Tag Archives: Georgia

Georgian Airways to fly to London

FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian Airways said that it would restart a direct flight to London Gatwick from Tbilisi. The announcement appears to be a reaction from Georgia Airways to news released earlier this year that Hungary’s Whizz Air would fly from Luton Airport, near London, to Kutaisi, Georgia’s second city. British Airways scrapped its direct flight to Tbilisi in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Georgian MPs consider smoking ban

Leave a Reply

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgians MPs are considering strengthening new laws which limit smoking in public places, media reported. A law being brought in from July will force restaurants and hotels to ensure that a certain proportion of their floor space is designated to be no smoking. But some MPs are now arguing that this law does not go far enough and that a blanket ban on smoking in public places is needed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Georgian party demands inquiry into gas deal

Leave a Reply

FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The United National Movement (UNM) party which recently split called for a parliamentary investigation into a deal between Georgia and Russia over new gas supplies. Few details of the deal, which shifted the emphasis away from a barter deal linked to gas transits to Armenia to monetary payments, have been released. The deal was made at the end of last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Georgia expects new funding from IMF

Leave a Reply

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s economy minister Giorgi Gakharia told Reuters in an interview that he expected a new funding deal with the IMF to be concluded at the end of its two week mission which started on Feb. 15. Mr Gakharia said that the IMF would be looking to link a funding mechanism to structural reforms of the economy and that Georgia’s main challenges were “pension reform, reform of capital markets, other structural reforms”. Georgia had agreed a three year $136m standby deal with the IMF that had been due to run until July. Reuters said that it had been allowed to lapse, though, because of disagreements over reforms.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Congolese rebel group captures Georgian pilot

Leave a Reply

FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Congolese rebel group called M23 has captured one of the pilots of a Georgian helicopter that crashed in January, media reported quoting a government spokesman. He said that Soso Osurauli, a former military pilot, had been working as a civilian contractor in the Congo. The other pilot was rescued by government forces.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Georgian court frees two men imprisoned for 11 years

Leave a Reply

FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Georgia overturned a murder conviction against two men who have spent the last 11 years in prison. The men Giorgi Gvichiani and Nika Chemia were convicted of murdering Nikoloz Lominadze, financial director of the electricity producer Telasi, in 2002. On their release, they said that they had been wrongly arrested and convicted of the murder to distract and cover up other high-profile murders linked to politics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Lavrov plays down visa-free access for Georgia

Leave a Reply

FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that cooperation with Georgia needed to improve significantly before Russia would consider dropping visa requirements for Georgians. Georgia and Russia have been working on improving relations since a war in 2008 over the Georgian break-away regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Spar opens new stores in Azerbaijan and Georgia

FEB. 15/16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Dutch convenience store chain Spar opened up more stores in Azerbaijan and Georgia, part of its drive to increase its global coverage. Spar said that it had opened three more stores in Baku at the end of last year, following the opening of its first store in the Azerbaijani capital in December 2015. In Georgia, Spar also opened another store, bringing to 21 its total for Georgia. Spar has expanded outside its central Europe heartland by both owning its stores directly and granting an independent retailer the rights to use its brand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

Georgian police arrest US man

FEB. 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Georgia said that they had arrested a US citizen who is wanted in Uzbekistan on terrorism charges. They didn’t give any more details of the detained man except that they had started extradition proceedings. The man was arrested in the Black Sea town of Batumi. The countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus are trying to dampen growing Islamic extremism activity in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

IMF flies into Georgian capital

FEB. 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — An IMF delegation flew into Tbilisi for a two-week mission that could trigger a major injection of cash linked to economic changes. Georgia has been one of the most reform-minded countries in the former Soviet Union acting as something of a posterboy for IMF- backed changes. The government, though, is also looking for support to push through a tough economic downturn. GDP growth in 2016 was 2.2%, its lowest since 2009 when the economy shrank by 3.8% during the Global Financial Crisis.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)