Daily News April 12, 2019	Days:  10 11 12 15 16

politics

GEORGIAN FINANCE MINISTER DISCUSSED COOPERATION WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL

Within his visit to the US, Georgia’s Finance Minister Ivane Machavariani met European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Katarina Mathernova.

As Georgian Finance Ministry said, the parties discussed issues, envisaged by the EU-Georgia cooperation agenda.




THE UN EXPERTS: IN GEORGIA, URGENT MEASURES HAVE TO BE TAKEN TO ADDRESS CRITICAL BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGES

A group of the UN human rights experts considers that Georgia government and business “must take urgent, robust action to address critical business and human rights challenges”, reported Georgian representation of the UN Development Program (UNDP).

“We were alarmed at how a decade of deregulation aimed at attracting foreign investment has become a carte blanche for irresponsible business practices”, said head of the UN working group, while presenting a statement upon completion of a 10-day visit to the country (quotations are provided according to press release of UNDP).

economics

DEPUTY ECONOMY MINISTER: WE CREATE MECHANISMS FOR INVESTOR’S RELYING MORE ON FREE ENERGY MARKET, THAN ON GIVEN GUARANTEES

We carry out now an energy reform, our market and market rules have been harmonized with the European ones, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava declared. Therefore, we have developed new approaches and schemes of support, which will be more flexible and oriented on market mechanisms, she noted.




DEPUTY ECONOMY MINISTER: WE HAVE TO USE EFFECTIVELY OUR WATER, WIND AND SOLAR RESOURCES IN ORDER TO AVOID CHALLENGES

“If we not use effectively our treasure – water, wind and solar resources, certainly, we will face big challenges”, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava declared.

According to Turnava, investments in power industry must be accelerated, “taking into account social aspects”.




ECONOMY MINISTER: IN KVEMO KARTLI REGION, WE SEE HIGH POTENTIAL IN 3 MAIN SECTORS

In Kvemo Kartli region, we see high potential in 3 main sectors, Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Kobulia declared. Among these sectors, he named food industry, agriculture and tourism.




NBG PRESIDENT PRESENTED GEORGIA’S EXPERIENCE IN INFLATION TARGETING AT THE IMF DISCUSSION

Within his visit to the US, President of National Bank of Georgia (NBG) Koba Gvenetadze took part in the discussion “Governor Talks”, organized by the IMF.

As NBG reported, key topics of Gvenetadze’s speech were Georgia’s experience in implementation of inflation targeting and need of exchange rate flexibility in this regard.




ECONOMY MINISTRY: ISSUES OF FUTURE COOPERATION WERE DISCUSSED WITH “GOOGLE” DIRECTOR

Within the annual world forum on the information society, being underway in Geneva (Switzerland), Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Lasha Mikava met director for engineering at Google Sarah Clatterbuck.

As Georgian Ministry of Economy reported, the parties noted that, despite improvement by Google of a number of services in Georgia, some applications are still inaccessible for Georgian users, who download them in bypassing and often unsafe ways.

business

PARTNERSHIP FUND: IN 2017, PROJECTS’ PROFIT MARGIN MADE UP 14.8%

Georgian Partnership Fund declared about publication of individual and consolidated financial statements for 2017, which audit was conducted by KPMG.

In 2017, investment in hi-tech production, real estate, agriculture and other branches amounted to $48 million, Partnership Fund said, pointing that average profit margin in projects made up 14.8%, while spending of each $1 attracted investments of $7.

society

“TI GEORGIA”: ABUSE OF OFFICE IS WIDESPREAD IN GEORGIA

Abuse of powers for personal benefit by officials is widespread in Georgia, while authorities do not react properly to such cases, declared TI Georgia, Georgian branch of Transparency International.

At the same time, cases of petty corruption are still extremely rare, the organization said, which published results of survey, conducted by Caucasian Research Resources Center (CRRC) between February 20 and March 5 by request of TI Georgia.