Tag Archives: Georgia

Former Georgian President wife quits

NOV. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sandra Roelofs, the Netherlands born wife of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, has pulled out of taking a seat in Georgia’s parliament, media reported. The United National Movement party performed below expectations at a parliamentary election last month but Ms Roelofs had been second on the party list and could have claimed one of the 27 seats it won through proportional representation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Turkmenistan postpones air link with Georgia

NOV. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Just weeks after announcing the new connection between Turkmenistan and Georgia, Turkmenistan Airlines suspended direct flights from Ashgabat to Tbilisi because of commercial concerns, Agenda.ge reported. The state-owned company had planned to start flights in September and later delayed the start date to November.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

EBRD gives loan to Armenia

NOV. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD gave a $50m loan to Armenia to modernise a section of the Vanadzor-Bagratashen highway, which connects central Armenia to the border with Georgia. Repair and construction work will be carried out along a 51km section of the road. The European Investment Bank will support the modernisation of another section of the road with a $51m loan. Vanadzor is Armenia’s third-largest city. Armenia-Georgia ties have improved in recent years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Georgian Orthodox Church head to visit Moscow

NOV. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The head of the Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarch Ilia II will visit Moscow from Nov. 18 until Nov. 25 to, officially, celebrate the 70th birthday of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, media reported. Ilia II is an important figure in Georgian politics and is often used to as a conduit with Russia. In the immediate aftermath of a war between Georgia and Russia in August 2008, Ilia II was able to travel to Moscow to start talks on repairing relations. He usually meets Vladimir Putin, now Russia’s president, when he visits Moscow. His trip later this month will be his fifth since the Georgia- Russia war.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Georgia and regional governments welcome Trump election win

TBILISI, NOV. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Governments across Central Asia and the South Caucasus welcomed Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election on Nov. 4 and heralded it as an opportunity for the US to increase its engagement in the region.

Analysts have said that under President Barack Obama, the US’ interest in Central Asia and the South Caucasus has dropped. Both President Obama’s Secretary of States, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, visited the South Caucasus and Central Asia but since the US and NATO pulled most of its forces out of neighbouring Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014, its interest has waned.

The only US president to have visited the region was George W. Bush in May 2005. He visited Tbilisi when Mikheil Saakashvili was president. Georgia is the US’ biggest ally in the region, sending its army to fight in both Iraq and Afghanistan and Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili welcomed Mr Trump’s win.

“I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Donald J. Trump on his victory in the presidential elections,” he said. “American people voted for change, oriented on making US even stronger.”

His sentiments were echoed by other regional leaders but reaction on the street was less clear cut. In Almaty Aidana Omarova, a university lecturer, said she was appalled that Mr Trump had won the election.

“I cannot even imagine how such a sexist, racist and rude person can lead the US,” she said.

In Tbilisi Nana, a lawyer, was worried. “He wants to improve relations with Russia, that’s not very good for Georgia, in case we need support from the US,” she said. “Secondly he was extremely negative about immigrants and I know there are lots of Georgians who work in America and send money to their families.”

But in Dushanbe, Jakhongir, 29, a website developer, had a different viewpoint. He said the US election had been a great democratic exercise.

“I wish we could have such interesting elections debates here in Tajikistan, too,” he said. “Let’s see how Trump will behave, I think he will be more restrained in his words and actions now.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Georgia’s defence minister to return conscription

NOV. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s new defence minister, Levan Izoria, has said that he may reverse a decision by his predecessor to scrap military conscription next year, media reported. Georgia announced in June that it was going to scrap conscription, part of a drive to professionalise its military. It wants to join NATO and has sent its forces to Afghanistan and Iraq. By regional standards, Georgia’s army already looks and feels like a Western army. Only non- combat roles are filled with conscripts. Media reported that Mr Izoria had said that conscription was useful in helping ethnic minorities integrate.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Georgia and Armenia unveil border crossing

NOV. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Georgia unveiled a new border crossing at Bagratashen and renewed vows to boost bilateral cooperation. At the inauguration ceremony, Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and stressed the importance of improved regional cooperation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Georgia to import gas from Iran

NOV. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The directors of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) and the Georgian International Energy Corporation (GIEC) met to define terms of a supply deal they made in July. NIGEC agreed to sell 40m cubic metres of gas to GIEC in the second half of 2016. GIEC is a subsidiary of Georgian Industrial Group.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Former Georgian President quits Odessa job, praises Trump

TBILISI, NOV. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili quit as governor of the Odessa region in Ukraine after 17 months, blaming unbreakable links between politicians and corruption.

His resignation came less than a week after it was confirmed that his United National Movement (UNM) had been badly beaten in a parliamentary election in Georgia. Mr Saakashvili had been hoping to return to frontline politics in Georgia if the UNM had retaken parliament.

Instead, the UNM, and Mr Saakashvili were humiliated, winning 27 seats in the 150-seat parliament, down from 65 in 2012.

Mr Saakshvili had been given the job of heading the Odessa region by Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on a pledge to combat corruption.

Analysts said that the bombastic Mr Saakashvili may now be preparing to set up a new political party in Ukraine or even be angling for a job under US President-elect Donald Trump.

In the aftermath of Mr Trump’s election victory on Nov. 8, Mr Saakashvili wrote on his Facebook site: “We’ve been friends for more than 20 years. I predicted this accurately.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Azerbaijan and Georgia pledge closer economic ties

OCT. 27/28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Under orders from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to seek out more economic opportunities, economic development minister, Shahin Mustafayev, travelled to Tbilisi to meet his counterparts and mull over various deals.

The meeting is important because it shows how Azerbaijan is looking to boost economic links with its immediate neighbours to help it through an economic downturn. As well as increasing trade with Georgia, Azerbaijan has reached out to Iran and Russia.

Official data showed that last year Azerbaijan invested a record $500m into Georgia’s economy. SOCAR, its state-owned energy company, is one of the most highly visible brands in Georgia with 120 fuel filling stations. Pipeline politics have also brought the two neighbours closer. Georgia is a host country for various oil and gas pipelines running from Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea coast to Turkey and Europe.

And after their meeting in Tbilisi, Georgian officials said that they expected trade between the two countries to increase further.

“Businessmen of Azerbaijan and Georgia will soon start joint business projects to move forward the economy of the two countries,” media quoted Maya Mikeladze, a Georgian Presidential adviser, as saying.

Analysts were more cautious, though. Natig Jafarli, an Azerbaijani economist and opposition activist, said that in current economic conditions a boost in business deals was unlikely. Georgia was still important to Azerbaijan, though.

“Georgia is a window to Europe for Azerbaijan and a major transit corridor,” he said. “Baku will continue to play a vital role in the economy of Georgia.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)