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The News in Brief

Friday, June 18
Bakradze hopes new tax code will improve situation in country

Parliament Chair Davit Bakradze hopes that the new Tax Code will considerably improve the taxation situation in the country. He stated this at the Bureau session of June 17.

The session considered the new Tax Code. Parliament will discuss the code and the so-called Act of Liberty together.

Bakradze emphasised that the new Tax Code will create favourable conditions for micro and small businesses. He appealed to the Financial-Budgetary Committee to discuss it not only within the walls of Parliament but with entrepreneurs as well.

Under new code entrepreneurs with an annual turnover not exceeding GEL 30,000 will not be subject to profit tax. Accounting procedures will be simplified for entrepreneurs whose annual turnover does not exceed GEL 200,000, who will also not be obliged to pay VAT. (Prime News)



We will not dismiss teachers – Dimitri Shashkin

Minister of Education and Science Dimitri Shashkin has held a briefing on false reports that teachers are to be dismissed. "I state with full responsibility that the dismissal of teachers is not planned. I underline that we have a lack of teachers and therefore we have launched the programme 'Teach with Georgia' said the Minister.

The Minister said that reports that only teachers who worked 18 hours a week would keep their jobs were also false. He explained that one of the Ministry's requirements was that Principals fairly distribute working hours among their teachers because the salaries of the teachers depend on these hours. It has asked them to give the teachers as much work as possible so they will receive high salaries. The Minister called on the people who spread such ill-founded information to think about the senior teachers who will react emotionally to such disinformation.

The third issue Dimitri Shashkin raised was the relationship between the Ministry and professional unions. "The Ministry had never interfered in the activities of professional unions and is not going to. This is not within our competence. We regulate relations between teachers and the unions in accordance with the law. We will not allow anybody to ask teachers for money without permission and transfer this money to other organisations. We have always protected teachers’ interests and will still take all possible measures to defend their rights," said the Minister. (Interpressnews)



Georgians in Kyrgyzstan expected to return home in two days

Ambassador of Georgia to Kyrgyzstan Paata Kalandadze has stated that, “Four citizens of Georgia residing in the city of Osh have refused to leave the country. I have talked to them personally and they told me they would only leave the country in case of necessity. As to the nine citizens of Georgia evacuated to Bishkek, they will return home through Turkey today or tomorrow.”

According to official information at least 179 people have been killed and more than 1,800 injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek people in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad near the border with Uzbekistan. (Prime News)



GEL 2,200,000 to be allocated to earthquake victims

The Georgian Government will allocate GEL 2,200,000 from the state budget for the implementation of measures to eradicate the consequences of the earthquake which occurred in September 2009.

The money will be allocated to the municipalities of Ambrolauri, Oni, Sachkhere, Tkibuli and Chiatura from the Fund for Projects to be Implemented in the Regions for the rehabilitation and repair of homes and blocks. (Prime News)



Youth organisations ask Patriarch to secure release of 8 people

Youth organisations have appealed to the Patriarch to obtain the release of those detained during the incident at Kavkasia TV. The young people marched the Patriarchate from Kashveti church.

Tengo Omanidze, one of the participants of the march, said that the young people had been detained for defending the Orthodox faith. 8 young people were detained during the 7 May incident and are in preliminary detention. (Interpressnews)