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The News in Brief

Thursday, October 4
Bidzina Ivanishvili to Pay First Visit to the U.S.

Bidzina Ivanishvili will pay his first visit to the U.S., he told journalists after a meeting at his business centre. Ivanishvili explained that Wednesday's meeting mainly concerned this issue.

“We spoke with coalition members about having many invitations from Washington and Europe. Two days ago I spoke with Catherine Ashton, but despite the official invitations, I decided to cancel the visits for a while. As you know, the U.S. is preparing for elections and the first debates are being held between the presidential on Wednesday. We believe that visiting the U.S. during the election period would lose its importance. I will not depart until the elections are held. We also decided the first visit will be to Washington, he said. (IPN)



Georgia and Burkina Faso Established Diplomatic Relations

On the 2nd of October 2012, Georgia and Burkina Faso signed a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations – Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

According to this joint communique, mutual relations between the two countries - which are both striving to establish mutually beneficial friendly relations - will be guided by the principles of national sovereignty, sovereign equality, territorial integrity and the inviolability of state borders.

The joint communique was signed in Georgia's Permanent Representation to the U.N. in New York by the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the UN, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Mr. Alexander Lomaia and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations, Mr. Der Kogda.

In compliance with international practice, both parties informed the U.N. Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their two countries. (IPN)



U.S. ambassador meets with Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs

A meeting between the Georgian Foreign Minister, Mr. Grigol Vashadze and the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Georgia, Mr. Richard Norland was held.

At the meeting, the two sides focused on the parliamentary elections in Georgia and Georgian-U.S.A. partner relations. Mr. Vashadze and Mr. Norland emphasized the need to preserve and enhance strategic ties and co-operation. (Rustavi 2)



Ivanishvili`s interview with CNN

Leader of the Georgian Dream Coalition, which won parliamentary election on October 1, has given his first interview to CNN. Ivanishvili talked live with the Connect World program. He spoke about the coalition`s foreign policy priorities, which mainly focus on improving relations with Russia. However, he also said maintaining a pro-western course was also very important for Georgia.

"We should restore relations with Russia, in the culture and trade sectors first of all, but afterwards, we should restore the relations which we had in the past. This will not be so easy," Ivanishvili said and added that it would be very difficult to convince Russia that Georgia`s integration into European structures did not represent a threat to the Kremlin.

Ivanishvili also answered the question about his business made in Russia. He said it was the main argument of his opponents, but to deny the controversy, he sold his assets in Russia.

Along with the interview with Ivanishvili, CNN also aired a report about Georgia and assessed the parliamentary elections and their regional importance. (Rustavi 2)



Four activists of GD coalition released by Kutaisi court

Kutaisi Appeals Court has reduced the administrative sentences to four activists of the Georgian Dream Coalition, who were arrested a few days ago. The activists were released from custody today. The court lifted the charges against the activists partly. The activists say they were arrested for their political activities and denied any administrative violations. (Rustavi 2)