDS

w/w

m/m

STOCKS

Price

w/w

m/m

101.27 (YTM 3.78%)

Ͳ0,1%

Ͳ0,1%

Bank of Georgia (BGEO LN)

GBP 16.58

+6,0%

+9,5%

GEBGG 07/23

105.95 (YTM 2.35%)

Ͳ0,3%

Ͳ0,5%

Georgia Capital (CGEO LN)

GBP 6.60

+5,6%

+7,3%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG LN)

GBP 15.60

Ͳ1,8%

Ͳ0,1%

GEOCAP 03/24

102.89 (YTM 4.78%)

Ͳ0,2%

Ͳ0,2%

SILNET 04/24

107.59 (YTM 7.42%)

Ͳ0,1%

Ͳ0,4%

TBC 06/24

106.43 (YTM 3.13%)

Ͳ0,1%

Ͳ0,7%

GGU 07/25

106.59 (YTM 5.74%)

Ͳ0,2%

+0,1%

CURRENCIES

Price

w/w

m/m

GEL / USD

3,1120

Ͳ1,2%

Ͳ0,7%

GEL / EUR

3,4963

Ͳ2,4%

Ͳ4,2%

COMMODITIES

Price

w/w

m/m

GEL / GBP

4,1673

Ͳ1,4%

Ͳ3,3%

Crude Oil, Brent (US$/bbl)

79,70

Ͳ2,9%

Ͳ6,8%

GEL / CHF

3,3352

Ͳ2,1%

Ͳ2,6%

1 804,65

Ͳ3,1%

+0,7%

Price

w/w

m/m

Gold Spot (US$/OZ)

INDICES

GEL / RUB

0,0415

Ͳ4,6%

Ͳ6,7%

GEL / TRY

0,2731

Ͳ12,7%

Ͳ16,3%

GEL / AZN

1,8310

Ͳ1,3%

Ͳ0,7%

FTSE 100

7 255,46

Ͳ1,3%

+0,7%

GEL / AMD

0,0065

Ͳ1,3%

Ͳ0,6%

FTSE 250

23 429,70

Ͳ0,8%

+2,2%

GEL / UAH

0,1163

Ͳ2,8%

Ͳ2,5%

DAX

16 115,69

Ͳ0,2%

+3,7%

EUR / USD

0,8901

+1,2%

+3,7%

DOW JONES

35 619,25

Ͳ1,3%

Ͳ0,2%

GBP / USD

0,7466

+0,1%

+2,7%

NASDAQ

15 854,76

+0,0%

+5,1%

CHF / USD

0,9327

+0,8%

183,89

Ͳ8,6%

Ͳ13,3%

RUB / USD

74,8384

+3,2%

+6,4%

MSCI EM

1 261,56

Ͳ2,0%

Ͳ2,4%

TRY / USD

11,3853 +13,1%

+18,5%

SP 500

4 682,94

+0,0%

+3,0%

AZN / USD

MSCI FM

2 662,65

Ͳ3,2%

Ͳ2,9%

AMD / USD

MSCI EM EE

Source: TOLGA AKMEN, AFP via Getty Images

Price

GRAIL 07/28

+1,8%

1,6997

+0,1%

Ͳ0,0%

476,3200

+0,1%

Ͳ0,2%

2

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

Carrefour, FinExCoop Organize Potato Fest to Support Local Farmers in Georgia

C

arrefour, owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim in Georgia, well-known for its continuous support of local farmers and suppliers, is again set to offer another exciting promotion. This time giving them the chance to present their products as part

of the “Potato Festival.”

The festival will kick off at three different Carrefour stores from 26 to 28 November where 12 varieties of Georgian potatoes will be available in a traditional setup with the most affordable prices. All 12 farmers attending the event will be sharing their journey live, as well as through special decorative and informative cardboard cut-outs which outline their unique background story.

The potato is the fourth crop by acreage in Georgia as it spanned over 16.4 thousand hectares in 2019. It is mainly cultivated by family holdings, reaching 98.4 per cent of output in 2019 in Samstkhe-Javakheti (59% of output in 2019) and Kvemo Kartli (20%). Georgia has excellent conditions to produce both early maturing varieties on warm plains, and late maturing varieties in colder areas. Seeing that potatoes are mass produced and are a core food staple in Georgian cuisine, customers will be delighted to know that they can purchase 12 different types that are all uniquely used in 12 different traditional dishes.

The Potato Festival is being held through the FinExCoop project, a fouryear project financed by the EU under the National Investment Fund (NIF) program and managed by French Development Agency (AFD), The project is implemented by the consortium, which

is led by the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, in partnership with Mercy Corps, Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) and the French Chambre d’Agriculture du Loiret.

FinExCoop is a technical assistant project that provides support to the farmers, information consultation centers (ICCs) and cooperatives over the past two years. In the potato sector, the project works with seven individual partner pilots and one cooperative pilot in the following four municipalities: Tslaka, Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe and Adigeni to promote better access to equipment, finance and to the market.

One of the main objectives of the project is to increase demand and sales for locally produced high quality potatoes.

These municipalities were chosen as they are geographically best suited locations to produce potatoes.

One of the main purposes of this project is to connect farmers to new markets, and this is achieved by introducing customers to new varieties of potato.

The international marketing expert and local team developed relations with leading players in the market, such as Carrefour and Entre, to promote better quality and taste.

Jerome Akel, Country Manager of Carrefour in Georgia, said: “We are delighted to host the Potato Festival and invite our long-standing local sup-

pliers to participate. This event not only creates greater exposure and support for the farmers we collaborate with, but it also offers our customers the opportunity to interact with them and find out more about how their fresh produce is sourced. As we continue to support the growth and prosperity of our communities by partnering with local farmers, we look forward to introducing our customers to the hardworking people behind the freshly sourced produce.”

Carrefour’s ongoing efforts to support the growth and prosperity of communities they are part of is reflected through its contribution to the Georgian economy.

It was named one of the ten largest investors in Georgia, due to the rapid physical and digital services that it offered its shoppers, making purchase easy no matter the location. Additionally, Carrefour has also created employ-

ment opportunities for the local citizens, supported local producers and suppliers, and conducted a variety of charitable and environmental initiatives.

According to Geostat, the contribution of foreign investors, such as Majid Al Futtaim, has become vital to the development and progress of the country’s economy.

Carrefour’s name is among the country’s largest investors and this is largely due to the brand’s impressive contribution to the development of the Georgian economy and modern trade. Since its establishment, the brand has brought a completely new, unbeatable trading experience to the country.

Carrefour continues to actively support Georgian farmers and provide customers with fresh, and healthy local products daily and directly from the farms.

Saakashvili and Opposition Members End Hunger Strike

BY TEAM GT

A

fter Former US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly heard the news that the Georgian government had no plans to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili, on hunger strike for his 50th day, to a civilian clinic, he responded on Twitter, “Just take him to a damn civilian hospital!”

Third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili was last Friday said to be in critical condition in Gldani Prison Hospital. His lawyer, Beka Basilaia, announced on Thursday that Saakashvili had lost consciousness and was recovering in the hospital’s ICU. “I cannot assess from a medical point of view, but he was in a very serious condition. When he fell, before the stretcher was brought down, he was in a very serious condition. He was coming out of a meeting with lawyers, and when he came out of the room, he fell to his knees. Then a stretcher was brought in a few minutes later,” Basilaia told journalists.

“There was an episode of loss of consciousness and now the patient is in an absolutely stable condition: oxygenation, respiration and other parameters are normal,” the doctor told journalists soon after.

“Just take him to a damn civilian hospital, at long last,” Former US Ambassador Ian Kelly wrote on Twitter that day. “Saakashvili has said he’ll end his hunger strike if he’s taken to a civilian hospital. Put a perimeter fence around

Source: ecrgroup.eu

it if you’re worried about unrest. Just do the responsible thing and do it,” he tweeted.

That afternoon, recovering in Gldani Prison’s ICU, Saakashvili agreed to be transferred to Gori Hospital and to end his hunger strike as soon as he was taken there, on the condition that the poststarvation protocol be written by specialists and a daily report be provided about his condition.

Following the transfer, on November 22, his personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze announced that the treatment process was going well, but needed care, and suggested he be released from

imprisonment.

“He needs long-term rehabilitation of various organs- brain, liver, etc.

Maybe we should release him and let him be treated normally,” Kipshidze told journalists after visiting Saakashvili in Gori.

He said the president is thankful to the hospital and liked the staff very much.

“He feels comfortable, but in my opinion, treatment in such conditions is impossible for such a patient. His rehabilitation will be very long. Therefore, my sincere opinion as a doctor, which my colleagues may not agree with, or the Georgian population, is to allow him

to be treated outside prison,” he said, adding that he meant free treatment, without the attendance of prison guards.

Giorgi Papiashvili, a doctor and a member of the expert group set up by the Public Defender, says that there is no medical basis for releasing Saakashvili.

Further, doctors Elene Giorgadze and Ineza Sulamanidze, members of the medical council, visited the third president of Georgia at the hospital.

Doctor Elene Giorgadze told reporters after her visit that Saakashvili’s condition is “currently stable and there are no complications at this stage. The first three days after a person stops a hunger

strike are the most dangerous, but there are no complications yet.”

Other opposition MPs on hunger strike, including Droa party leader Elene Khoshtaria, and renowned Georgian opera singer Paata Burchuladze also stopped their hunger strikes. They are all currently in a stable condition and are undergoing the relevant treatment.

On Thursday, Saakashvili wrote to his supporters via social media, encouraging them to continue the political fight and to form a campaign for his release.

"By taking me hostage, by completely banning public relations, by deliberately violating all my legal rights, I am given no opportunity to engage the Georgian people in the decisive struggle against the dark Russian regime. In Ivanishvili's court, I have zero chance of finding justice,” he wrote.

“I do not see myself in any configuration of the future government. By taking me hostage and banning public relations, Ivanishvili, I think, is not only seeking revenge on me but also significantly hindering the formation of a new, coalition government through early elections, we should not allow this.

"The coming weeks are very important.

If we consolidate, maintain political momentum, multiply and fight principally and selflessly, we will achieve everything. Get everyone involved. Those who cannot come to protest, help the demonstrators with food.

"Now, if we pause, Ivanishvili will see it as retreat and defeat, which is physically deadly to me and historically deadly to our homeland. Therefore, not a single step back, and action, action, and action," Saakashvili added.

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

3

Corona Updates: Certain Restrictions to be Lifted after Introduction of Green Passports Concept GEL pension bonuses for individuals over 60 years of age, “but this is not enough.”

Earlier, the government said pensioners would receive a 200 GEL bonus after getting their first vaccine dose.

THE CASES WORLDWIDE The situation worldwide is also challenging, seeing various countries reintroducing lockdowns and restrictions to reduce the spread of the pandemic.

GERMANY

Image source: Angela Merke described the situation in Germany as "dramatic." Image source: Reuters

Continued from page 1 This week, the Council also ruled that citizens of Georgia who are vaccinated in Georgia and enter the country by land will be exempted from the obligation to submit a PCR test.

“The PCR obligation for vaccinated people will no longer be in force. PCR obligation was already lifted on entry by air,” Ghibradze explained.

THE STATISTICS Regarding the current epidemiological situation in the country, a slight improvement and stabilization has been detected recently, however, the situation is not entirely promising at this stage.

Georgia recorded 5085 coronavirus cases, 4428 recoveries, and 62 deaths on Tuesday. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 1815 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 997 cases, and the Shida Kartli region with 497 cases.

It reported 3201 coronavirus cases, 4098 recoveries, and 64 deaths on Wednesday.

Tbilisi recorded 1383 cases, followed by Imereti with 536 cases and the SamegreloZemo Svaneti region with 263 cases.

Georgia reported 4331 coronavirus cases, 4804 recoveries, and 57 deaths on Thursday. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 1623 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 822 cases, and the Shida Kartli region with 428 cases.

The daily test-positivity rate stands at 8.17 %, while it was 9.06 % in the past 14 days.

Georgia’s total case tally reached 826,714, of which 768,559 people recovered and 11,736 died.

As of November 25, 2,122.856 people had received a Covid-19 vaccine.

THE VACCINATION CAMPAIGN Head of National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Amiran Gamkrelidze, commented on Georgia’s slow vaccination rate (37%) this week, saying it needs to reach 60% to improve the epidemiological situation.

He noted that the vaccination rate increased after the launch of the 200

Germany is set to introduce tighter curbs on people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, as cases in the country hit a record high.

Restrictions for unvaccinated people will be introduced in areas where hospital admissions exceed a set threshold, Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of Germany's 16 states agreed.

Under the rules, the unvaccinated will be excluded from certain venues.

Mrs. Merkel described the situation with Covid in the country as "dramatic," reported the BBC.

AUSTRIA Austria this week imposed a full national lockdown on the unvaccinated. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it would last a maximum of 20 days and there would be a legal requirement to get vaccinated from 1 February 2022.

Under the measures, Austrians will be asked to work from home, non-essential shops will close, and schools will remain open for children who require face-to-face learning. This will continue until 12 December, but will be reassessed after 10 days.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND New Covid-19 restrictions have also been imposed in the Republic of Ireland. The

recommendation is for citizens to “work from home unless it is absolutely necessary." Workers began to return to offices in September when restrictions were eased.

RUSSIA Russia on Thursday confirmed 33,796 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 9,468,189, the official monitoring and response center said. The national death toll grew to 269,057. Meanwhile, Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, reported 3349 new cases, taking its total to 1,930,050.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday repeated his stance that Covid-19 vaccination should be voluntary, as regions and cities tighten restrictions on the unvaccinated.

He added that he received a nasal Covid-19 vaccine Wednesday, days after saying he received a Sputnik Light booster shot.

The Siberian region of Russia has become the first in the country to impose self-isolation rules for residents who haven’t yet been vaccinated against Covid-19.

UKRAINE The same was applied in Ukraine. “While vaccination rates in Eastern Europe have generally lagged, Ukraine has one of the lowest in the region,” reports Voanews.

According to the source, the country is setting records almost every day for infections and deaths, most recently on Tuesday, when 838 deaths were reported.

The Covid-19 wave is pushing Ukraine’s doctors to the limit. Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who leads the opposition Batkivshchyna party, said she has traveled to many hospitals in Ukraine and found shortages everywhere.

4

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

Prof George Mchedlishvili on Russia’s Hybrid Warfare and EU Stability

Expert Prof George Mchedlishvili

F

or the last 10 years, Russia has used both soft and hard methods of annexation in the territories of the former Soviet Union countries, Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus.

Russia is still making every effort to expand its borders. Why is the EU "silent" about it? Why do Tbilisi, Kiev and Chisinau need to be on 24/7 alert? GISP spoke to Professor George Mchedlishvili about the dynamics of the hybrid warfare Russia is waging in its "near abroad".

IN YOUR OPINION, HOW MUCH FURTHER DOES PUTIN INTEND TO GO ON HIS QUEST TO SEIZE THE OLD SOVIET TERRITORY? Usually, we say “God knows,” but now, unfortunately, Putin knows, and only him. So, it is his individual project, his agenda. In broad strokes, I would say that his main idea is not to rebuild the Soviet Union, but to make sure that Russia is the first and sole power center in the former Soviet Union, and that other countries are Russia’s backyard. They can easily have all the symbols of sovereignty: a

national flag, hymn, a national football team. But when it comes to the international stage and foreign policy, these states must consult with Moscow, which makes particular effort to prevent countries from westernization. You might not be pro-Russian, as in the case of Azerbaijan, but don’t even try to democratize and join NATO and the EU. This is one reason (the other being Turkey) why Russia allowed Azerbaijan 44 full days to take care of Armenia and to return the bulk (90%+) of its occupied territories – something unimaginable a decade or two ago.

Russia becomes really irritated and acts with brutality only when a country decides to part ways with Moscow and become a Western democracy.

Countries like Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, at different stages of their development, have had particular difficulties with Russia for that very reason.

So, this is Russia’s goal – to keep those countries under control, and to achieve on the part of EU and US (and potentially, in the future, China) the recognition of Moscow’s “orbit of interests”. This orbit has clearly defined borders that largely coincide with those of the Soviet Union, plus maybe some Eastern European countries. That’s actually Russia’s message – “don’t mess up what I consider to be my territory, my sphere of influence, my orbit of international political clout”. As long as the countries try to become Westernized and modernized, they will run into trouble; without their moving clearly in the direction of the West, Russia could be cooperative and even provide some “rewards”.

The core idea is that Western democracy is a threat, so when a country wants to become more efficient and less corrupt, this is a red line for Moscow.

Because this country may set a “bad” example, showing to the people of Russia that a country that Russia believes belongs to their cultural and “civilization” space, if you will, like Ukraine and Georgia, achieve higher standards of living, particularly without oil and natural gas. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania could be grudgingly forgiven for this “sin“, but not “our” countries. This is the thinking behind Putin’s actions.

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

WITH POSSIBLE MILITARY ESCALATION AND UNPREDICTABILITY AT THE UKRAINIAN BORDER, WHAT IS RUSSIA GAINING WITH THE FROZEN CONFLICT? Unfortunately, what we see in Donbass, Donetsk and Lugansk is very similar to the low intensity conflict in Georgia after the hot stage of 1992-1993 in Georgia’s breakaway regions. Russia doesn’t recognize the independence of those territories fully, nor will it let Kiev or Tbilisi regain control over those separatist territories. These territories weaken the country, they sap the resources and of course they slow the development process, the progress, the reforms. Thus, Russia achieves its goal. We might expect that to continue. That is the background, and against that, there are periodic escalations when Russia amasses troops on the borders with Ukraine, which is a clear message to the West, that “we want clear recognition of our right to these territories”. And what reaction do we see from the West, beyond the rhetoric of “deep concerns”? We see Nord Stream 1, Nord Stream 2 - clear responses on the part of the EU that they, by and large, don’t mind. Actions speak louder than words. Granted, those are not the only actions: Turkey supplied Bairakhtars, the US supplied weaponry, but we see a very muted response on the part of the EU. We should actually consider that Ukraine borders Europe and it is the EU and European NATO Allies response that matters most. Some countries that are willing to provide significant help to Ukraine are Poland and the Baltic states, but they are not strong enough. If a neighboring European country becomes to Ukraine something similar to what Turkey has become to Azerbaijan, then we could believe that the West is firmly behind Ukraine. Prior to that, all these actions and weapon supplies are good but insufficient.

HOW DOES RUSSIA’S POSITION AFFECT THE REGION AND EASTERN EUROPE, AND HOW MUCH DOES IT THREATEN THE STABILITY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION? Today, we see that beyond Ukraine, there is a crisis in Belarus, so Russia goes beyond just Georgia and Ukraine. Russia wouldn’t mind destabilizing and creating difficulties and weakening the EU itself.

If we look at the GDP, population and other “macro” parameters, we see Russia is significantly weaker, but it manages to play its relatively weak hand efficiently, and unfortunately, the West doesn’t respond the same way. Russia senses the weakness, and regrettably the EU has demonstrated weakness in its relationship with Turkey, when 3-4 million migrants amassed on the border between Turkey and EU countries. Back then, the EU simply splashed money about in order to “solve” the problem: they essentially bribed Turkey. Russia realized that the waves of migrants to Europe had affected negatively the general stability of European cities and stability of the political landscape. They know Europe is ready to do almost everything to end this. So Belarus and Russia organized a flow of migrants from the Middle East to Belarus and then basically armed them with wire cutters to weaken the EU. This is a clear demonstration that Russia is ready and willing to go beyond just “its” space. If there is a possibility to weaken these countries internally, they might do it, as they try periodically to do in

Estonia and Latvia. The West is insufficiently engaged in all this, and, unfortunately, it plays to Russia’s advantage. As long as Russia sees this, it will act accordingly. It is time for the EU to wake up politically and try to counter Russia and solve the root causes of the problems. But today we see a lack of scholarship and intellectual resources in the West, and this allows Russia to capitalize on Western weaknesses. If the West is genuinely willing to defend its positions vis-a-vis Russia, Moscow stands no chance, and they will have no other choice than to back off and take care of their own country.

TO WHAT EXTENT DID THE FACT THAT PUTIN PRESENTED RUSSIA AS A VICTIM, THAT NATO AND EUROPEAN PARTNERS VIOLATED RUSSIA'S RIGHTS IN UKRAINE, AFFECT THE RESPONSE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY? Russia uses all these rhetorical tricks to justify its aggression in Ukraine, particularly after the annexation of Crimea, so it will be only natural that Ukraine would firmly turn towards the West. Before that, for 20 years, there was a near parity between pro-Western and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. Now, there is only one political party, which is clearly pro-Russian, in the Ukrainian parliament. Therefore, it’s Russia’s actions that ensure countries like Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, turn West and seek the membership in NATO and the EU. In the first decade of the 21st century, support for NATO membership was very moderate in Ukraine, but was much stronger in Georgia. So, it took annexation of Crimea and fanning the flames of separatism in Donetsk and Luhansk to make Ukraine so firmly pro-Western.

And then there is the soft power of the West – I mentioned inconsistencies, mistakes on the part of Western countries, but despite all that, the cultural and political attractiveness of the West is so much greater than that of Russia that it is only natural for those countries, given they make their sovereign choice, to always choose the West. Therefore, Russia better take care of itself, develop politically and economically, become a truly attractive alternative.

Today, it is only through fear that Russia holds the countries around its orbit.

IT IS A FACT THAT RUSSIA REGULARLY VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS. WHAT SHOULD MINORITIES AND ETHNIC UKRAINIANS EXPECT IF RUSSIA ESCALATES THE SITUATION IN EASTERN UKRAINE? Ukraine has shown that it is willing to defend itself.

I believe today it is very unlikely for Russia to escalate the situation, as the cost will be high. Putin is anything but silly, and he will engage in a military confrontation only when there is a guarantee of success. This was the case in 2014, and it took several months for Ukraine to wake up to the new reality of aggressive Russia. But now Ukraine is fully aware of this reality and it has supplies of weaponry that might be enough to deter Russian aggression. As such, a direct assault is unlikely. Of course, Putin may choose to play the madman’s game, he might realize that it’s a “now or never” situation and time is working against Russia. Therefore, Ukraine, as well as Georgia and Moldova, should be vigilant 24/7.

Russia becomes really irritated and acts with brutality only when a country decides to part ways with Moscow and become a Western democracy. Countries like Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, at different stages of their development, have had particular difficulties with Russia for that very reason. Source: Quora

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

5

Journalist and Author Neil Hauer on the Latest Armenia & Azeri Hostilities lot of speculation in Armenia that Azerbaijan is going to try to capture territory and forcefully create a corridor between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, but I don’t think Russia will ever let that happen because that is extremely different from fighting over Karabakh. If that happened, it would be humiliating for the Kremlin, and even if Russia is an unreliable ally at times, I think that would be going too far for them and they will prevent it from happening.

Journalist and author Neil Hauer

L

ast week, the situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan became tense again. On November 16, a year after the end of a large-scale conflict between Georgia's two neighbors, border clashes started again, with the parties spreading reports of casualties, deaths and captivity. Azerbaijan and Armenia blamed each other for what happened. The clashes ended within hours, with the truce mediated by Russia. Why did the confrontation intensify?

What should we expect from the conflict between the two South Caucasus countries in the near future? And what role will the "mediator" Russia play? These questions are answered by journalist and analyst Neil Hauer, currently based in Yerevan, in an interview with GISP.

WHAT ARE THE REASONS BEHIND THE TENSIONS THAT HAPPENED AT THE BORDER A FEW DAYS AGO? I think it’s part of the Azerbaijan strategy, one they have been acting on for the last six months, if not the last year, since the end of the war. Azerbaijan is trying to pressure Armenia into signing an agreement that essentially gives up Karabakh, that says the Karabakh issue is done and it’s 100% Azerbaijan. This is what Ilham Alyev has been saying since the end of the war, that “we resolved the Karabakh issue”. Even though Armenia, Russia, the US and the EU all say that no, the issue is not resolved, Azerbaijan is trying to do everything it can to pressure Armenia into signing an agreement that says otherwise. Armenia

doesn’t want to do that, of course, so now they escalated again into a military offensive against Armenia.

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT IN THE NEAR FUTURE? It all depends essentially on how effective, the EU to some agree, but especially Russia, will be in negotiating with the two sides to prevent this from happening, because Russia is active on the ground there, and has by far the most influence on Armenia. Its troops are in the town of Sisian right now, which is 15 kilometers from where the fighting happened, and there is a Russian base 5 kilometers away. I think if the Russians wanted to stop it, they could stop it a lot faster than they did on Tuesday. On Tuesday, they let the attack go on for about 4-5 hours before they intervened.

Ultimately, it all comes down to how far the Russians will let it go.

RUSSIA WASN’T PROACTIVE ABOUT THE WAR FOR A MONTH AND A HALF. WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM THEM THIS TIME? I think this is a very different situation because this is not in the disputed territory, such as Karabakh, this is in the Republic of Armenia itself. Armenia is not only a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, but also has a bilateral defense treaty with Russia, where both are guaranteed to guard each other’s borders and protect their territorial integrity. So, Russia has explicit defense commitments with Armenia to prevent this sort of thing from happening. There is a

ONE OF THE POINTS OF THE AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TOUCHES ON THE ZANGEZUR CORRIDOR. ARMENIA IS POSTPONING CARRYING IT OUT. WHY? HOW COSTLY COULD IT BE? This has been a big topic of disagreement, because point 9 of the November 10th ceasefire agreement says that all links in the region be unblocked and Azerbaijan will have safe transit between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan.

It doesn’t mention a corridor explicitly.

For Armenia, the Zangezur Corridor implies that Azerbaijan will have their own control over it and they won’t be subject to Armenian border controls.

That’s what Azerbaijan has been pushing forward, as it is a link that is not subject to any Armenian oversight at all, and Armenia says, no, you can use it, but you have to go through Armenian customs points. The nature of the ceasefire from last year doesn’t specify which interpretation is correct. We’ll soon see what’s going to happen, because the Russians have said that they are going to bring Pashinyan and Alyev to Moscow soon regarding border demarcation. The Russians have made several proposals and all of them are acceptable to the Armenian side, so I think we’re getting closer to a resolution.

Even if there is dissatisfaction with Pashinyan, with the current political alignment, his opposing side is Robert Kocharyan, who is perhaps the most despised figure in the country, and not an acceptable replacement for the vast majority of people. After the election, a lot of the political tension reduced. It was a clean and fair election, and there was a decisive victory as well. I think we’d have to see something really dramatic, like Azerbaijan capturing Armenian territory, some villages or something like that, for the political situation to really shake up again.

IT DIDN’T GO WELL FOR ARMENIA A YEAR AGO, SO WHAT IS AT STAKE AT THIS STAGE FOR THE COUNTRY? WHAT IS THE ATMOSPHERE GENERALLY THERE? WHAT HAS ARMENIA LEARNED? If there was a full-scale war again, Armenia would lose badly, because it doesn’t have a counter. Azerbaijan was trying to provoke a bigger reaction from Armenia so it has an excuse to go another round of war, this time on Armenian territory.

For Armenia, it’s a very difficult situation, because they don’t want to be sucked into that, they don’t want to respond to these provocations in a way that will lead to a bigger conflict, a full-scale war again. But at the same time, if Azerbaijan starts launching an attack with artillery

like they did last Tuesday, you know, Armenia has to respond. So, it’s very difficult position and that’s why we see that they are so reliant on Russia at the moment. Except for treaties, Russia is the only one with sufficient force to compel Azerbaijan not to walk in and escalate militarily.

WHAT COULD YOU SAY ABOUT REGIONAL STABILITY IN THIS REGARD? WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF SOLVING THIS PROCESS ONCE AND FOR ALL AND HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS RUSSIA’S POTENTIAL ROLE IN IT? I think we are several decades from a resolution, because of the Karabakh issue.

The core problem of the Karabakh issue has not changed despite the war, the status of it is the same as it was before September 26 last year: it is undetermined. Armenia’s position is that it has to be determined through the OSCE international negotiations, and Azerbaijan says no, it’s done, and Russian peacekeepers are there temporarily and they are supposed to leave within four years.

I don’t think there’s any chance that the Russians will leave in four years, I think they will be there forever, as Russian peacekeepers tend to do when they deploy somewhere. I can’t imagine how we would see a resolution to it in the next years.

LAST TIME, WHEN THERE WAS A WAR BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN, IT NEARLY COST THE PRIME MINISTER HIS POST. HOW SHOULD ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES APPROACH THE CASE NOW AND WHAT SHOULD THEY THEMSELVES EXPECT IN CASE OF FURTHER ESCALATION? It was very difficult politically for Pashinyan, but then there was an election in June and his party won a massive victory.

Ethnic Armenian volunteer recruits gather at a centre near Hadrut, self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. AP

The Two Plagues Challenging Georgia OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

T

here are two plagues that are challenging the very fabric of society: one is coronavirus and the other is the disease of political polarization. Both can erode public trust in our institutions, and both can paralyze nations. If left unchecked, their effects in society can be devastating. In a polarized world, where algorithms fuel our anger, people on the right and on the left operate in two separate realities, each in their own social media bubble, hearing only the voices that confirm what they already believe in. People end up hating each other; societies get torn apart; countries broken from within go nowhere. - These words belong to the new Israeli Prime Minister Naphtali Benet, and it is as if he consulted his crystal ball to gaze into Georgia’s current social and political life. He certainly spoke about the entire world, but the words sound so perfectly descriptive of the situation in this country that I couldn’t help but quote him so abundantly.

If we try to wax more specific, Georgia

is today the arena of two vehemently feuding and severely polarized political stances which then branch out into smaller ideological groupings, some of them on the side of the ruling Georgian Dream, which is still associated with the fame and name of its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, always conspicuous with his absence in big politics, and the rest supporting the United National Movement, lead by its founder, the now imprisoned Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia.

These two political powers are so irreconcilable in their concepts of the nation’s future that a balanced intelligent discourse between them about the fate of the nation seems to be impossible, no matter how detrimental to the good people of Georgia their interminable and mutually devastating fight might be; one of them trying to stay in power to keep the country in affordable socio-political equilibrium and economic stability, and the other bending over backwards to trigger instability of a national magnitude, thus avenging the loss of the ruling power almost ten years ago. They both see our life in totally different colors; they are not capable of noticing anything positive in each other’s actions; they physically abhor one another, and they

Prime Minister Naphtali Benet: "There are two plagues that are challenging the very fabric of society: one is coronavirus and the other is the disease of political polarization. Both can erode public trust in our institutions, and both can paralyze nations."

can’t help it. Meanwhile, the nation is suffering from the multifaceted irretrievable losses which might take tens of years to be reinstated.

The way out is currently blurred so badly that the working part of the nation is moving forward towards the limits of survival blindfolded, without the slightest idea of what our healthy future doings may bring. And this is happening only

because the UNM wants the power back with such an unquenchable thirst that even our most dedicated friends around the world feel impotent to come up with some rational blueprint to put us back on the track of development.

A central piece of political contradiction has been made of late out of the almost annihilated and now reincarnated political figure of the republic’s third

president. He gave a bulky reason to the current government of Georgia to lock him up and keep him contained for several years to come. The nervously poised Nationals want to see him alive and kicking exactly as he is remembered from those good old times, but the guy is sick and needs help; the wistful Nationals want him to be happily at large as he was just a few months ago, but he is shackled and restricted; the livid and heated Nationals want their jailed leader to be catapulted from his unfortunately deplorable captivity right into the painfullydreamt-of snap elections as their candidate for the leadership at the national level, but the golden captive leaves a lot more to be desired for such a glorious role. And to achieve those tremulously cherished goals, the Nationals yearn to fill the main thoroughfare of the capital, the famous Rustaveli Avenue, used to thirty years of endless political rallies and manifestations, with million-strong crowds to elevate the situation in the country to a revolutionary charge and shake up the currently ruling political force to the extent they’ll give up the governing reins and put them straight into the hands of Saakashvili’s belligerent aficionados. It will not happen!

6

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

Turkey’s Foreign Policy Balancing Act

BY EMIL AVDALIANI

I

t is often claimed that Turkey made a definitive break with the West in the 2000s after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. The argument is that by changing direction internally, Ankara turned away from what the West was hoping to achieve in terms of its relations with Turkey.

Since 2003, Turkey has indeed increased its influence in all the geopolitically important regions on its borders: the Black Sea, the South Caucasus, the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and Syria-Iraq.

A general concept explaining this development can be found by looking at the map. There is no single great power in Turkey’s neighborhood which opens the door for greater Turkish economic and military engagement along its borders.

Even Russia, arguably the biggest power near Turkey, could not prevent Ankara from giving its decisive support to Azerbaijan during the recent Second Karabakh War. Turkish troops, albeit a limited number, are now stationed on Azerbaijani soil alongside Russian.

The real reason for Turkey’s increasing engagement remains the Soviet collapse, though that engagement occurred over a longer period than many analysts expected. It took decades for Turkey to build its regional position. In 2021, it can safely be argued that Ankara has made a success of this venture. It is close to having a direct land corridor to the Caspian Sea (through Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan) and increases its military posture in the Mediterranean, and views north-

ern Syria and Iraq as territories that can potentially provide strategic depth for an Anatolian defense.

A revealing element in Ankara’s foreign policy is that geography still commands the country’s perception of itself and its place in the world, perhaps more so than for any other large country. Rather than being attached solely to the Western axis, over the past two decades, Turkey has pursued a multi-vector approach to foreign affairs.

The country is on the European periphery. Its experience is similar to Russia’s in that both have absorbed extensive western influence, whether in institutions, foreign policy, or culture. Both have been anchored for centuries on the geopolitics of the European continent.

Because a multi-vector foreign policy model provides more room for maneuver, economic gains, and growth of geopolitical power, both countries wanted to break free of their single-axis approach to foreign policy.

But neither Turkey nor Russia has had an opportunity to break its dependence on the West entirely. The West has simply been too powerful. The world economy revolved solely around the European continent and the US. Turkey and Russia have significant territories deep in Asia and the Middle East, as well as geopolitical schools of thought that consider Europe-oriented geopolitical thinking contrary to state interests, particularly as the collective West has never considered either Turkey or Russia to be fully European. The two states have always pursued alternate geopolitical anchors, but had difficulty implementing them. No Asian, African, or any other geopolitical pole has proven suf-

ficient to enable either Turkey or Russia to balance their ties with the West.

No wonder, then, that over the past two decades Turkey has been actively searching for new geopolitical axes. For Ankara, close relations with Russia is a means to balance its historical dependence on European geopolitics. The same foreign policy model can explain Moscow’s geopolitical thinking since the late 2000s, when its ties with Asian states developed quickly as an alternative to a dependence on, and attachment to, Western geopolitics.

Thus we come to the first misconception of Turkish foreign policy: that Ankara is distancing itself from the West with the aim of eventually breaking those ties entirely. Breaking off relations with NATO is not an option for Turkey. Its goal is to balance its deep ties with the West, which for various reasons were no longer producing the benefits it was hoping for, with a more active policy in other regions.

Hence Turkey’s resurgence in the Middle East.

Turkey’s Middle East pivot (championed by former FM Ahmet Davutoglu) is not an exceptional development in the country’s foreign policy. During the Cold War, when Turkey’s focus on the Western axis was strong, leftist PM Bulent Ecevit promoted the idea of a “regioncentric” foreign policy. The main takeaway was that Ankara should pursue diversification of external affairs beyond its traditional Western fixation, meaning deeper involvement in the Middle East and the Balkans. In 1974-1975, then Turkish deputy PM Necmettin Erbakan tried to pivot Ankara toward the Arab world.

There were even attempts to build closer ties with the Soviets.

Image source: traveldailymedia.com

But throughout this period of reorientation, no move was ever made to sever relations with the West. Turkish politicians at the time believed diversification of foreign ties would benefit the country’s position at the periphery of Europe overlooking the volatile Middle East.

The diversification would not hurt the country’s Western axis but would in fact complement it.

Contrary to the belief that Atatürk was solely interested in Turkey’s Western axis, the country under his leadership had close ties with nearby Middle Eastern states, as was necessary considering the geopolitical weight of those states at the time. Thus he hosted Iran’s Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1934, and in 1937 signed a non-aggression pact with Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The pursuit of a multi-vector foreign policy has been a hallmark of Turkish political thinking. Even during Ottoman times, when a Europe-centered foreign policy was inescapable, the sultans sought alternatives to their dependence on Great

Britain and France. Following the disastrous 1877-1878 war with Russia, Sultan Abdul Hamid began a cautious balancing effort by building closer ties with Imperial Germany, a trend that contributed to the German-Turkish alliance forged during WWI. Returning to the present day, the Chinese factor is causing a reconfiguration in Turkey-West relations. The Asian pivot brings economic promise and increases Ankara’s maneuverability visà-vis larger powers like Russia and the EU. This fits into the rise of Turkish “Eurasianism,” the aspirations of which are similar to those that have motivated Russia for the past decade or so.

Turkey’s policies toward the West and the ongoing troubles in bilateral ties can best be described as intra-alliance opposition. It is true that in recent years, Turkey’s opposition to the West within the alliance has intensified markedly, but it has not passed the point of no return.

Ankara is well aware that it remains a valuable ally to the collective West.

BUSINESS

Business and Technology University Hosts Unprecedented International Teaching Week in Region

BY KETEVAN SKHIRTLADZE

T

he Business and Technology University, as part of the BTU Global initiative, is hosting an unprecedented International Teaching Week in the region from November 30 to December 3. The university has invited academic staff from various worldwide universities to participate in the remotemode International Teaching Week within BTU GLOBAL 2021.

The Covid-19 crisis has hastened significant changes in higher education and brought new types of collaboration to the agenda of higher education institutions globally. As such, International Teaching Week, organized by Business and Technology University, is a fantastic opportunity to deliver lectures not only to BTU students and faculty, but also to your university community and other attendees around the world.

The main purpose of the event is to provide students and staff with interna-

tional experience at home, as well as to enable them to share insights, experiences, and practices of today’s international higher education and the current global circumstances. BTU believes that it is in everyone's best interests and that virtual lectures become another way for people to collaborate and share their knowledge.

The following study/teaching areas could be the focus of lectures to be offered: • Business Administration • Management • Marketing • Finance • Information Technologies To learn more about the International Teaching Week, Georgia Today sat down with Ani Chelishvili, Head of International Relations Office Erasmus + Institutional Coordinator.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL TEACHING WEEK? In remote mode, professors from leading universities around the world, stu-

dents of BTU and participating universities, academic and administrative staff will be offered a wide range of lectures on intercultural communication, digital transformation, management, marketing, information technology, and finance. In addition to sharing best practices and experiences, students and staff participating in the week will have a wonderful opportunity to establish international contacts.

WHO WILL PARTICIPANT IN THE TEACHING WEEK? Besides BTU students and lecturers, professors, students and researchers from the following countries and universities will take part: University of Louisiana Monroe (USA), Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), Humak University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Koblenz University of Applied Sciences (Germany), University of La Coruna (Spain), Cyprus University (Cyprus), Pontifical University of Salamanca (Spain), University of Salamanca (Spain), Jagiellonian University (Poland), Rzeszow Univer-

sity of Technology (Poland), Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland), Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Economics (Poland), University of Szczecin (Poland), Ljubljana School of Business (Slovenia), University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava (Slovakia), Kactus Edu (Brazil), Selçuk University (Turkey), Baku Engineering University (Azerbaijan), Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (Ukraine), CHRIST, Delhi-NCR (India), Srinivas University India (India), and the Xavier Institute of Management (XIM) University (India).

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE LECTURES. WHAT TOPICS WILL BE DISCUSSED DURING THE TRAINING WEEK?

HOW WILL THIS WEEK HELP STUDENTS IN THE FUTURE?

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SUCH A LARGE-SCALE INTERNATIONAL TEACHING WEEK HAS BEEN HELD IN THE REGION. WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT?

Establishing international contacts and sharing experiences and best practices is the main reason behind organizing the week. Consequently, in parallel with the improvement of academic knowledge, students will have the opportunity to find new international contacts, which in the future will significantly improve their opportunities to study and/or work in the international arena.

We have offered 6 different modules: A General Module, which combines lectures on Intercultural Communications, Cross-Cultural Management, Internationalization of HEIs, and the Art of Storytelling; Module 1: Digitalization; Module 2: Finance; Module 3: Management; Module 4: Information Technologies; Module 5: Marketing.

Yes, the International Teaching Week that we have organized is unprecedented in the region. We are confident that such events will help raise the awareness of BTU, integrate students and staff into the international educational space, and internationalize the University, which is an important and leading pillar of its Strategic Development Plan.

WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PLANS OF THE BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY? In spite of just a few years of history, the Business and Technology University is actively and successfully working towards internationalization. Many important steps have already been taken in this direction, and we plan to organize very interesting international activities in the future, including BTU Quantum and International Staff Training Weeks. In addition, we have recently received funding for a very exciting Jean Monnet Module Renewable Energy project, which is BTU's second Jean Monnet project. At the same time, we are coordinating about 40 different international projects and this number will increase even more at the end of this year.

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

7

The Impact of the Pandemic on Domestic Tourism in Georgia

A

ccording to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, domestic tourism is set to recover faster to pre-pandemic levels than international tourism in selected markets. Considering that the Covid-19 pandemic has modified tourists’ attitudes towards traveling, it is pertinent to analyze recovery trends and potential shifts in domestic travelers’ behavior as the tourism industry in Georgia begins its recovery.

In the first quarter of 2021, the total number of domestic visits within Georgia amounted to 3.7 million, which was 18.8% higher compared to the corresponding quarter of 2020 and 12.1% higher than in 2019. At the same time, in the second quarter of 2021, the number of

domestic visits increased markedly and reached 4.2 million, which was 27% higher than the same period in 2019 and more than double the level of 2020.

There have also been some changes in the breakdown of travel purposes of domestic visits throughout the reporting period. Still, “visiting relatives/friends” has remained the category with the highest share of total visits. Nevertheless, the share of this category showed a significant year-on-year decline throughout 2020, which was attributed to by the imposed lockdown measures and traveler hesitancy. In the second quarter of 2021, its share was 47.0%, which is 3.4 percentage points (pp) lower than for the first half of 2019.

Moreover, the share of “recreation” in this breakdown demonstrated a signifi-

cant decrease after the third quarter of 2020. In Q4 of 2020, the share of “recreation” decreased by 12.0pp (from 15.2% to 3.2%) compared to Q3 of the same year, partly explained by seasonality and partly by the restrictions imposed in Q4.

In 2021, there has been a slight increase in the share of recreation in total domestic visits, reaching 7.0% in Q2 of 2021, which is 1.5pp higher compared to the corresponding period of 2020 and 1.8pp lower compared to Q2 of 2019.

The expenses of domestic visitors throughout the reporting period showed some variability. However, compared to the 2019 and Q1-Q3 2020 levels, the expenses throughout the period of Q4 2020-Q2 2021 were significantly higher, which can be partly explained by inflationary trends, considering that most

such expenses are on shopping, food, drink, and transport, prices for which have all increased in the national currency since the onset of the pandemic.

The total expenditure of domestic visitors in Q2 2021 amounted to GEL 610 million, which is an impressive 70.7% higher than in the corresponding period of 2019, and 128.1% higher than in Q2 2020.

Finally, considering the positive trends in the number of domestic visits and the increasing total expenses of domestic visitors, it can be concluded that for Georgia, domestic tourism has served as a buffer against plummeting foreign tourism, which is only now beginning to recover.

HOTEL PRICE INDEX In October 2021, in Georgia, the hotel price index decreased by 1.5% compared to September 2021. The 3-star, 4-star and

5-star hotel price index decreased by 4.2%, while for guesthouses, the price index increased by 2.8%.

In October 2021, compared to October 2019, hotel prices in Georgia increased by 1.4%. The prices of 3*, 4*, 5* hotels decreased by 0.8% and the prices of guesthouses increased by 5.3%.

AVERAGE HOTEL PRICES In Georgia, the average cost of a room in a 3-star hotel was 136 GEL per night in October 2021, while the average cost of a room in a 4-star hotel in Georgia was 246 GEL per night and the average cost of a room in a guesthouse was 99 GEL per night.

The average cost of a room in a 5-star hotel in Georgia in October 2021 was 436 GEL per night. In Kakheti, the average price was 615 GEL, followed by Tbilisi - 588 GEL, Adjara – 416 GEL and Guria - 403 GEL.

8

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

"Efes Georgia" Becomes the Winner of the "Corporate Responsibility Award 2021"

A

t the initiative of the Global Compact Network Georgia, with the support of the Swedish Government, in cooperation with USAID and the European Union, the competition "Corporate Responsibility Award 2021 - Business for Sustainable Development in Georgia" was held for the fourth time. From various competitions, this is the sixth award for “Efes Georgia” in the category of corporate responsibility.

Clearly defined priorities and relevant activities of the company ensured the victory of "Efes Georgia's" in the category of "Partnership for Sustainable Development." In terms of corporate social responsibility, “Efes Georgia” pays special attention to partnership projects like the Natakhtari Fund. The foundation supports young artists in the pandemic, as the company believes that collaboration between different sectors has a significant impact on project effectiveness.

The Natakhtari Fund was established by “Efes Georgia” in 2011, to empower youth without parental care and prepare them for independent living. Till today, the fund has provided 1 million GEL to

over 600 beneficiaries. Over 300 people were employed, more than 270 young people received professional education.

The Natakhtari Fund delivers resources to individuals based on their specific needs.

During the pandemic, support for

young artists and cultural organizations/ platforms was crucial as well. An outstanding project in this regard is the beer Karva music competition, which covered the whole of Georgia. Karva helps the beginner musicians to gain popularity and release their first music

video. The gift for the winners of this project was the music videos and its promotion through the communication channels of the company.

Within the framework of the ‘Ganikarve Shin’ (Relax at Home) campaign, official pages of Karva broadcasted live concerts. Music lessons led by musicians through the brand Karva taught a wide audience the basics of playing various musical instruments. In addition, Karva supports new music platforms as well.

Furthermore, the partnership projects by “Efes Georgia” support bartenders, as the restaurant business is still one of the most affected sectors during the pandemic. As a result of the consultation with partners and NGOs, “Efes Georgia” decided to provide food vouchers to help up to 500 unemployed bartenders.

"It means a lot when a competent jury chooses you out of the huge amount of interesting and valuable projects. Thanks to the organizers and each member of the jury for the recognition. This corporate responsibility award proves that our business is progressive and its activities are based on high standards.

We continue to work on sustainable development and bring long-term ben-

efits to both the company and the community. We are proud to stand next to so many responsible Georgian companies and it is a great honor for us to receive the award,” - says Nikoloz Khundzakishvili, Director of Corporate Affairs at “Efes Georgia.”

About 50 companies participated in "Corporate Responsibility Award 2021" competition. It aims to develop a culture of corporate responsibility in the country and encourage business involvement in the implementation of the sustainable development agenda. The winning companies were identified and awarded by international and local jury members.

The winners of the "Corporate Responsibility Award" were awarded for the first time in Georgia in 2018. In 2018, the company "Efes Georgia" also won in the category of "Best Environmental Project." The cooperation project of "Efes Georgia" and the non-governmental organization "Our House - Georgia" by “Natakhtari Fund'' was named as the best in the category "Partnership for Sustainable Development" in 2019. “Efes Georgia” took first place in the category "Decent Work and Economic Growth" in 2020.

SOCIETY

Georgia Develops National Plastic Waste Prevention Program

BY KETEVAN SKHIRTLADZE

T

he Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, together with CENN, with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has developed a National Plastic Waste Prevention Program.

On November 19, the document was presented at the national conference and Georgia’s capacity and trajectory to reducing plastic pollution was further discussed among different parties, including producers, recycling companies and economists.

The document sets out a 10-year strategy and 5-year action plan. It looks at the entire value chain of plastic products and offers solutions at each level of the value chain. It also sets out targets of how much single-use plastic should be reduced by 2024 and 2030.

The program is based on the principles of a circular economy, i.e. a resourceeffective approach that minimizes the generation of plastic waste and ensures resources are fully recovered along the way.

Issues related to plastic prevention have been high on the agenda of many developed countries, and this problem is being discussed on a number of international platforms.

"All this leads to a global crisis of pollution with plastic waste. According to estimates, the seas and the oceans are particularly vulnerable. If this trend does not change, there will be more plastic in the oceans and seas by 2250," Nino Shavgulidze, project manager, noted during her speech.

The European Union calls on its partner countries to develop a national plastic waste prevention plan. In response to this challenge, the National Plastic Waste Prevention Program was developed in Georgia by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, with CENN assisting the Ministry in drafting the document with the support of the Norwegian Embassy.

The event was opened with a speech by the Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture, Solomon Pavliashvili.

He thanked CENN, the Ambassador of Norway, and the First Deputy Chair of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee, Khatia Tsi-

losani. Pavliashvili noted: “We are strong together, and what we achieve, we achieve together. The Government of Georgia, the Parliament of Georgia is trying to take steps that bring us closer to the EU, of course, we take into account specific challenges posed on a national level.

“The document is very complex. I would like to thank the CENN representatives and all the people involved," he said.

Ambassador of Norway to Georgia, Helene Sand Andresen, delivered a speech and expressed her excitement at supporting and developing this program.

She noted plastic waste represents one of the priority waste streams due to the sheer amount that is produced, and causes harm not only to human health but also to the environment.

The presentation was attended by the First Deputy Chair of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee, Khatia Tsilosani.

"It is a great honor to be with you today and to talk about such important issues related to waste management in the country," she said. “Especially when it comes to reducing plastic waste. The fact that the business sector is involved in these processes and takes responsibility for the issues related to the reduction of plastic waste once again indicates what good communication there is between the government and business representatives, which contributes greatly to the people who are our partners today, such as CENN,” Tsilosani noted, adding that it is impossible for all this to have an effect on people without regulations being made. “The environment we are to live in should be created by us, and everyone engaged in this process will highly contribute to the development of the country,” she said.

Nana Janashia, Executive director of CENN, also delivered a speech at the conference. She thanked the Ministry of Environment, the Norwegian Embassy, and all the agencies involved in the working group.

"We have been working with the Min-

istry and the municipality on environmental protection and waste management issues for years. We assist municipalities in developing waste management plans.

The waste management plan was developed with our help and we also help the private sector in various ways. It is very important for us to raise awareness, without which achieving progressive reforms will not be possible. I am very happy that with the help of the Norwegian Embassy, together with the Ministry, we have been able to develop a national plastic waste program."

She noted that an international expert was involved in the process and that the document is in full compliance with international requirements and takes into account international best practices and the context of Georgia.

The document envisages the principle of waste hierarchy, where priority is given to waste prevention, and the vision is that Georgia aspires to become a country focused on waste prevention.

The document was drafted in cooperation with various interested parties employing a participatory approach.

Thus, the program was agreed with government agencies, private sector, experts and other organizations involved in the plastic value chain. The Ministry of

Environment and Agriculture was the leading agency, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the Parliament Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and Tbilisi City Hall as a service group, and the Government of Adjara in the Adjara Solid Waste Company.

Nino Shavgulidze moderated a panel discussion on international trends and challenges and opportunities in the country in plastic waste management.

Participants of the panel discussions were Ludwig Streff, Head of Department - Waste Management International, who spoke about international trends and Germany's experience in plastic prevention; Levan Pavlenishvili, an economist who spoke about the mechanisms of financial and economic incentives in the circular economy; Giorgi Guliashvili, Chairman of the Waste Management Association, who spoke about the challenges and opportunities for the recycling sector in Georgia; and Corporate Director of Efes Georgia / Natakhtari, Nikoloz Khundzakishvili, who spoke on company policy on plastic prevention.

The conference was concluded with an exposition of plastic recycling companies in Georgia.

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

9

Caritas Czech Republic Enabled Better Social Inclusion of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Georgia DIVERSIFICATION OF THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES The specialists working in the field together with the Ministry of Health of Georgia were emphasizing that the introduction of alternative methodologies to ABA might be more effective in working with children of a particular age or need.

In this regard, Caritas Czech Republic introduced two alternative approaches of autism intervention to Georgia – DENVER (Early Start Denver Model) and SCERTS and in 2020, international experts provided trainings for specialists from Tbilisi and regions.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION COMPONENT IN KINDERGARTENS Promoting inclusive education in Georgia was another important component of Caritas Czech Republic's intervention.

With this in mind, we have selected three pilot kindergartens across the country (in Tbilisi, Zugdidi, and Telavi) and created a suitable environment for promot-

BY NINA KOPALEISHVILI

I

dentifying the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at an early age and providing children with appropriate rehabilitation services is crucial for preparing them for an independent life. Caritas Czech Republic (CCR) has been working to provide quality and affordable services for people with ASD since 2015. As a result, the environment for children with ASD and their families in Georgia has significantly improved.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families in Georgia have been facing various challenges for years. Most of those problems have been related to the early identification of ASD as well as financial and geographical accessability to therapeutic services across the country. One of the main obstacles has been an inappropriate readiness of primary health care (PHC) professionals to identify the risk of ASD and refer children to relevant centers.

In addition, the regions have not had the necessary tools for full diagnostics, which is why many parents and children with the risk of ASD had to travel to Tbilisi.

A serious challenge has also been the lack of a relevant number of qualified specialists.

Thanks to the financial support from the Czech Development Agency (CzechAid), Caritas Czech Republic implemented a project aiming at expanding and improving the services for people with ASD, as well as professional strengthening of specialists working in the field. Our organization carried out activities with a total budget of up to 255 000 Euros, in close cooperation with Ilia State University's Child Development Institute and the Georgian Academy of Childhood Disability.

The project was elaborated together with the Ministry of Health of Georgia, considering the priorities of the Government of Georgia in the mentioned sector.

CARITAS CZECH REPUBLIC IMPROVED THE QUALITY OF ASD SERVICES Caritas Czech Republic started to improve the environment for children with ASD through educational activities for autism specialists and capacity-building of PHC professionals. With the support of our organization, hundreds of rural doctors were trained to identify the risk of ASD in children. In 2017-2021, Caritas Czech

Republic procured and delivered the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS 2), the so-called golden standard for identifying ASD, to five regions of Georgia. ASD specialists have also been trained on how to use the mentioned tool. As a result, many parents do not have to travel from regions to Tbilisi to diagnose their children.

One of the important components of the project was the provision of quality therapeutic services and approaches to children. Notably, there were not enough qualified specialists to provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in the regions.

The number of supervisors responsible for monitoring provided ABA therapies was also low. With the support from Caritas Czech Republic, Ilia State University's Child Development Institute trained specialists from the regions in the use of ABLLS-R and EFL tools necessary for the full implementation of ABA therapy and funded 15 specialists to undergo special trainings to become certified supervisors. As a result, not only has the number of qualified specialists and geographical availability of ABA therapy providers expanded, but also the quality of supervision needed for proper therapeutic services has increased.

ing the inclusion of children with ASD in kindergarten activities. With the financial support from CzechAid, our organization equipped the so-called transitional groups for the therapies for children with ASD. In addition, we have provided trainings in inclusive education for teachers of kindergartens and 10 special specialists. As a result, now the state has a readymade model for inclusive education in kindergartens which can be introduced and implemented in other municipalities throughout the country.

INCREASED BUDGET FOR AUTISM PROGRAMS IN REGIONS Allocating relevant budget for the involvment of children in municipal autism programs was another very comprehensive issue that Caritas Czech Republic decided to address with regular advocacy meetings with local municipality representatives. During such meetings, our representatives and experts explained why such programs are important and introduced local municipalities to a ready-made budget model for such activities. As a result, in 2020 and 2021, the municipalities of Rustavi, Ozurgeti, and Akhaltsikhe started funding the autism program. Notably, it also became possible to increase the quota of beneficiaries involved in such programs as well as assigned hours of ASD therapies in various municipalities.

RESULTS ACHIEVED ON A CENTRAL LEVEL Project activities aimed at several fun-

damental changes, of which the results achieved at the central level are of particular importance. In 2020, the Ministry of Health of Georgia approved the National Autism Service Standards elaborated by the multidisciplinary working group established under the project.

This standard is necessary to ensure the quality of services in the field. Earlier in 2018, the Ministry approved the national protocol – Identification, Diagnosis and Management of Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is a guide for health and autism specialists working in the field.

In addition, the Association of Behavior Analysts developed and submitted to Parliament of Georgia a legislative initiative that will lead to the regulation of the activities of behavior analysts in the country.

Tamila Barkalaia, the Deputy Minister of Health of Georgia, sums up the contribution of the Czech Development Agency and the six-year results of Caritas Czech Republic’s work. She emphasizes that the project has achieved long-

term results – now the country has accumulated knowledge, a national standard for the provision of services to children with ASD, and trained service providers throughout the country.

According to Barkalaia, this will enable the state to establish autism services and quality monitoring mechanisms in all the municipalities of Georgia: "This is a resource that a country must have in order to provide children with ASD with quality services."

Rusudan Chkhubianishvili, Caritas Czech Republic’s project manager, notes that with this project, the Czech Republic has provided invaluable assistance in the development and improvement of the quality of autism services in Georgia: "This support has enabled children with ASD and their families to benefit from exactly the same approaches used in such developed countries as the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and Poland. By raising the qualification of local specialists, the quality of autism services has been significantly improved and, consequently, the satisfaction of children and parents with the achieved results was increased as well”. On behalf of each beneficiary, Chkhubianishvili expresses special gratitude to the Czech people.

10

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

Radio Selector Celebrates 20th Anniversary

BY GEORGIA TODAY NOVEMBER 19, 2021 IN SOCIAL & SOCIETY READING TIME: 2MIN READ

T

his November, British Council celebrates the 20th birthday of its flagship radio show Selector through an online campaign featuring a number of exclusive anniversary performances.

Set up 20 years ago to provide a platform for new UK music to be heard around the world, Selector has grown massively and now proudly boasts a listenership in the region of 4 million listeners every week. It is broadcast in over 35 countries and available to many more online via Mixcloud and British Council’s website.

Although made in London, the show

is provided to countries around the world as an audio kit which means it can be repackaged and translated for a local audience. You can listen to the Georgian version here.

Selector showcases a broad range of UK talent and takes advantage of radio’s unique ability to travel easily. ‘As a Music department at the British Council we had always strived to showcase

the diversity of the UK through its rich and diverse music, but with limited budgets this is difficult,’ says Lisa Phasha, previously Selector’s Programme Manager. ‘We felt that radio offered us an opportunity to reach out to wider audiences with a wider selection of what the UK is about. It was always seen as a complement to British Council’s other programming – not instead of.’ Lisa puts Selector’s longevity down to its design as an eclectic show for new music. ‘Services like Spotify offer many of things that 20 years ago we would turn to radio for but I suspect the reason Selector has weathered that storm is because of the diverse programming it offers. It can surprise listeners with something they didn’t even know they would like.’

These days, by also including examples of music from outside the UK, and UK music directly inspired by it, Selector

acknowledges an undeniable truth. Over the past 20 years and more the UK has been, and always will be, a place where musical evolution is the result of influences from, and collaborations with, people and sounds way beyond these shores. Selector Program Manager for the British Council, Katie Weatherall, feels this is key: ‘While Selector remains a show predominantly to showcase new UK music, failing to include conversations and music from beyond is to misunderstand what contemporary UK music is.’

Read the full article on the British Council Georgia website Join us for Selector’s 20th birthday party on 24 November with performances by exclusive special guests Catch the Selector Radio show online every week at selector-radio.com Watch the Selector session archive on Youtube

Meanwhile, Back in Tbilisi BLOG BY TONY HANMER

I

travel to the capital by minibus to attend to some business with our apartment, and also to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. Behind me in Upper Svaneti, the café construction continues in fits and starts, and winter prepares similarly to descend, snow coming and going but much more on the way. But my wife is fine. There’s never a “perfect time” to leave her there, and I go in peace.

Tbilisi has by now lost most of its tourists, between the full-on autumn glory season and the arrival of whatever sprinkling of white for a day or two passes for winter here. It’s warmer than my highlands of course, but the city is still dealing with the chilling and furious discontent of Misha’s situation. When his hunger strike was approaching 40 days, I thought he was going to make a comparison with the OTHER 40-day fast of history, one 2000 years gone now, but he did not, and probably a good thing too. Nor do we need jokes (playing with the name of a long-running Russian cartoon series) about “Misha and Medved” (Bear)!

One of my new friends offers to make me a proper food smoking apparatus as a gift, a nice big one. Very generous and useful; we need things which will make our guest house unique, and art and cuisine are two of these.

A good friend of mine who has been here more than a decade is returning to his home country elsewhere in Europe, burnt out, utterly fed up and needing to get out of here, probably for good. Otherwise his pessimism will ruin him, he says.

Girogoba (St George’s Day) comes and goes, November 23. Rustaveli Avenue, having had a chain of protesters occupy its center line from Freedom Square to its namesake writer’s statue, is being decorated with fake icicles for the Christmas holiday season; a huge tree is going up outside Parliament.

Soon, in less than a week now, we will all need green passports to enter many interior places, in a new effort to reverse the spread of Covid. My wife and I were able to get ours online with no trouble.

Some of my friends can’t travel out of

Georgia, though, without somehow getting the right vaccination certificate, international situations on this differing from place to place, various vaccines and their acceptance or not here or there, and so on. Europe prepares for a disastrous winter virus-wise.

It feels as though a tinderbox is sitting, waiting for the spark to set it off in a massive explosion.

But who has the energy AND the will to protest further? And what will arise if there is yet another revolution? Can it be bloodless? Can its successors keep their hands clean for good?

This country in which I have lived longer than anywhere else in my life, made home, settled and built something, married, even chosen my grave’s location should I die here in some

hopefully far-distant year. My heart is here, and I can only hope that my hopes are not misplaced. I don’t want to live anywhere else, but it’s not a blind, blinkered love. This side of eternity, between “The Show Must go On” and “Last Call”, nowhere and no-one on earth is perfect.

In the meantime… #mishavs means “it matters to me”. It really does.

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

GEORGIA TODAY

NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 2, 2021

11

International Festival Night Serenades Closes on a High

BY ANA DUMBADZE

O

n November 21, within the framework of the BatumiTbilisi International Festival ‘Night Serenades,’ the final concert of the festival was held, attended by the festival's main orchestra ‘Georgian Virtuosos,’ conducted

by Vakhtang Machavariani, with soloists Sabine Grofmeier and Sandro Nebieridze in the grand hall of Tbilisi State Conservatory.

The concert was attended by representatives of state structures and the diplomatic corps and, of course, music lovers.

The attendees got to enjoy the following program: Main Orchestra of the Festival "Georgian Virtuosos", Sabine Grofmeier Clarinet (Germany), Sandro Nebieridze - Fantasy On the themes of Z. Paliashvili's Operas, Vakhtang Machavariani Dedication to Ludwig van B. String Orchestra, Litavars and Piano (The themes of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies are used in the work), and Wolfgang

Amadeus Mozart - Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, La Major, K.622 "I am glad that art is winning, and despite the difficult conditions, one of the most important and traditional classical music festivals was held, one which was founded by the great Georgian violinist and conductor Liana Isakadze in 1982 in Bichvinta, Abkhazia, Georgia,” said Giorgi Isakadze, Artistic Director of the Night Serenades Festival.

“This year, we invited two of the greatest instrumentalist musicians of modern times. Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi is a bandoneonist who simply fascinated the public in Batumi with Nikoloz Rachveli and Sopho Khalvashi. The premiere of the dedication “To the Italian People” by talented Georgian musician, conductor and pianist Nikoloz Rachveli also took place in Batumi, Isakadze noted.

“In the Tbilisi part, the brilliant German clarinetist Sabine Grofmeier performed an unforgettable concert by Mozart, and Maestro Vakhtan Machavariani’s Dedication to Ludwig van B. String Orchestra, Litavars and Piano, was performed during the concert for the first time.

“It should be noted that for the last

PUBLISHER & GM

George Sharashidze COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT

Commercial Director: Iva Merabishvili Marketing Manager: Natalia Chikvaidze

GEORGIA TODAY

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT:

Editor-In-Chief: Katie Ruth Davies

few years, the festival has been paying special attention to the works of classical music created by Georgian composers. We also try to actively contribute to the creation of new works, and this year the educational courses lasted two months. Masterclasses for pupils and students in various fields of music and art were led by several leading musicians, including Sabine Grofmeier, Vakhtang Machavariani, Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, and Giorgi Shaverzashvili," Isakadze said.

“The opening concert of the 13th International Festival was held in Batumi. We conducted various master classes throughout the month, and today the final concert of "Night Serenades" was held in the grand hall of the conservatory,” Nina Tsagareli, Director of the Night Serenades Festival, said following the closing of the festival. “I am very glad that despite the pandemic in the country, music lovers were given the opportunity to join this celebration of art. We do not betray the tradition and we offered our loyal audience several premieres.

“I thank my whole team, all the supporters and partners and, of course, first of all, our loyal listeners."

"I admire the orchestra. It is a very important festival, which is associated with the name of Liana Isakadze. Thanks to the artistic director Giorgi Isakadze for the invitation, as well as Vakhtang Machavariani and the director of the festival Nina Tsagareli. I would especially like to mention and thank the outstanding Georgian listeners," said German musician Sabine Grofmeier.

"I have been cooperating with the festival for 4 years now,” noted musician, composer, and soloist Sandro Nebieridze.

“I am constantly getting new experiences and I am full of emotion. The premiere

Journalists: Ana Dumbadze, Vazha Tavberidze, Tony Hanmer, Emil Avdaliani, Nugzar B. Ruhadze, Michael Godwin, Ketevan Skhirtladze Photographer: Aleksei Serov

of the second piano concert took place last year, and this year the premiere of fantasy on Paliashvili themes. Every year, Night Serenades becomes more and more important, and this year was no exception: the festival was carried out fantastically, and was truly something special,” he said.

“I had just gone to study at the University of Music and Theater in Munich, and came back for the first time to do this, my first concert. The fantasy was written on the themes of Paliashvili's opera at the order of Giorgi Isakadze.

“Many thanks to Giorgi Isakadze, Vakhtang Machavariani, and Nina Tsagareli for this opportunity. I hope the pandemic will end soon and the situation will improve,” Nebieridze said.

The festival was opened in Batumi by Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi (bandoneonist), Nikoloz Rachveli (conductor, composer), and Sopho Khalvashi (singer), with the K. Vardel String Quartet - Konstantine Eroiani (I violin), Davit Akofiani

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

(II violin), Ekaterine Gardavadze (viola), Giorgi Nadareishvili (cello) and Mikheil Kartvelishvili (double bass).

The Founder of the Festival is internationally renowned Georgian violinist Liana Isakadze. The artistic director of the festival Night Serenades is Giorgi Isakadze, a well-known musician and teacher, founder and artistic director of Ingolstadt and Munich Academies of Dance and Music. The festival director is Nina Tsagareli. The main conductor of the festival is the world-famous maestro Vakhtang Machavariani.

Festival organizer company – “ArtAlliance” The official insurer of the festival is Ardi Company.

Supporters of the festival: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth of Georgia, Tbilisi City Hall, Batumi City Hall, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Embassy of Italy, and the Embassy of Germany.

ADDRESS

1 Melikishvili Str. Tbilisi, 0179, Georgia Tel.: +995 32 229 59 19 E: info@georgiatoday.ge F: GeorgiaToday ADVERTISING & SUBSCRIPTION

+995 555 00 14 46 E-mail: marketing@georgiatoday.ge

Reproducing material, photos and advertisements without prior editorial permission is strictly forbidden.

The author is responsible for all material. Rights of authors are preserved. The newspaper is registered in Mtatsminda district court.

Reg. # 06/4-309

IWG plc, Level 4, 2 Leonidze str. Tbilisi, Georgia | +995 32 290 039