Tag Archives: Georgia

Hotel to open in Georgia

FEB. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian company RED-Co said it will build a $15m five-star Radisson hotel in the Gudauri ski resort. The new hotel will open in 2017 at the bottom of the Gudauri ski gondola. Together with the Georgian government, several private companies are developing the Gudauri ski resort, 30km south of the border with Russia. It will be the first five-star hotel at Gudauri.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 269, published on Feb. 26 2016)

Wizz Air expands to Georgia

FEB. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air will expand its services to and from Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city, across Europe. Wizz Air has been flying from Poland to Kutaisi since 2012 but will now add routes to Berlin, Munich, Dortmund, Milan, Larnaca in Cyprus and Sofia in Bulgaria. The extra routes will give tourism and business in Georgia a boost.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Georgia drops religion bill

FEB. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament unexpectedly dropped a bill that would have made insulting religion a crime. The bill’s sponsor, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, withdrew the bill after it ran into a barrage of controversy for effectively clamping down on free speech. The suspicion was that Georgian Dream was using the bill to try and shore up support amongst supporters of Georgia’s Orthodox Church ahead of a parliamentary election later this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Thales signs radar deal with Georgia

FEB. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – French technology company Thales signed 2m euro deal to upgrade Georgia’s radar systems. The deal means that Thales will inspect and maintain Georgia’s three main aviation radars over the next five years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Georgian tax changes to knock $400m off government budget

FEB. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s finance minister, Nodar Khaduri, said 400m lari ($160m) will be cut from the 2016 budget if parliament agrees to a new corporation tax that the government has said will stimulate economic growth.

The Georgian Dream coalition has staked a large amount of political capital on its proposed reforms which will only tax profit that is not re- invested. Government officials have said the idea is to try to encourage more economic activity. All profit is currently taxed.

“These reforms, both income tax and VAT, will reduce this year’s targeted revenues by about 400m lari,” Mr Khaduri, told media.

The government is also tinkering with VAT so that the import of so- called fix assets is VAT free.

$400m represents roughly 5% of the government’s expected total revenue for 2016.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Georgia deals with Abkhazia

FEB. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Georgian government will import extra electricity from Russia to send on to the breakaway Abkhazia region in a short-term deal, media reported. Abkhazia is wholly reliant on the Enguri hydropower plant for its electricity but water levels have reached a critically low level meaning that there have been a series of power outages. The deal shows that despite vicious territorial disputes, Georgia, its breakaway republics and Russia can still pull deals together.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Georgia introduces visa free regime with Iran

FEB. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will restore the visa-free travel regime with Iran it suspended in July 2013, official media said. Under the new rules, Iranian citizens will be able to stay in Georgia for up to 45 days without a visa starting on Feb. 15. A spokesperson of the Iranian embassy in Tbilisi said this decision will promote good relations between the two countries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Georgia awards contract to build $2.5b Black Sea port to US-Georgian group

FEB. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia awarded a US-Georgian consortium the contract to build a $2.56b deepwater port at Anaklia on the Black Sea, a project that will bolster the country’s role as a major trade link between East and West.

The Georgian government chose the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) over two separate bids submitted by China’s state-owned PowerChina and another by Russo- Georgian venture Anaklia Industrial Eco-Park.

ADC is a joint venture between Tbilisi-based TBC Holding and US- based Conti. Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of TBC Bank, owns TBC Holding.

Kurt Conti, Conti CEO, said in a statement: “We are looking forward to breaking ground and working with the government of Georgia to help forge new paths from Asia to Europe as well as unlocking the economic potential of Georgia’s neighbours and landlocked nations in the Caucasus.”

For Georgia, the project underlines its role as transit country for goods flowing between Asia and Europe. It hosts oil and gas pipelines running from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, has developed its road and rail networks and wants to leverage its position on the Black Sea.

And the government, which has also pledged $100m to the project, said that the deepwater port was vital.

“This will create completely new opportunities for Georgia to make full use of the Silk Road and the South Caucasus transport corridor,” PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili told the press.

The plan will also transform Anakalia, a small town on the border with the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The construction phase of the port will create an estimated 3,400 jobs, ADC told media, and a total of 6,400 people will be employed at the port when it is up and running.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Georgian activist challenges gay marriage law

FEB. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Giorgi Tatishvili, a Georgian gay rights activist, has filed a lawsuit challenging a law in Georgia which states that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, the Eurasianet website reported. Georgia is a staunchly conservative country and the Orthodox Church plays a major role in society. Mr Tatishvili’s lawsuit provides a potential litmus test for Georgian society over whether it wants to relax its strong traditional viewpoints.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Georgian State Electrosystem announces deal

FEB. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The state-owned electricity distributor Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) said it will earn 1m lari (US$400,000) per month for transiting electricity after deals were signed by Russia and Armenia, and Azerbaijan and Turkey, at the beginning of February. A GSE spokesperson told local media this was a “historic event” for Georgia’s energy sector. Georgia has been transforming itself into an important transit country for electricity, oil and gas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)