JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s defence minister Tina Khidasheli flew to Afghanistan to meet some of the 870 Georgian soldiers based in the country as part of the US-led Operation Resolute. Georgia has the second largest number of soldiers in Afghanistan. It views the soldiers as part of a wider diplomatic push to try to join NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — GT Group, a Georgian automotive holding company, launched a new company, GT Enology, to import wine-making equipment, local media reported. The company will buy machinery in France and Italy to service several wine-making companies in Georgia. GT Group is a major importer of lubricants and specialised vehicles in the country and is ranked as one of the largest taxpayers.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia held a military exercise in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia involving 2,000 soldiers and artillery, a show of force designed to remind Georgia just how heavily armed the rebel region is. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over South Ossetia in 2008. Russia and a handful of its allies have since recognised its independence but the international community still considers South Ossetia as part of Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia announced a tender to build its first wind farm in conjunction with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The project is estimated to cost $35m, with the EBRD giving a $25m loan. The wind farm will consist of 10 turbines and produce two megawatts of power. States in Central Asia and the South Caucasus are investing in wind power to help meet power demand.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
JAN. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia exported 39% less wine in 2015 than it did in 2014 because of a worsening recession in Russia and a protected civil war in Ukraine. In a press release, Georgia’s National Wine Agency said that wine exports to China had increased by 22% to 2.7m bottles but that sales to Russia had fallen by 51% to 18.3m bottles and to Ukraine by 56% to 3.4m bottles.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
JAN. 4 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia started negotiations with Iran to buy gas and electricity, apparently strengthening its intention to diversify away from Azerbaijan as the main source for gas imports.
Energy minister Kakha Kaladze told local press negotiations could start soon.
“We will start start talking over gas as well as electricity. Iran is rich in resources and we should benefit from its resources as much as possible,” Mr Kaladze had said earlier in December.
Iran confirmed the negotiations and said it would be able to deliver between 8 and 15b cubic metres of gas to the Armenian border, from where it would be shipped north to Georgia.
Officials at Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR put a brave face on news of Georgia’s negotiations, but the talks would have irritated them. When Georgia opened talks with Russia to increase gas supplies last year, Azerbaijan released a testy diplomatic note reminding Tbilisi of its contractual obligations.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The winter break has not been too kind to stock prices of oil and gas companies focusing on the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The continued fall in oil prices, now at around $33/barrel, has not stopped yet, which keeps investors worried.
After a rough third week of December, when they lost between 4-6%, Nostrum Oil & Gas and Roxi Petroleum shares picked up again, only to fall back to mid-December levels.
Nostrum’s 15% spike on Dec. 23 was reabsorbed in the first week of January. Roxi shares grew 60% in two days from Dec. 28, but it is now trading back at 8.25p. Tethys Petroleum suf- fered most, as its shares lost 28% .
The two Georgian companies listed in London, Bank of Georgia and Georgia Healthcare Group were hit too. Bank of Georgia lost 8.2% in the past three weeks, closing at £17.87. Georgia Healthcare Group lost 4%, closing at £1.56.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
JAN. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has started searching for a successor to Giorgi Kadagidze who will complete his 7-year term as head of the Central Bank in February. Mr Margvelashvili’s nominee will have to be voted in by the Parliament before he or she can assume office.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 22 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly quit as Georgia’s PM, a move that effectively signalled the first shot in what is likely to be a protracted and bitter campaign ahead of parliamentary elections in October.
Known for his combative nature, Mr Garibashvili said he had decided to quit after two years in office because he had achieved his aims.
“We have returned freedom and dignity to our citizens,” he said. “Official posts are temporary, God and homeland are eternal. Therefore today I took a decision to leave the post of Prime Minister.”
Analysts said Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the power behind the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, had decided to sacrifice his protege because of a slump in the polls.
“It was not a statement of a person who wanted to leave,” said Kornely Kakachia, director of the Tbilisi based think tank Georgian Institute of Politics, of Mr Garibashvili’s resignation speech.
“He probably didn’t even know that he was going to be replaced until the day he resigned.”
A recession in Russia and currencies depreciation across the region have impacted Georgia’s economy, hitting the popularity of the Georgian Dream which defeated the party of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National Movement party (UNM), in elections four years ago.
The Georgian Dream coalition and the UNM are bitter rivals and the parliamentary election is likely to be particularly hard fought and vitriolic.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili, a former economy and foreign minister, was appointed PM. He too is close to Mr Ivanishvili , having previously worked at his bank, Cartu Bank.
Mr Kvirikashvili, 48, said his priority was to boost the economy, a message that appears to have gone down well on the streets of Tbilisi.
Georgian Dream supporter Giorgi Abaladze said the appointment of Mr Kvirikashvili was positive.
“Personally I really like Kvirikashvili. The previous PM was a little bit harsh in his position, he seemed more radical,” he said. “And Kvirikashvili is an economist, and that is what we need in these harsh economic times.”
DEC. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian government and Austrian company Humanity Holding will team up to build a $130m pharmaceutical factory in Tbilisi. Humanity established a daughter company, Humanity Georgia, to run the project. The factory will produce 800 pharmaceutical products. Humanity Georgia will also import pharmaceutical products from abroad. Georgia’s state-owned Partnership Fund will co-fund the project.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)