The News in Brief
Wednesday, April 16
Iakobashvili presents conflict resolution plans in UK
State Minister for Reintegration Issues Temur Iakobashvili presented Tbilisi’s latest conflict resolution plans for Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the UK yesterday.
On his five-day trip, Iakobashvili is scheduled to meet with government officials and NGO representatives. Prime News)
Georgian MPs plan to question Merkel on MAP
Yesterday Georgian MPs planned to put questions to German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding Georgia’s failure to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Bucharest summit earlier this month.
Merkel was scheduled to deliver a speech at the Council of Europe yesterday afternoon.
Germany, along with France, led a bloc of NATO members that decided against giving Georgia and Ukraine MAPs this time around.
In the run up to the summit, Merkel remarked that countries with internal conflicts should not seek membership. However, there is a perception in Georgia that the decision not to invite it closer to the alliance was caused by Russian pressure. (Prime News)
Italian embassy, Tbilisi university to stage La Bella Georgiana
The Italian Embassy is collaborating with Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University to stage “La Bella Georgiana” from April 17–20.
Twenty language students from Ivane Javakhishvili University and the Ilia Chavchavadze University of Foreign Languages will perform the play.
“We worked on this play for four months. It was not easy but the students managed to cope. The key aim for us was to give better understanding of Italian culture to the students and to improve their language as well,” Lela Beridze said at the press conference on April 15.
The story is about an amateur group of actors in an Italian town trying to organize a performance of Carlo Goldini’s play “La Bella Georgiana.”
The play will be in Italian, with spectators offered a simultaneous Georgian translation. (By Diana Dundua)
Pension increase takes effect
The minimum pension was increased to GEL 70 yesterday as part of the government’s efforts to increase social assistance.
Health, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Aleksandre Kvitashvili said that benefits for disabled people are set to increase soon also.
The minimum pension was GEL 38 until November last year, before being increased to GEL 55 in December. (Prime News)
Election HQ of Giorgi Goguadze set up
The election headquarters of Giorgi Goguadze, a ruling party majoritarian candidate for Tbilisi’s Isani district, was unveiled at the Armenian Theater yesterday.
The presentation was followed by a concert. (Prime News)
rakli Alasania hands protest letter to UN Secretary Council
Georgia’s permanent representative to the UN Irakli Alasania handed a note of protest to the UN Security Council yesterday, detailing Tbilisi’s concerns that Moscow is carrying out a policy of creeping annexation in Georgia.
Tbilisi has condemned Russian moves to increase ties with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in recent weeks.
The Foreign Ministry released a statement calling on the OSCE, the UN, the Group of Friends of Georgia and the UN Secretary General to support Tbilisi’s latest conflict proposals.
“It will give a positive impulse to the process of peaceful settlement of conflicts on the territory of Georgia,” the statement reads. (Prime News)
GUAM secretary general proposes ‘brainstorm’ on conflicts
Valeri Chechelashvili, secretary general of the Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova (GUAM) organization, called for a “brainstorm” of conflict resolution strategies in the region.
“We have entered a new stage of cooperation and we shall mobilize greater international support for conflicts settlement,” Chechelashvili said yesterday at a conference in Baku.
Georgian Deputy State Minister of Reintegration Issues Dmitri Manjavidze warned that problems in settling the Abkhaz conflict could have ramifications for other conflicts in the region.
His Moldovan counterpart Ion Stevila said that the recognition of Kosovo and the subsequent disagreement between the West and Russia have increased the urgency of finding viable ways of conflict settlement amongst GUAM members.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Stepan Volkovetski made similar comments, stating that the Kosovo recognition has breathed new life into separatist sentiments elsewhere. (Black Sea Press)
Russian official: Georgia should be involved in Olympics preparation
“I would like all resources of Georgia and Abkhazia assist us to hold the [2014 Winter] Olympics [in Sochi] with dignity,” President of Russian Olympic Committee Leonid Tyagachev said in Moscow yesterday, according to the news agency RIA Novosti.
Sochi is around 40 kilometers from Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Last month Moscow lifted Commonwealth of Independent States sanctions on the separatist region and announced its intention to increase economic ties with separatist authorities.
Earlier this week de facto Abkhaz officials said the region expects to gain some USD 300 million through investment in its construction sector in the run-up to the Sochi games. (Black Sea Press)
State Minister for Reintegration Issues Temur Iakobashvili presented Tbilisi’s latest conflict resolution plans for Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the UK yesterday.
On his five-day trip, Iakobashvili is scheduled to meet with government officials and NGO representatives. Prime News)
Georgian MPs plan to question Merkel on MAP
Yesterday Georgian MPs planned to put questions to German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding Georgia’s failure to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Bucharest summit earlier this month.
Merkel was scheduled to deliver a speech at the Council of Europe yesterday afternoon.
Germany, along with France, led a bloc of NATO members that decided against giving Georgia and Ukraine MAPs this time around.
In the run up to the summit, Merkel remarked that countries with internal conflicts should not seek membership. However, there is a perception in Georgia that the decision not to invite it closer to the alliance was caused by Russian pressure. (Prime News)
Italian embassy, Tbilisi university to stage La Bella Georgiana
The Italian Embassy is collaborating with Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University to stage “La Bella Georgiana” from April 17–20.
Twenty language students from Ivane Javakhishvili University and the Ilia Chavchavadze University of Foreign Languages will perform the play.
“We worked on this play for four months. It was not easy but the students managed to cope. The key aim for us was to give better understanding of Italian culture to the students and to improve their language as well,” Lela Beridze said at the press conference on April 15.
The story is about an amateur group of actors in an Italian town trying to organize a performance of Carlo Goldini’s play “La Bella Georgiana.”
The play will be in Italian, with spectators offered a simultaneous Georgian translation. (By Diana Dundua)
Pension increase takes effect
The minimum pension was increased to GEL 70 yesterday as part of the government’s efforts to increase social assistance.
Health, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Aleksandre Kvitashvili said that benefits for disabled people are set to increase soon also.
The minimum pension was GEL 38 until November last year, before being increased to GEL 55 in December. (Prime News)
Election HQ of Giorgi Goguadze set up
The election headquarters of Giorgi Goguadze, a ruling party majoritarian candidate for Tbilisi’s Isani district, was unveiled at the Armenian Theater yesterday.
The presentation was followed by a concert. (Prime News)
rakli Alasania hands protest letter to UN Secretary Council
Georgia’s permanent representative to the UN Irakli Alasania handed a note of protest to the UN Security Council yesterday, detailing Tbilisi’s concerns that Moscow is carrying out a policy of creeping annexation in Georgia.
Tbilisi has condemned Russian moves to increase ties with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in recent weeks.
The Foreign Ministry released a statement calling on the OSCE, the UN, the Group of Friends of Georgia and the UN Secretary General to support Tbilisi’s latest conflict proposals.
“It will give a positive impulse to the process of peaceful settlement of conflicts on the territory of Georgia,” the statement reads. (Prime News)
GUAM secretary general proposes ‘brainstorm’ on conflicts
Valeri Chechelashvili, secretary general of the Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova (GUAM) organization, called for a “brainstorm” of conflict resolution strategies in the region.
“We have entered a new stage of cooperation and we shall mobilize greater international support for conflicts settlement,” Chechelashvili said yesterday at a conference in Baku.
Georgian Deputy State Minister of Reintegration Issues Dmitri Manjavidze warned that problems in settling the Abkhaz conflict could have ramifications for other conflicts in the region.
His Moldovan counterpart Ion Stevila said that the recognition of Kosovo and the subsequent disagreement between the West and Russia have increased the urgency of finding viable ways of conflict settlement amongst GUAM members.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Stepan Volkovetski made similar comments, stating that the Kosovo recognition has breathed new life into separatist sentiments elsewhere. (Black Sea Press)
Russian official: Georgia should be involved in Olympics preparation
“I would like all resources of Georgia and Abkhazia assist us to hold the [2014 Winter] Olympics [in Sochi] with dignity,” President of Russian Olympic Committee Leonid Tyagachev said in Moscow yesterday, according to the news agency RIA Novosti.
Sochi is around 40 kilometers from Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Last month Moscow lifted Commonwealth of Independent States sanctions on the separatist region and announced its intention to increase economic ties with separatist authorities.
Earlier this week de facto Abkhaz officials said the region expects to gain some USD 300 million through investment in its construction sector in the run-up to the Sochi games. (Black Sea Press)