Tag Archives: Georgia

New hotel opens in Georgia

SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Le Méridien, a brand of the US-based Starwood Hotels, said it will open a new hotel in Batumi, on the Georgian Black Sea coast, in 2018. Starwood chose a section of the landmark Batumi Towers to host its hotel. The Batumi Towers, was a pet project of former president Mikheil Saakashvili but has been empty since it was built in 2012.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Inflation in Georgia climbs to 4-year high

SEPT. 3 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Rising food and utilities prices pushed up inflation in August to a year-on-year level of 5.4%, its highest level for four years Geostat, the Georgian statistics agency, said.

Analysts have been warning that the drop in the value of the Georgian lari over the past year would pressure inflation. These concerns appear to have been borne out by the data which has showed a steady increase in prices in Georgia since March.

Geostat said that food prices in Georgia rose by an average of 2% in August and utilities by 4.4%. Importantly dairy products, a staple of the Georgian diet, rose by nearly 10%.

Also, electricity prices rose by 11.4% in August, mainly due to the fall in the value of the lari. Rising electricity prices across the region have triggered discontent, especially in neighbouring Armenia where wide- spread street protests forced the government to ditch most price increases.

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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Georgian MPs vote against veto

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament voted to overrule a veto by President Giorgi Margvelashvili that would have blocked the adoption of a controversial bill that stripped the Central Bank of its supervisory powers over the commercial banking sector. International organisations have criticised the bill as politically-motivated. The Central Bank has argued with the government over economic policy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

ADB approves loan for Georgian coast

AUG. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $20m loan to boost coastal defences along the Black Sea. The loan will be used to strengthen 5km of shore south of Batumi. The ADB said it was important to defend the shoreline to protect farmland and housing as well as the region’s beaches which attract thousands of tourists each year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Economy grows in Georgia

AUG. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s economy grew by about 3% in the 12 months to the end of July, Geostat, the Georgian statistics agency, said. Geostat said that this was roughly inline with June and above April and May’s growth rate. The economies of the South Caucasus have been struggling this year to deal with the falling rouble and low oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

NATO opens training base in Georgia

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General and Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili opened a NATO training base outside Tbilisi, a move that Russia has said it would interpret as antagonistic. Georgia wants to join NATO but, although relations have become closer, NATO has rebuffed its membership so far.

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(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

Georgia accuses Russia of helicopter flight

AUG. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government accused Russia of flying a military helicopter into its air space around the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Earlier this year South Ossetian forces apparently grabbed a slither of Georgian territory. Russia is also staging large scale military exercises in South Ossetia.

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(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Barcelona wins Super Cup in Georgian capital

AUG. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Barcelona beat fellow Spanish side Sevilla 5-4 in the final of the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi, arguably the most high profile game of football played in post-Soviet Georgia. Former president Mikheil Saakashvili had organised for the match to be played in Tbilisi, part of his drive to promote the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Georgia-Russia number of people flying increase

AUG. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Data from Georgia’s ministry of economy showed that the number of people flying between Tbilisi and Moscow had risen by three-quarters to around 143,000 people in the first seven of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Russia and Georgia have resumed direct air links, severed after a brief war in 2008.

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(News report from Issue No. 242, published on August 7 2015)

Georgia accuses Russia of provocative war games

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Around 1,500 Russian soldiers and dozens of pieces of artillery and missile systems started a major military exercise across the North Caucasus and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Georgia’s government said.

The Georgian government described the war games, which came around a week after South Ossetian forces extended a de facto border into Georgia, as a major act of provocation by Russia that could destabilise the region.

“This provocative act of the Russian P Federation represents an infringement of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the Georgian military would respond if provoked.

Russia hasn’t commented but the South Ossetian land-grab, that included taking control of a 1.6km section of a pipeline operated by BP which pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, and the alleged military exercises have created the worse stand-off between Georgia and Russia since they fought a war in 2008.

Earlier in July, Russia said that NATO exercises in Georgia, which included a contingent of US soldiers, would have “explosive consequences”.

Georgia said that the Russian 2-week long military exercise began on July 15 across the North Caucasus and South Ossetia.

Georgia is pushing to join NATO, especially since Russia annexed Crimea last year and, allegedly, sent its forces into eastern Ukraine to help rebel forces fight a civil war against the Ukrainian military.

Europe and the United States have been supportive of Georgia’s Western orientation, but also stand-offish on allowing Georgia to join NATO.

Donald Tusk, the European Council President, was in Georgia for a pre-planned visit. He detoured to the area where South Ossetia had extended its control.

He praised the Georgian government for its restraint.

“The Georgian government met it firmly, but calmly, he said. Our goal is not to yield to these provocations and not to give anyone any pretext for escalation,” Mr Tusk said.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)