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The News in Brief

Thursday, December 30
Mikheil Saakashvili and Illia the Second Opened Opera and Music Hall in Kutaisi

Catholicos patriarch of Georgia Illia the Second and President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili opened an opera and music hall in Kutaisi. 4,800,000 GEL was spent on the rehabilitation of the Kutaisi opera and the music hall.

The first event was held in music hall yesterday. Musical compositions for Catholicos patriarch, his holiness and beatitude, the chief bishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia Illia the Second, were performed in music hall.

As the president said, 2011 is the year of Kutaisi in Georgia.

He also said that Kutaisi is a very beautiful, strong, and refined European city.

"I celebrated my birthday with my family in Kutaisi. We were in the cafe and I was thinking that we couldn’t have even dreamt about it several years ago. We opened an opera and music hall today. 2011 is the year of Kutaisi in Georgia, as the construction of parliament is drawing to a close in Kutaisi, so will the construction of governmental chancellery in Kutaisi, new factories will be built where a lot of people will be employed and young people will have prospects," Saakashvili said. (Interpressnews)



Georgia to Receive Azerbaijanian Gas till 2020

A new agreement has been signed between the Georgian and Azerbaijani oil companies concerning gas provision. The Document stipulates gas supply till 2020. The statement was made by Georgia’s Ministry of Energy Alexander Khetaguri at a summary press conference yesterday. According to him, the agreement guarantees that Georgia will steadily receive Azerbaijani gas till 2020. Also, prices will be stabilized and the sales price will be fully maintained. (Interpressnews)



Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office unable to Prove the Illegality of Missile Selling to Georgia

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the Ukraine has not been able to assert that the selling of rockets to Georgia is unlawful. According to the Delo edition, the Prosecutor’s Office has lost its second case concerning the issue.

The Prosecutor’s Office tried to prove that the rockets sold to Georgia had been illegally purchased by the Russian-Ukrainian company Paralaks. The institution demanded the sale-purchase agreements concerning the anti-aircraft artillery rockets 9M38M1 and 3M9M3 to be declared illegitimate. The Documents were signed by “Ukroboronservice” and “Paralaks” in 2005-2006.

The debates between the Chief Prosecutor’s Office and the above-mentioned companies have been under way within the framework of the investigation. The law enforcement officials are examining the legality of the Ukrainian party having sold military vehicles to Georgia’s armed forces in 2005-6. The Prosecutor’s Office demands that 4 Agreements be annulled. (Interpressnews)



Kakha Bekauri Accuses Erosi Kitsmarishvili in Maestro’s shift into Emergency Mode

Director General of TV ‘Maestro’ Kakha Bekauri accuses Erosi Kitsmarishvili in Maestro’s shift into emergency mode.

Bekauri said at a press conference in the office of InterPressNews, that after Erosi Kitsmarishvili set up a political party, he wished to turn Maestro into a channel expressing his interests.

"They asked me to leave the position of General Director but I could not dismiss myself independently. He decided to suspend financial resources to Maestro and then carry out his plan. Parts of the finances were suspended when Kitmarishili joined the political party," Bekauri said.

He also said that they don’t have phone or internet access. Journalists can’t go and obtain information since they don’t have money to buy petrol. "They know that they can’t give me specific tasks. The only thing they say is – we don’t need such a program, we want one that expresses our interests," Bekauri said.

Bekauri says they did everything they could to dismiss him after his refusal.

Bekauri didn’t say anything about his future plans, though he noted that they will do everything to rescue the channel. (Interpressnews)



Cooperation Memorandum Signed Between Social Service Agency and Humanitarian Centre of Abkhazia

The Social Service Agency has signed a cooperation memorandum with the humanitarian centre of Abkhazia.

The project will serve the internally displaced people, repatriates and other social groups.

The memorandum envisages cooperation between the two bodies in different directions, including the availability of a data base for people in need, qualification courses for the agency staff and other programs. (Prime-News)



Christian-Democrats Object Cycle Track Construction in Kutaisi

The Christian-Democratic movement objects to the construction of a cycle track in Kutaisi.

As party member George Shavgulidze stated at a briefing in Kutaisi on December 28th, the government intends to allocate GEL 10 million from the state budget for the construction of a 25-kilometer cycle track in Kutaisi.

"We demand this $10 million to be used for raising pensions and for covering the study costs of students from disadvantaged families," said Shavgulidze. (Prime-News)