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The News in Brief

Monday, December 15
Several candidacies are being presented for the post of Georgia’s Ambassador to NATO -- Davit Kereselidze

In the words of Foreign Ministry Speaker, Davit Kereselidze, several candidatures are being presented for the post of Georgia’s Ambassador to NATO.

As Mr. Kereselidze informed InterPressNews, they have not singled out a specific candidate for the post yet.

“As far as I am concerned, a particular candidate has not been chosen thus far,” declared Mr. Kereselidze.

Acting Ambassador, Levan Dolidze will reportedly bow out from his post on January 26. Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has already acknowledged Dolidze’s resignation.
(IPN)



First living-donor liver transplant performed in Georgia

A remarkable step in Georgian medicine – the first living-donor liver transplant - has been successfully performed in Tbilisi.

A surgical team consisted of Georgian and Japanese specialists spent 12 hours removing a diseased liver from a patient and replacing it by a portion of a healthy liver of the recipient’s own brother.

Gocha Ingorokva Neurosurgery Centre in Tbilisi was the place of the successful joint venture initiated by Nagasaki Medical School, Erasmus University and Georgia State Medical University.

"This is the first and very important step for our clinic in the direction of living-donor liver transplant,” Lela Managadze, public relations manager of the medical centre, which implemented its first living-donor kidney transplant two years ago, told Agenda.ge.

Managadze believed working with the Japanese specialists was a "good experience” for Georgian doctors.

"This kind of operation will be implemented in the clinic,” she said, adding patients were already registering for surgery.

In living donor liver transplantation, a piece of liver is removed from a living donor and transplanted into a recipient. The procedure, performed after the diseased liver has been removed, is possible because the liver regenerates or grows. The liver's unique ability to regenerate itself, combined with technological advances, allows more people to live.
(Agenda.ge)



Bakhva Surmanidze detained on bribery charges

Head of the State Procurement Division of the Gori Military Hospital of the Defence Ministry of Georgia, Bakhva Surmanidze has been detained on bribery charges.

According to the Investigative Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Bakhva Surmanidze was detained on Saturday for allegedly accepting GEL 400 in bribes.

The investigation is underway under article 338, part I of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which envisages imprisonment between 6 and 11 years in prison.
(Frontnews)



Giorgi Kvirikashvili: determination of “Georgian Airways” to aggravate the situation is of a provoking nature

“Determination of “Georgian Airways” to aggravate the situation is of a provoking nature,” this statement was released by Georgia’s Vice-Premier and the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, yesterday.

“Our great desire is to enable our airline companies to function normally. Our decision to restore regular flights from Russia to Georgia had precisely this purpose. The move from the Georgian Airways to pressure our state officials and make them reverse their decision is something totally inadmissible for us.

After holding discussions, the government has made a decision as follows: we will reverse a decision made by the Head of Public Agency Aviation and will restore a normal aviation frequency chart.
(IPN)



Georgia’s Ex-Deputy Interior Minister Set to Take Same Post in Ukraine

Eka Zguladze, who served as Georgia’s deputy interior minister under ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration, is expected to become a second former Georgian official to take senior government post in Ukraine after ex-healthcare minister Alexander Kvitashvili took the same post in Ukraine earlier this month.

Ukrainian Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, wrote on Facebook on December 12 that President Petro Poroshenko welcomed his request for granting Ukrainian citizenship to Zguladze. Avakov also wrote that after finalizing formal procedures over citizenship next week, he would ask the cabinet to appoint Zguladze as first deputy interior minister.

Zguladze, 36, held the post of deputy interior minister in Georgia in 2006-20012.

Appointment of former Georgian officials, who served under ex-president Saakashvili’s administration, in the Ukrainian government has not been welcomed in Tbilisi.

Commenting on possible appointment of Zguladze as Ukraine’s deputy interior minister, leader of the Georgian Dream majority group in Parliament, MP Davit Saganelidze, said: “Ukraine, which I love so much, really deserves better ministers.”

“No matter how much we try not to notice, it will anyway stain to some extent relations [between Georgia and Ukraine],” GD MP Saganelidze said.

When consultations about forming the new government were still ongoing among Ukrainian politicians, reports emerged in late November about possible nomination of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is facing criminal charges in Georgia and is wanted by the Georgian authorities, as Ukraine’s deputy prime minister; Saakashvili said at the time that he declined the offer as he did not want to lose Georgian citizenship by obtaining Ukrainian one.

Asked about the issue, PM Irakli Garibashvili said at a news conference on December 9 that even the fact that possible appointment of a person, who is wanted by Georgia, was discussed by the Ukrainian authorities is “regrettable.” Garibashvili also said that “work is underway to prepare” his visit to Ukraine either in January or February.
(Civil.ge)



21 year-old woman injured in elevator accident

A 21 year-old woman has reportedly been injured in an elevator accident in Batumi. As the InterPressNews News Agency has been notified. She was rescued and her life is not under threat at this point in time. She was transferred to a Batumi hospital.

An investigation into the case is underway.
(IPN)