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Tsiklauri: Georgia will stay the course regardless of Russian election outcome

In an interview with Versia newspaper, member of the parliamentary majority, Nugzar Tsiklauri, remarked on the upcoming presidential elections in Russia and noted that Georgia has a definite foreign policy course, one that will not change based on the leader of the government.

"Of course I would welcome if there was a democratic government in Russia, but the politics of Georgia is obvious. We want to accomplish friendly relations with all countries, but if someone has decided to damage our sovereignty, we won't tolerate this," Tsiklauri said. "There are political forces who say that Putin will become a democrat. If their title 'Dream' was reflected in anything, their dream and illusion was expressed exactly in that belief," he noted, referring to the opposition party, Georgian Dream, which has expressed an interest in re-establishing relations with Russia.

The Russian Federation held an earlier election three months ago, but local civil society organizations, and as well as the European Parliament, announced that they were riddled with irregularities. Tsiklauri commented on this, saying that he cannot predict the results of the election, but "the accuracy of the results will be under question. If this happens, I think the movement that is happening in Russia will not slow down. I won't exclude that those rallies will become even more national."



Saakashvili optimistic about free trade with EU, US

24 Hours reports that President Mikheil Saakashvili said that it is very realistic that, starting next year, Georgia will have a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union. He made this announcement after his visit to Abiparm, a Tserovani pharmaceutical company.

"We say – the promise of the EU, the promise of the United States, how long will it take? The day before yesterday we started negotiations on free trade with the EU. It is realistic that we will finish it by next year; it is realistic that starting next year Georgia will have deep, comprehensive free trade with the EU," the President said.

He also noted that Georgia may also become the only country, among all European and Caucasus states, to have a free trade agreement with the United States.

"We will have free trade with America, which neither Turkey nor Germany has. The main issue on which the German Chancellor is working is to establish free trade between the EU and the United States, and she still gets rejected. The only country in Europe and the entire region with the right to free trade will be Georgia," Saakashvili asserted.

He also promised that under these conditions, Georgia will become a centre for production, and unemployment will practically disappear in Georgia.

"We are a very small country with very tight economics, and it should be easy to pull this up," the President noted.



Marshrutka drivers consider reduction in hours

According to Rezonansi, marshrutka drivers are talking about changes to their working hours.

Drivers suggest that marshrutkas could run from 7:00am to 8:00pm on a new schedule, if it is agreed-upon. Currently, marshrutkas run from 7:00am to 11:00pm.

Tbilisi City Hall denies any changes to the schedule. Mayor Gigi Ugulava's office has stated that there have been no discussions on this issue.