OCT. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bidzina Ivanishvili confirmed that he will launch his weekly TV programme before the end of the year, media reported. This is significant because Mr Ivanishvili is Georgia’s richest man and was the coordinator of the opposition alliance that forced former president Mikheil Saakashvili from power.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s allies have given it another warning not to pursue political revenge through the courts.
This time the warning came from the European Parliament.
“Georgia will have to overcome the antagonism, polarisation and sense of revenge still present in order to continue its democratic development,” the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said, according to a Reuters report, in a resolution on Georgia.
The US and other European powers have previously handed out similar warnings.
Since relinquishing power last year, Mr Saakashvili has lived in New York. He has been charged in absentia with various misdemeanours. Other members of his cabinet have been charged and found guilty.
There is no love lost between the former government of Mr Saakashvili and the current government led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The two leaders hate each other.
Tension is, it appears, beginning to bubble over in Tbilisi over the issue too.
News reports from the Georgian capital said that extra police have been deployed around the centre of the city to stop rival gangs of youth from clashing.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s finance minister, Nodar Khaduri, said that he wanted to increase the monthly pension pay out next year by around 5%. Unlike many of its neighbours whose economies are suffering because of a slow-down in Russia’s sanction-hit economy, Georgia is experiencing something of a boom.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
SEPT. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ukraine’s conflict and the alleged Russian involvement in arming separatists have made Georgia more wary of Russia, Georgian deputy PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili told Reuters. Georgia and Russia have been trying to mend relations since they fought a war in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s prosecutor-general ordered the exhumation of the body of former PM Zurab Zhvania and ally of former president Mikheil Saakashvili who died in 2005 allegedly of carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty heater. Despite the official verdict of accidental death, suspicions around Zhvania’s death have persisted.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sold its 5% stake in Bank of Georgia.
The sale ends the EBRD’s mission to support Bank of Georgia after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. It took control of the stake in 2012 after a financial aid package put together in December 2008 was converted into shares.
“The EBRD’s role in supporting Bank of Georgia in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis is now complete,” Reuters quoted Nick Tesseyman, the EBRD MD, as saying.
“The EBRD will continue to provide debt financing to Bank of Georgia going forward as part of our continued support to the Georgian financial sector.”
The Bank of Georgia is publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In many ways the sale of the EBRD’s 5% stake in Bank of Georgia is a success for Georgia as a country. The EBRD would not have sold its stake if it didn’t think that the bank was stable enough and if there wasn’t enough investor interest in Georgia and its finance industry.
Bank of Georgia CEO Irakli Gilauri acknowledged this.
“This transaction illustrates the depth of support for the bank from international investors and signals increasing investor interest in Georgia’s capital market,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia swore in Raul Khajimba as its new president after he won an election in August. Georgia has described the election as illegal. Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia after a Georgia-Russia war in 2008. It is considered a Russian vassal state.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia stepped up its campaign against former president Mikheil Saakashvili after a court ruled the authorities could seize his property including houses and a vineyard, media reported. Georgia’s prosecutor-general has charged Mr Saakashvili with abuse of office. Mr Saakashvili lives in New York.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Regular air flights between Russia and Georgia have resumed for the first time since they were suspended in August 2008 when the two neighbours fought a brief war, media reported. The resumption of direct flights is a significant milestone in improving relations between Georgia and Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government denied media reports that it had offered to host a training camp for Syrian rebels fighting both Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the extremist group Islamic State. Georgia has been keen to prove its credentials as an ally of the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)