JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s railway network said it would cut the cost of freight across its network by 20% to try and boost traffic, media reported. Georgia is an important link between Europe and Asia but freight traffic on its railway has dropped slightly this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgia’s government launched an investigation into the causes of a flood this month that killed at least 20 people, injured dozens more, flooded the city’s zoo and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Local pressure groups, though, criticised the authorities for their slow response to the worst natural disaster to hit Tbilisi in living memory. This criticism could sting the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and damage their already fragile public support.
Nick Davitashvili, from the environmental activist group Guerilla Gardening Tbilisi, said: “The response by the government left a lot to be desired. Volunteers had to take on part of the relief efforts.”
Muddy, destroyed cars still lay around Heroes Square in the centre of the city more than week after the flood on June 14.
Immediately after the flood, thousands of volunteers shovelled mud and donated clothes and medicine to tho. The government, though, has now said that volunteers’ role is over.
“The risks are increasing and we are worried about the young people,” PM Irakli Garibahsvili said.
The ministry of environment has said that it is looking into setting up an early warning system for future disasters but the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network, the country’s largest environmental NGO said that this was an attempt to deflect responsibility for the flood.
“No disaster threat analysis, or preventive measures, have been conducted in Tbilisi for 15 years,” it said in a statement.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – People of the Yazidi faith opened a new temple in Tbilisi, media reported. The Muslim extremist group IS has been persecuting the Yazidi in Iraq. Media said the Yazidi population in Georgia has fallen to around 6,000 people from 30,000 a few years ago.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s parliament ratified a security deal with the Georgian rebel region of South Ossetia which will see Russian soldiers stationed permanently in the region. Although the deal is symbolic, as Russian soldiers have been posted in S.Ossetia since the end of a 2008 war, it still rankled Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili started a tour of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, media reported, the first of its kind by a Georgian minister. Ms Beruchashvili said the main aim of the trip was to boost awareness of Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s GDP deflator outstripped its nominal GDP growth for the second consecutive quarter, official data showed, highlighting the stagnating economy. Georgia’s GDP deflator measured 5.1% in Q1, compared to GDP growth of 3.1% nominal GDP growth. The GDP deflator is an important measure of real GDP growth. The GDP deflator last outstripped nominal GDP growth in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili met British PM David Cameron in Bratislava on the sidelines of a global security conference. Georgia wants to join NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI – Georgia’s finance ministry said it will cut the national budget by 140m lari ($53m), 1.75% of the original budget, because of an economic slowdown.
Cuts will be made across government but hardest hit will be education, agriculture and the interior ministry.
PM Irakli Garibashvili said the government should have revised its budget earlier.
“Almost all the countries in the region had to revise their budgets because of the crisis,” he told parliament.
The government said that Georgia’s economy would grow by around 2% this year, far below the 5% initially anticipated.
A downturn in Russia’s economy and a slump in energy prices has hit Georgia hard. It is unclear if these cuts will be enough or more will follow.
The popularity of the ruling Georgian Dream has been slip- ping, in part because of the economic slowdown.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -At least 19 people died after flash floods hit Tbilisi, smashing into houses, ripping up road and destroying city’s zoo
Torrential rain turned a small creek that runs through the city into a wild, uncontrollable river. It burst its banks and swept along recently paved and concreted areas into residential parts of Tbilisi.
Several animals escaped the flooded zoo, including lions, tigers, bears and panthers but dozens others died. A cornered tiger reportedly attacked and killed a man in a flooded warehouse on June 17. Police later shot dead the tiger.
The authorities ordered people to stay inside until they had re-captured all the animals. Video showed a hippo roaming through central Tbilisi before being hit with a tranquilliser dart and brought under control.
The carcasses of dead lions, bears and deer floated through flooded streets, past smashed cars caked with mud and houses missing walls.
This was one of the worst natural disaster to hit Tbilisi in living memory.
PM Irakli Garibashvili said around 200 people lost their homes and that the cost of repairing the city would be around 50m euro.
But the damage to Georgia’s prestige may be worse. People were quick to portion blame for the floods, many saying poor construction work had destroyed the river’s run-off area.
Nana Janashia, director of the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), also said the non-existence of an emergency plan was also a problem.
“This was absolutely predictable and is the result of high rain precipitation, human impact and poor infrastructures dating back to Soviet times,” she said.
Others blamed former president Mikheil Saakashvili who initiated the construction of the new highway. In a 2009 article, the magazine Liberali said the construction of the highway could lead to potential disastrous floods.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia launched military exercises involving 1,500 soldiers in South Ossetia, angering Georgia. In 2008, Russia and Georgia fought a war over the region. Russia defeated Georgia and S.Ossetia declared independence although this was only recognised by the Kremlin and a handful of other states.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)