Tag Archives: Georgia

Georgia looks to modernise its agriculture

MARCH 26 2015, Tbilisi (The Conway Bulletin) – A state-of-the-art greenhouse, aimed at producing high-grade tomatoes, opened in Georgia.

Co-owned by French company Richel and the Georgian government, the so-called Greenhouse Corporation plans to reduce imports of tomatoes by 30%. With the devaluation of the lari currency over the past few months, food imports have gotten more expensive.

Dimitri Kolensikov, director of the Greenhouse Corporation, also said that the greenhouse was a technological triumph.

“This is the highest greenhouse in Georgia and the second construction in the Caucasus region,” media quoted him as saying.

“The higher the greenhouse is, the easier is to control climate and dampness. This is an energy efficient automated greenhouse.”

The greenhouse is located in the village of Kapanakhchi, to the south of Tbilisi.
And the greenhouse also represents hi-tech farming in Georgia, where low-tech small farmsteads still predominate.

Technology, seed crops and biologists have been employed from Europe to help set up the greenhouse.

The Greenhouse Corporation expects to expand over the next year.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Georgia CBank keeps interest rates steady

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank kept its key interest rate at 4.5%, confounding expectations of another rate rise to counter a fall in the value of its lari currency. The Central Bank said the current inflation rate did not merit a rate rise although it also said that a gradual devaluation would probably push prices up.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Georgia plans to build windfarm

MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia plans to build a small windfarm between Tbilisi and Gori to the northwest, media reported. This is the first wind farm in the country and is part-funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Russia is a threat, says Georgian president

MARCH 312015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In his annual address to the nation, Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili said Russia’s annexation of Crimea and alleged support for rebels in eastern Ukraine threatened to destabilise the region. These were some of the strongest comments yet from Georgia on Ukraine.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Remittances to Georgia fall by 30%

MARCH 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Georgia in January and February dropped 30%, media reported quoting the World Bank. Georgia, like other countries in the region, is suffering the knock-on effects generated by the fall in oil prices and economic turmoil in Russia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Georgia will build a new hydropower station

MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will build a hydropower station with a $250m loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which will boost electricity production in winter and allow it to export power to neighbouring Turkey. Demand for power in Georgia is increasing.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Georgian Central Bank props up lari

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Georgian Central Bank is continuing to support the lari currency, buying $40m to prop it up. This was the fourth Central Bank intervention to defend the lari currency this year. Since November, the lari has lost 29% of its value, media reported.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Several thousand people protest in Tbilisi

MARCH 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the largest rally for several years in Georgia, demonstrators accused the government of economic mismanagement and called on it to resign.

Media estimated that several thousand people attended the march in Tbilisi.

Nino Lomouri, a 28 year old Tbilisi resident who works for the opposition United National Movement party (UNM), explained why she attended the rally.

“Not only do I pay more now for food and cigarettes, I also feel unsafe on the streets, crime has gone up a lot,” she said.

During the march, UNM MP Giorgi Gabashvili said that the UNM would hold several more anti-government protests across the country.

Georgia has a history of political turbulence and analysts have said the current economic problems across the region may stoke instability.

And via a video-link from Kiev where he holds a position with the Ukraine government, former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili said he wanted to return and lead the country once again.

“I miss you all. I miss Georgia,” he said. “I believe I will overcome all obstacles and come back to save the country.”

Mr Saakashvili, who led Georgia between 2003 and 2013, loved and loathed in equal measures in Georgia.

The current government coalition has an arrest warrant out for Mr Saakashvili for various economic crimes.

Mr Saakashvili has said the charges are politically motivated and that he wont return to Georgia until they are dropped. Several of his colleagues have been jailed for similar crimes.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Georgian PM cancels trip to Kiev

MARCH 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A planned visit by Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili to Kiev has been delayed without explanation, Georgian media reported. Georgia has been a vocal supporter of the Kiev government in its conflict with Russia-back rebels but it was irritated by Ukraine’s promotion of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as an adviser.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

NATO, Georgia criticise Russia-S.Ossetia deal

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia, NATO and various Western powers criticised a deal made between Russia and the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia as a threat to regional security.

The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an “alliance and integration” deal with South Ossetia. Georgia said this was virtually an annexation of the region.

“It’s a cynical and provocative step by Russia,” media quoted Georgian foreign minister Tamar Beruchashvili as saying. “We consider it a move aimed at annexation.”

Relations between the West and Russia are particularly strained at the moment over the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea last year and its involvement in funding rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Under the deal, S.Ossetia’s security forces become aligned to Russia’s. This is similar to deal already signed by Abkhazia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)