AUG. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A US warship took part in annual exercises with the Georgian navy in the Black Sea, manoeuvres that increase tensions between Georgia and Russia. The USS Bulkeley, a destroyer, sailed into Batumi port on Aug. 10 and was due to leave Georgian waters on Aug. 13.
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(News report from Issue No. 147, published on Aug. 12 2013)
AUG. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tbilisi acquitted Bacho Akhalaia, Georgia’s former interior minister and an ally of President Mikheil Saakashvili, of abusing his office. Mr Akhalaia still faces two other charges, including instigating a prison mutiny, in one of the most politically sensitive trials in Georgia in recent years.
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(News report from Issue No. 146, published on Aug. 5 2013)
JULY 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Georgia separately concluded trade talks with the EU that will free up markets. The talks will lead to the expansion of a so-called Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) and will allow Armenian and Georgian goods easier access to the EU. EU companies will also have easier access to Armenia and Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JULY 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Work has begun on building Georgia’s first wind farm, media quoted the Georgian minister for energy, Kakha Kaladze, as saying. Mr Kaladze said a small wind farm capable of producing 20MW of power would be operational in central Georgia by 2014. If the project is a success, more wind farms are planned.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JULY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — As expected, Davit Bakradze will represent the United National Movement party (UNM) in Georgia’s presidential election set for Oct. 27.
Mr Bakradze had to formally win the support of UNM delegates in six regions before officially becoming their candidate.
The 41-year-old Mr Bakradze won a seat in Georgia’s parliament aged 31 in April 2004 in the first parliamentary election after the 2003 Rose Revolution that had ushered Mikheil Saakashvili into power.
He is an experienced operator, taking over from Nino Burjanadze as head of the UNM’s parliamentary group in 2008 when she quit the party. Ms Burjanadze is also standing in the election as an independent. One of her election pledges is to see Mr Saakashvili prosecuted for various crimes that she alleges. Giorgi Margvelashvili, the current education minister, is the presidential candidate for Georgian Dream, a coalition headed by PM Bidzina Ivanishvili.
It’s lining up to be a colourful, and turbulent, time for Georgia. Its politics have always been partisan but since Mr Ivanishvili won a parliamentary election last year the animosity between the sides has become even more acute.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JULY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s not over yet but Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has suffered a sharp fall in authority over the past nine months.
Lauded as the leader of the 2003 Rose Revolution that swept away the remains of the old Soviet power structures in Georgia, he has ceded authority across the country since his political party, United National Movement (UNM) lost a parliamentary election in October 2012.
The victors of the parliamentary election, Georgia’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and his opposition coalition, have gradually taken increased control of local councils as UNM deputies switched sides.
Police have also detained dozens of UNM deputies and business leaders on corruption charges.
Now, Mr Ivanishvili’s supporters have wrenched Tbilisi City Hall from the UNM. On July 20, Georgian media reported that members of the city council had voted out the Tbilisi city council leader after his support gradually drained away in the preceding weeks.
Coming before a presidential election scheduled for Oct. 27, the loss of Tbilisi City Hall will be another blow to Mr Saakashvili’s authority. For foreign business in Georgia, the next few months will be increasingly turbulent.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
JULY 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Politicians in Iran have warned Georgia that its decision to scrap visa-free travel for Iranians will damage bilateral ties, media reported. Iran and Georgia have been developing increasingly close relations since 2010, including establishing a direct flight between Tehran and Tbilisi and visa-free travel.
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian officials criticised a trip by French actor Gerard Depardieu to Georgia’s break-away region of Abkhazia as both ignorant and inflammatory for Georgian-Russian relations. Russia gave Mr Depardieu citizenship earlier this year after he complained about high taxes in France.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia will hold its presidential election on Oct. 31. Confusion had reigned, briefly, though over the date. Only three hours after a spokesman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said the election would be held on Oct. 27, the head of the presidential administration announced the date of the vote as Oct. 31.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Since January 2011, Iranian businessmen have been flooding into Georgia to set up companies and trade with the world. Although US-led international sanctions have been imposed on Iran, Iranians have been able to enter Georgia and operate there with relative ease.
For a stay of less than 45 days, Iranians didn’t need a visa to enter Georgia. With direct flights between Tbilisi and Tehran starting up again in 2010 after a 10 year gap, Iranian businessmen, and tourists, became an increasingly common sight in Georgia.
That was until July 2, when Georgian officials abruptly ended this arrangement. It had become increasingly irritating for the US, perhaps even embarrassing, that its most staunch supporter in the region was giving Iranians an easy option to bypass sanctions they had imposed.
The US has imposed sanctions on Iran to try and stop it developing a nuclear capability which it says would be used to build a bomb. Iran has denied this and said that it wants to develop nuclear capability for its own civilian energy generation programme.
The Wall Street Journal reported that last year Iranians opened nearly 1,500 companies in Georgia, double the number opened in 2011 and dwarfing the 84 that Iranians opened in 2010.
Two US trade delegations recently visited Tbilisi. Perhaps they conveyed Washington’s irritation.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)