th Major Potential in UN General Assembly? Free Trade, Studygeorgiatoday.ge/uploads/issues/8a48101fce38f1d815f7f07d1a549211.pdfGe-31 “Bora” is a modernized version of the world

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Democracy or petty squabbling? Georgia Today discussesjust how much damage the leadership's inability to speakwith one voice is doing to Georgia's performance on theinternational stage.

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Georgia Today met with the formerHead of Georgia’s Mission to theEU to hear her view on Russianinterests and the future of Georgia.

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AUGUST 21 - 2722222 POLITICS

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By Nino Japarashvili

“Mr. President, Mr. Secretary Gen-eral, Fellow Delegates, Ladies andGentlemen. It is a great honor for me torepresent my country here at the UnitedNations,” began Irakli Garibashvili,Georgia’s Prime Minister during hisspeech at the UN General Assembly lastyear.

The address followed several monthsof intense confrontation between thePresident and the Prime Minister ofGeorgia; both Giorgi Margvelashvili andIrakli Garibashvili insisted that the con-stitution grants him, and not the other,the right to represent the country at in-ternational summits.

In July 2014, the PM’s office an-nounced that Garibashvili would attendthe annual UN General Debate in Sep-tember and would also take part in num-ber of events which were organized onthe sideline of the UN General Assem-bly.

On the same day President’s officeannounced that Margvelashvili had ac-cepted an invitation from Ban Ki-Moon,the UN Secretary-General, who had in-vited the President, together with otherworld leaders, to the UN headquartersfor the Climate Summit on September23, which was to be held on the eve ofopening of the UN General Debate.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MFA), led by then-Foreign MinisterMaia Panjikidze, tried to encourage thePresident to revise his decision and notto participate in the UN Climate Sum-mit as PM Garibashvili, who was ex-pected to address the UN General As-sembly, would also be attending thesame event. The Ministry claimed thatit would be inappropriate and “embar-rassing” for the country to send “twoleaders” to the same event in New York.

As before the event President

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Margvelashvili announced that his visitto the United States was deliberatelydisrupted by the PM and his office, itwas obvious that eventually Garibashviliwould lead the Georgian delegation andaddress the UN Summit.

Georgia’s representation in thisyear’s UN annual session, one of themost representative and high-level in-ternational events of 2015, is still con-troversial between the two respectivecamps. Giorgi Margvelashvili, Head ofState, or Prime Minister, Head of theGovernment – this remains an issue ofpolitical speculation again as the dateapproaches.

The PM’s office has already pub-lished Garibashvili’s schedule for 15September, in which he clearly plans tolead the delegation to the UN. He is alsoexpected to deliver a speech on behalfof the Georgian state. However, it ap-pears that President Margvelashvili will

also pay a visit to New York in the sameperiod, as he has been invited by theLatvian President to attend the discus-sion “Future of Europe: Empowering theRole of Women.”

Maia Panjikidze, the former ForeignMinister of Georgia, currently one of theleaders of the Free Democrats Party,now says:

“We had a very bad practice of pub-lic discussions about who would go tothe United Nations. I had hoped wewould learn something from last year’sexperience... I cannot imagine the PMto be the head of a delegation and thePresident to be a member of the samedelegation or vice versa. I don’t thinkthis has ever happened in the history ofthe UN.”

In response to the former ForeignMinister, the President’s Advisor forForeign Affairs Tengiz Pkhaladze said:“remarks from a person who was per-

sonally engaged in last year’s mistakeare unacceptable.”

At the press conference which thePresident’s administration held onWednesday, August 19, Pkhaladze fur-ther explained: “Since the Presidentwill be in the US when the UN Gen-eral Debates take place, it would begood if he was given an opportunityto address the UN General Assembly.”According to Margvelashvili’s Advi-sor, “Georgia’s President is the high-est political figure, directly elected bythe Georgian people; therefore, it isimportant for the country to maximallyuse his authority in the internationalarena.”

Davit Kereselidze, Spokesman of theForeign Ministry, said any decisionmade at the highest level will be fulfilledby the MFA. However, it seems likely itwill again be Irakli Garibashvili, BidzinaIvanishvili’s trusted man, who will end

up delivering the speech in New York.The power struggle between the

President and the Prime Minister ofGeorgia has not been limited to the rep-resentation at UN annual sessions. Simi-lar disputes occurred when it came tosigning the Association Agreement withthe European Union.

As President Margvelashvili driftsaway from the Georgian Dream, the cur-rent ruling party led by Prime MinisterGaribashvili, most likely, the confron-tation between the two will continueover the coming months. One couldclaim this constant competition contrib-utes to democratic developments in thecountry; but, what is more obvious, itseriously impedes Georgia’s perfor-mance on the international stage, as thedispute between the two leaders nega-tively reflects on the ability of the coun-try to speak with one voice in its for-eign relations.

By Joseph Larsen

Last weekend saw eastern Ukrainedescend back into shocking violence.During 24 hours of fighting that beganon Sunday and lasted into Monday atotal of ten people we killed, the highestsingle-day death toll in more than amonth. Separatists fired upon Sartana –a suburb of the government-held portcity of Mariupol – with howitzers, kill-ing two soldiers and two cilivilians andwounding seven others, according togovernment reports. Ukrainian armyforces for their part shelled the rebel-controlled cities of Horlivka andDonetsk. The pro-separatist DonetskNews Agency reported that six peoplewere killed by government forces.

The violence represents one of thelargest violations of a ceasefire reachedearlier this year. The February agree-

Ukrainian government reports say that Russian-backed separatists fired upon civilians with howitzers.

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ment signed between the Ukrainian gov-ernment and Russian-backed separatistsresulted in large amounts of tanks, anti-aircraft guns and other heavy equipmentbeing moved back from the frontlines,but it hasn’t stopped the guns from fir-ing. Bodies continue to pile up, and theUkrainian government claims that sepa-ratists have violated the ceasefire no lessthan 140 times during the past sixmonths.

The death toll adds to the more than6,800 people killed by fighting inUkraine since April 2014. The flare-uphas fueled concerns that the shaky Feb-ruary ceasefire could collapse altogether.Ukrainian military spokesman AndriyLysenko interpreted the attack as part ofwhat could be a broad separatist pushtoward Mariupol, commenting that“what has happened in Sartana is a chal-lenge to our forces.” In addition,

Lysenko made clear that Sartana is a“civilian town” with no military instal-lations.

Separatist leader Alexander Zakhar-chenko, prime minister of the pro-Krem-lin Donetsk People’s Republic, said thatgovernment forces fired first andclaimed that Kiev is preparing a renewedoffensive to retake separatist-controlledterritory. Russian foreign minister SergeiLavrov echoed that claim, saying that“we are worried by the developments inrecent days, which strongly recall prepa-ration for more military actions.”

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern buttook pains to use language inoffensiveto the Kremlin, commenting in an inter-view with Bild am Sonntag that “if bothparties do not adhere to the peace pro-cess, the military situation could esca-late again at any time.”

Irakli GaribashviliGiorgi Margvelashvili

In the turmoil of Georgian politics, unfortunately, some important informa-tion for the country was barely reported. The Tbilisi aviation factory is startingto work on a new airplane Ge-31 “Bora”. Its fuselage and wings will be made inGeorgia. Navigation equipment, electric systems and most importantly engineswill be made in western European countries, specifically France, Great Britainor Italy.

Ge-31 “Bora” is a modernized version of the world famous, Soviet-producedbombardier Su-25. If we take into consideration the fact that airplanes of thistype used to be produced at the Tbilisi aviation factory, the new project could bea turning point in Georgia’s military history.

AUGUST 21 - 2744444 POLITICS

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By Zaza Jgharkava

Who should address the annual UNAssembly, the first or the third figure ofthe state? The answer remains unclear.The President and the Prime Ministercould not agree on the exact itinerary oftheir trip to New York. Despite this de-bate between the branches of govern-ment, this disagreement has been over-shadowed in Georgian politics. Lastweek, Georgian media announced an-other governmental reshuffle as thenewspaper Alia wrote about expectedchanges in the government in the articletitled “Big clean-up to start in the gov-ernment”, which claimed that FinanceMinister NodarKhaduri, Foreign Min-ister Tamar Beruchashvili and JusticeMinister Thea Tsouloukiani might bereplaced.

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Right now, this remains only specu-lation but the present government hasused similar methods previously tocover up certain other problems. Thistime things are a bit different. It is nota secret to anyone that former PrimeMinister Bidzina Ivanishvili is un-happy with the current governmentalteam and openly expresses his discon-tent. He has pointed out in many in-terviews that his expectations forsportsmen and actors to become com-petent MPs has been largely unmet.“We brought our favorite people toparliament; we won elections but thereare other procedures there. We needto start from laws if we want to have ademocratic state. Usupashvili is re-minding me everyday not to dare andbring famous actors to the parliament.Our candidates should be able to work

with laws, should have the experienceand, no matter whose team he/she isin, should be able to work in the par-liament. Usupashvili is telling me thatthere are not three people in our teamwho are helping him. United NationalMovement members have a lot of ex-perience in this,” Ivanishvili statedtwo years ago, while still the PrimeMinister.

The speech of the actor SosoJachvliani in parliament seemed to con-firm fears of incompetence. The MPconfused the abbreviation of the Euro-pean Bank for Reconstruction and De-velopment (EBRD) with a brothel. It isno surprise that, after watching that, thetycoon may want to influence the kindof decision that newspaper Alia an-nounced. Moreover, it can be assumedthat this is just the beginning. A shortwhile ago, a meeting of the politicalcouncil of the coalition took place. Pre-sumably, the pre-election period andparty lists were discussed among otherissues at the meetings. According to theexisting information, many current po-litical faces will not be in the new partylists – mostly the current MPs who areactors and sportsmen. The work on thelists will start soon and the process willprobably be followed with confrontationand the final word and decision will bethat of Ivanishvili. Besides, there is alsospeculation about Irakli Garibashvili andKakha Kaladze trying to put togethertheir own people before elections. If wejudge from the recent promises of thePrime Minister and the Vice Prime Min-ister, Garibashvili beat Kaladze in thefight for the Interior Minister’s post. Thenew minister is PM Gharibashvili’s

choice. It can be assumed that confron-tation for the parliament party lists willbecome more open as time goes on.

The opinion that Prime MinisterGaribashvili is starting to restore his po-sition is supported by the presence ofJustice and Foreign Ministers in the listof ministers that will be replaced. Re-placing Tsouloukiani, according to back-stage talks, is connected to the disagree-ment with the Prime Minister as the Jus-tice Minister refused to initiate the pro-cedure of taking away citizenship fromMikheil Saakashvili. According to offi-

cial information, Tsouloukiani’s statebody is waiting for notification about theUkrainian state structure grantingSaakashvili citizenship of Ukraine whileGeorgia’s Ministry of Justice could ap-peal to Ukraine and request the docu-ment.

As for Tamar Beruchashvili, eversince her appointment to the post of theForeign Minister her position has beenunder threat particularly after joining theEU-imposed sanctions upon Russia,which was not agreed with the PrimeMinister.

By Zviad Adzinbaia

Last week, popular American Maga-zine Foreign Policy (FP) published anarticle claiming that for the first timein its post-Soviet history, a majority ofUkrainians approve of their countryjoining NATO. “The drastic change ofattitude marks a sea of change in Ukrai-nians’ attitudes toward the security al-liance even as it poses a palpable chal-lenge for the country’s infantile politi-cal class,” notes FP.

The publication recalls a recentpoll by the Democratic InitiativesFoundation, which made headlines inUkraine: “64 percent of respondentssaid they would vote for NATO acces-sion in a hypothetical referendum (Only28 percent would oppose.) This resultmarks a landslide and rapid shift inUkrainians’ perception of the Europeansecurity architecture adding in2009, only 21 percent of Ukrainians’said they supported NATO accession,while almost 60 percent were against.”Inthe pre-Euromaidan period two-thirds of Ukrainians’ couldn’t

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“The non-lethal support and train-ing that Kiev has received from theUnited States and Canada in the courseof the war against Russian-backedseparatists further boosted NATO’simage as a credible international part-ner. Never before has a prospective al-liance with Western nations had sucha prominent presence on Ukraine’s po-litical agenda and in the media” addFP.

Foreign Policy refers to some statis-tical information citing some drasticchanges in Ukraine’s public opinion inrecent months — particularly since thefailure of the Minsk-2 ceasefire agree-ment, which was intended to stop theconflict in the east. It says that in March,immediately after the agreement wassigned, just 43 percent of Ukrainianssaid they would support NATO acces-sion, while 32 percent expressed oppo-sition. At that time, the newly signedceasefire gave many hope that diplo-

macy could put the war on hold.As a conclusion, the analysis as-

sumes that, differently from the pictureof five years ago, when some Europeanleaders and Ukrainian politicians couldcredibly claim that Ukraine lacked pub-lic support for NATO membership, theargument is ringing increasingly hol-low, as Ukrainians are rapidly turninginto staunch supporters of the alliance.

Analysis by Georgia Today’s ZviadAdzinbaia

The topic of Ukraine’s NATO acces-sion has been in hibernation sinceVik0tor Yanukovych came to power.Similarly to Georgia, when before theRose Revolution of 2003 there was noteven a mere chance of becoming amember of EU or NATO, the landscapehas changed unrecognizably. DespiteRussia’s continuous opposition to thetroika’s (Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova)membership to any of the above-men-tioned organizations, the three coun-tries have kept their course consistent.Indeed, Russia has exhausted itself todrag these three states into its EurasianUnion, to minimal avail so far.

envisage Ukraine being part of NATO,but now the picture has significantlychanged.

According to the analysis, Ukraine’spublic attitudes toward NATO havelong been shaped by emotional divi-sions between Westernizers and “pro-Russians,” leaving little space for in-formed debate:“Ukraine’s third presi-dent, Viktor Yushchenko, used to pon-tificate about joining NATO withoutdelivering on the reforms needed toachieve that goal” – it says adding thisresulted in growing apathy towardsNATO membership and, in the inter-national realm, in a resounding rejec-

tion of Ukraine’s accession plans at thenotorious 2008 Bucharest Summit.

In addition, currently, the publica-tion claims the first elements of a grow-ing political consensus on NATO ac-cession seem to be in place in the coun-try that is waging war with Russia forhere astern regions.

“This time, the officials’ words arefinally backed up with action: Ukrai-nian political commentators point outthat the country now spends a muchlarger share of its GDP (about 5 per-cent) on defense than the NATO-wide2 percent standard, which few existingmembers meet. And just this summer,

AUGUST 21 - 2766666 POLITICS

By Zviad Adzinbaia

Georgia, after its laborious path fromfailed state to successful reforms, is cur-rently at a historical crossroads to pre-serve independence and join the Euro-pean family; or reject its Western aspi-rations and become Russia’s subordinatenation in the Caucasus.

Russia, to pursue its goals in Geor-gia, widely utilizes its hybrid warfarestrategies, which aim to destroyGeorgia’s state institutions and thecountry’s image at domestic and inter-national levels. Moreover, it is inRussia’s declared interest to keep Geor-gia unstable and undeveloped.

For detailed analysis, Georgia Todaytalked with Salome Samadashvili,former Head of Georgia’s Mission to theEU, Visiting Fellow at the Wilfried Mar-tens Center for European Studies andExecutive Director at the Center forStrategic Communication and Democ-racy.

Q: Russians utilize diverse meth-ods of informational war in Georgia.What is the correlation betweenRussia’s hybrid and informationalwar?

A: Informational war is an essentialpart of Russia’s hybrid warfare in Geor-gia – these two terms are inseparable.Hybrid warfare appears to be a generalmilitary concept and informational war

is a tactic of this doctrine. If one analy-ses Russian approaches to this topic,they [Russians] don’t even hide that in-formational warfare is much more prof-itable for them compared to a conven-tional one. Additionally, hybrid warfareinvolves different non-state actors andgroups, directed to create a fog of real-ity.

Q: What do you think are Russia’smajor means and capabilities in thisinformational warfare to achieve[their] goals against Georgia and herfriends such as Ukraine and Moldo-va?

A: Russia not only wages this sortof activity against these [above-men-tioned] countries, but it fights the Westin a broader sense. In particular, whatwe need to take into account is that Rus-sian informational and hybrid warfareincluding her informal actors in the pro-cess is a highly integrated system witha very clear chain of command. As forthe means, firstly, they are quite solidbroadcasters and TV channels, such asRussia Today (RT), which is formallybeing renamed, though it should betaken into account that some Westerncitizens watch this media source with-out knowing its ethos. RT not only dis-torts information, but also frequentlyfabricates it and extensively utilizessome Western ultra-right or ultra-leftistpoliticians and analysts to increase itslegitimacy in the West. Furthermore, theinternet plays one of the core roles forRussia, e.g. online journals, newspapers,blogs, which makes it quite complicatedfor the reader to distinguish the deriva-tion of these social media sources. In mystudy “Muzzling the Bear”, I have in-cluded the fact that one of the Kremlin-financed online outlets was evenawarded in the West for innovations asthey did not know of the official involve-ment.

In addition, Russia spends colossalamounts of money on its PR and propa-ganda campaigns and directly ‘buys’

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Finally yet importantly, the Russianside has effectively used the trolling sys-tem for attacking any negative state-ments from any analyst, scholar or NGOrepresentative. In fact, a colleague ofmine from the Brussels-based MartensCenter was threatened for making somespeeches against Russia.

Q: How significant is cyber war inthis hybrid warfare?

A: Russia, differing from other peri-ods, appears to be well prepared withregard to cyber warfare, which we[meaning Georgia] experienced in 2008,and the Russo-Georgia war. Russia,throughout the past years has advanceditself in this regard, while the West un-derestimates this component.

Surprisingly, not only Georgians butalso Baltic States, with their continuousclaims around Russia’s activities in thearea, are frequently ignored by represen-

tatives of some Western countries whoclaim Baltic countries are “traumatizedby their past” for their proactive poli-tics regarding Russia and the threat com-ing from the empire-minded country.

Russia-Europe economic relationsplay a nontrivial role in complicating thedecision making process for the EUagainst Russia. In particular, Germanyand France, the leading EU countries,have close economic ties with Russia,which unfortunately affects the EU poli-tics regarding Russia. Fortunately, theUS is not dependent on Russia’s eco-nomic or oil spheres, which enables thiscountry to be more pragmatic and stron-ger when dealing with the Russian Fed-eration.

Q: What about Russia’s Fifth Col-umn and Soft Power implementationagainst Georgia?

A: Unlike previous times, Russia hasmastered the very Western information

technologies, leading to their effectiveutilization. They [Russians] realized thatonly tanks and boots are not what theyneed to pursue their goals. As for thesituation in Georgia, it is clearly mir-rored by Ukrainian developments.Through these actions, the West grewafraid of Russia’s aberrant nature to in-crease the risk of loss. All these havetheir multiplier effect on Georgia, whereone can believe that some sort of cur-rent breakthroughs for Georgia’s swiftWestern integration are less expected.

Moreover, Russia has understoodthat the only way to reverse Georgia’sWestern course is through elections,atthe hands of the Georgian people. As-suming that Georgia’s Western integra-

tion rules out any Russian perspectivesin the country, Russians have activatedtheir Fifth Column and some soft powerelements here. As the majority of Geor-gian citizens are not sufficiently in-formed about the EU and NATO inte-gration, Russian forces can easily mis-inform them.

In this regard, I believe even the pre-vious government should have donemore to educate its citizens about thecountry’s course, Western integrationperspectives and benefits. In thesetroubled waters, Russia finds our citi-zens vulnerable to simple manipulation.

Likewise, Russia has stimulated cul-tural, religious or economic factorsagainst Georgia’s statehood, and if wedon’t counter these attacks with somestrong mechanisms, I assume even at the2016 elections we will face some seri-ous problems. As I know, Georgia To-day is widely read by foreign diplomatsin Georgia and it is important to drawthe right conclusions from the processand send clear messages to their gov-ernments. I believe that the West mis-leads itself when they assume Georgia’sWestern course is taken for granted, asthe country needs wider internationalsupport and actual instruments to keepitself safe from Russian aggression.

Finally, public opinion changes overtime, particularly in Georgia whenRussia’s informational propaganda is atits height. However, the essential thingis for the West to assist us to offer Geor-gian society something valuable to de-stroy the hypothetical wall built by Rus-

sian forces as if the West were a “mon-ster” or “depraved”.

Q: What should Georgia, Ukraineand Moldova do to increase their in-ternational support and reduce Rus-sian influence on their own lands?

A: The core issues these three coun-tries need to solve are penetration ofRussian money and mass media, whichdirectly work against these countries’sovereignty. In this regard, the very firstpriority is for these countries to takesome defense measures in terms of lim-iting and discouraging those Russianmedia sources which profoundly act torevive religious discord and hate speech,intolerance and anti-state disinformationin these societies. Secondly, the troika

needs to have a clear strategy of actionto counter the attacks coming from Rus-sia. For instance, it’s necessary for allof them to launch awareness campaignswith respectable members of their soci-eties to prove that for the majority ofcitizens, Europe is a value-based, civi-lized and well-being-oriented familywhich cannot be altered by Russia.Thirdly, the governments of Georgia,Moldova and Ukraine must essentiallyact jointly to raise awareness of theirproblems on international platforms. Atthis moment, Georgia has almost disap-peared from the international stage andthis is the ‘achievement’ of the govern-ment of the Georgian Dream.

Q: Finally, do you think the Rus-sian Federation will activate most of

its resources in Georgia for 2016 tohelp pro-Russian forces win the elec-tions, or at least hinder the democraticprocess?

A: Unlike many others, I believe thatRussians will only be satisfied whenGeorgia is not an independent country

Russia spends colossal amounts of money on itsPR and propaganda campaigns and directly

‘buys’ influences in Europe. An illustration of thisis Brussels Gazprom…

I believe that the West misleads itself when theyassume Georgia’s Western course is taken for

granted, as the country needs wider internationalsupport and actual instruments to keep itself safe

from Russian aggression.

As the majority of Georgian citizens are notsufficiently informed about the EU and NATO

integration, Russian forces can easilymisinform them.

and is instead a subordinated part ofRussia. Georgia’s northern neighbor willcelebrate its victory in Georgia when thiscountry not only rejects EU&NATO in-tegration, but also joins the EurasianUnion. In addition, I assume that if theongoing international sanctions do notexhaust Russia economically and mili-tarily, Russia will utilize most of its re-sources in Georgia at least to influencea newly elected parliament to initiaterejection of the Association Agreementand start negotiations about the EurasianUnion.

Unfortunately, the current governmentis not only incompetent and unsuccess-ful, but also discredits Georgia’s West-ern integration. Moreover, this causes agrowing apathy in Georgian society about

the country’s path to the EU and NATO.For this reason, the sole solution for meappears to be creation of pro-Westernforces as an alliance with a broad spec-trum of public support and strong, prag-matic vision. Otherwise, 2016 will be theend of Georgia’s statehood.

A new five star luxury hotel has opened in Geor-gia’s costal city Batumi.

The new five-star Coliseum Marina Hotel in theshape and design of an elliptical amphitheater likethe ones of ancient Rome has opened today in theseaside city of Batumi in Georgia’s western Adjararegion.

This is the third hotel to open among 20 plannedprojects implemented this year in Batumi.

The construction of the hotel began in March2013 and Mari Group invested $14 million to buildthe 10-storey hotel with 101 rooms, all with a viewof the Black Sea coastline. The facility has a totalarea of 14,427 m sq.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashviliopened the Coliseum Marina Hotel with represen-tatives of the local government. He highlighted thatthe new Coliseum shaped luxury hotel will attractmore tourists to Batumi.

“This year 20 projects of new hotels are ongo-ing in Batumi, in total an amount of $700 millionhas been invested. This indicates that demand is

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growing and the numbers of tourists are increasingin Batumi and in the region itself. Tourism is grow-ing in Georgia and it is necessary for the state tosupport and encourage business,” Garibashvili said.

Currently, the hotel has 100 employees. Oncethe hotel is fully operational about 170 people willwork there.

Major Potential in Georgia-China Free Trade, Study Finds

By Joseph Larsen

Georgia is uniquely positioned to be a bridgebetween East and West. With it’s relationship withEurope firmly established, the country’s politicaland business leaders are now turning their atten-tion toward China, currently its 4th-largest tradingpartner and 3rd-largest source of foreign direct in-vestment. In June 2015 Georgia became a found-ing member of the Chinese-led Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank, and last month Prime Min-ister Irakli Garibashvili referred to China whencommenting that “Georgia is not only lookingWest” with regards to foreign policy.

Both Georgia and China would benefit from clos-er economic ties, says a recent study by the Tbilisi-based consultancy Policy and Management Consult-ing Group (PMCG). Titled the “Joint FeasibilityStudy on China-Georgia Possible Free Trade Agree-ment” and produced in collaboration with the Uni-versity of International Business and Economics, theMinistry of Economy and Sustainable Developmentof Georgia and the Ministry of Economy of China,the study projects that a free trade deal would boostGeorgia’s annual exports to China by 9 percent and

China’s to Georgia by 1.7 percent.Georgia’s top exports to China currently are

copper ore, copper scrap and wine, all of whichcould see higher volumes from a more open traderegime. Wine and non-alcoholic beverage produc-ers would benefit most, according to the study, withannual wine exports to China projected to increaseby 28.5 percent and non-alcoholic beverages by36.7 percent.

On the Chinese side, most exports to Georgiaare higher value-added goods like electronics, steeland shoes. China’s gains would be more modest(Georgia already has very low tariffs on Chinesegoods), but the study projects that under a free tradeagreement more Chinese goods would be purchasedby Georgian consumers.

The benefits of a free trade deal would not belimited to trade in goods, however. According tothe Joint Feasability Study, an agreement would alsofacilitate trade in services and FDI, the latter beingof particular importance to Georgia. Chinese firmscurrently invest in major projects in Georgia’s in-frastructure sector, including the Poti Free Indus-trial Zone. More FDI is seen as crucial to the coun-try’s continued economic development.

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Based on the results of na-tional promo campaign an-nounced by MasterCard inGeorgia at the end of May, 11children from Georgia won apriceless experience to attendthe 2015 UEFA SUPER CUP,held in Tbilisi on August 11,with their parents. Moreover,the child-winners accompaniedthe football stars from twoSpanish teams - Barcelona andSevilla - hand in hand onto thefield.

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Georgian Kids Given Priceless Experience by

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motion campaign “First 11 luckyGeorgians at UEFA Super Cup2015” announced by MasterCardon May 30, 2015. Being a proudsponsor of the UEFA Super Cup,MasterCard runs such cam-paigns in many countries of theworld but this was the first timethat MasterCard cardholders inGeorgia could join in.

The promotion was held fromMay 30 until July 15, 2015 at allsales points where MasterCardcardholders in Georgia couldmake payments through POS ter-minals or internet. Every trans-

action automatically became alottery ticket giving the card-holder a unique opportunity towin a ticket to the August 11th

UEFA Super Cup game and achance for his/her child to standwith the world famous footballplayers on the field. The 11 luckywinners were revealed on July27 by lottery. The winners’ pack-age from MasterCard included 2tickets to the 2015 UEFA SuperCup match in Georgia (1 for thecardholder and one for his/herchild) together with a pricelessexperience for the children to

escort the football stars ontothe field hand in hand for theopening ceremony.

MasterCard pays special at-tention to projects with futuregenerations and thanks to theirinitiative, many childrenaround the globe have alreadygotten the priceless experienceof escorting football stars ontothe field. However, this wasfirst time that kids from Geor-gia got the chance to act asplayers’ escorts.

MasterCard SEE MarketsRegion Manager, Hakan Acarsaid: “We are happy to an-nounce that our national pro-mo “First 11 lucky Georgiansat UEFA Super Cup 2015”conducted for the first time inGeorgia was successful andattracted such a high interestamong the population. Nowwe are delighted to see emo-tions of Georgian winners hereon football field and share theirpriceless moments.”

GPI Holding Protects

from Natural Disasters

By Eka Karsaulidze

Georgian drivers now havean opportunity to insure theircars from natural disasters. Theinitiative belongs to GPI Hold-ing insurance company and isbeing carried out in the frame-work of a social responsibilityprogram, free of charge. The in-surance package is availablefrom August 3, 2015.

According to representativesof GPI Holding, the new insur-ance includes flood, storm, land-slide, heavy snowfall, earth-quake and downpour. The ideaof creating this service appearedafter the tragic floods in Tbilision June 13 when the city sufferedserious losses.

Recent studies have shownthat the June losses amounted to200 million Lari, while insur-ance companies of Georgia re-imbursed only 4,239,722 Lari.“It is not because we do not wantto pay more, just that it turnedout only 20-30% of the affected

cars were insured. And until now,authorities still are discussing thefate of the uninsured cars,”notedPaata Lomidze, Director of GPIHolding.

Unfortunately, Georgia is lo-cated in a geographical area inwhich the probability of naturaldisasters is high. Based on inter-national practice, heads of statesalways call to include those di-sasters that are most likely tooccur in the country in compul-sory insurance.

According to the statistics ofthe Ministry of Environment andNatural Resources Protection ofGeorgia, there were about 34cases of storms in the countrywith a loss of 14.8 million USDduring the last five years. Floodsoccurred 89 times and broughtdamage amounting to 224 mil-lion USD. Landslides are themost frequent cases of naturaldisasters in Georgia, having oc-curred 1729 times in the last fiveyears to a loss of 298.5 millionUSD.

According to ACT, a leadingresearch and strategic consultingcompany in Caucasus region,one of the main reasons whypeople do not purchase insuranceis a lack of information about in-surance offers (47%) and thehigh price (23%). This was oneof the reasons for creating a newinsurance package, which nowprotects drivers from natural di-sasters free of charge.

Lomidze said that free insur-ance from natural disasters willhelp to avoid major expenses andit recalls the benefits and privi-leges of insurance itself. “Wewant insurance to become a hab-it, so for this point, first of all, itshould be available,” he said.

“You just have to come toGPI Holding’s office and ask forthis insurance. You do not haveto pay anything. Nevertheless, ifyou want additional insuranceservices, then you have to buy aseparate package,” he added.

GPI Holding is the first andonly insurance companies in

Georgia to provide this kind ofservice. This insurance packagealready has its first customers.The company noted that thepackage would be valid until theend of the year. Lomidze claimsthat at this stage, it is importantto give full information to peo-ple about this service and if itwill be demanded, GPI Holdingmay continue it next year.

“Currently there are 960,000registered cars in Georgia, andonly 51, 782 are insured. Whenwe were creating our new pack-age, we have taken into accountall the risks. And we want to saythat we are willing to serve allthese cars in the framework ofthis program. Of course, I doubtthat the owners of 960,000 carswill come to us, but if so, we areready for this,”said Lomidze.

June 13 flood damage in Tbilisi. By Zviad Nikolaishvili/GT

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Tbilisi hosted the first internationaldigital conference Future Georgia onAugust 15-16 during which twentyspeakers from Georgia and neighboringcountries shared their experiences andachievements, talked about business de-velopment and the necessity ofnew tech-nologies to bring products to a new lev-el. The Future Georgia Conference be-came an excellent platform to exchangeknowledge and create new projects, ac-cording to the Conference organizers.

“Recently in Georgia a large number ofcreative agencies were opened, startupslaunched, and people started to developthese areas. That is why it is important tohold such conferences with the participa-tion of foreign experts,”said Gigi Janelidze,

Co-organizer of Future Georgia.Digital media, branding, PR, market-

ing and IT were the main topics at theFuture Georgia Conference. Specialistsfrom Russia and Ukraine shared theirexperience and knowledge about digitalcommunication strategy, trends in me-dia, virality, startup strategy and more.

Ilya Krasilschik, publisher in Medu-za Project, described how to create qual-ity and leading media from zero in a shorttime, as well as how to build new kindsof relationships with partners and ad-vertisers. “Website banners are not rele-vant any more. Today we need to findnew ways to advertise. For example,Meduza, together with partners, createsgames. Recently, together with Airbnb,we offered our readers the chance to playa game and correlate an apartment andthe city,” said Krasilschik.

Speakers were not limited in time, onaverage they had about 20 minutes –enough time to discuss the most impor-tant things. Nevertheless, there were ex-ceptions, like Andrey Buzina, Founderof Smetana Viral Marketing Agencywhose speech about the effectiveness ofviral videos lasted more than an hour. “Ihad no idea that the viral video can be soeffective, interesting and not as irritatingas ordinary advertising is. It was so excit-ing that I did not even notice how timepassed,” said Yana Israelyan, Freelancejournalist and audience-member at theFuture Georgia Conference.

Future Georgia provided not just lec-ture sessions, but also roundtables withthe participation of representatives ofMeduza Project, Coub, Look At Mediaand Yandex. Participants talked abouthow to create and promote startups,

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LauncLauncLauncLauncLaunched in Georhed in Georhed in Georhed in Georhed in Georgiagiagiagiagiaacquire new skills and gain knowledge.The audience actively communicatedwith the speakers.

Opportunity to talk face-to-face withan interesting speaker was another ad-vantage of Future Georgia. “Beside in-spiration and practical information frommost of the Future Georgia’s speakers,it was very important, personally, forme to get some insights from AlphaBank’s Research and Development ChiefDmitry Andronov during the break,” saidShalva Bukia, Co-founder of In2circleIncorporated and audience member at theConference.

Andrey Manirko, one of the Co-orga-nizers of Future Georgia, noted that be-sides many positive feedbacks, there werequestions why so many Russians tookpart in the Conference. “Both Georgia

and Russia have emerging markets. Notso long ago, the Russian market was atthe same stage of development as Geor-gia is now, but the country was able todevelop and achieve high results, espe-cially in terms of media and startups.That’s why we thought that the Russianexample could be interesting and relativeto Georgia,” explaqined Manirko.

Georgian speakers also played a hugerole in Future Georgia Conference. Theirparticipation gave to the audience thechance to compare, catch the differenc-es and find out local success stories.Among Georgian speakers were LevanLepsveridze and Giorgi Avaliani fromLeavingstone Advertising Agency, whorecently gained a Bronze Lion in PR atthe Cannes Lions International Festivalof Creativity, and Sopio Elizbarashvilifrom Myvideo.ge, leading video platformin Georgia, who each told how they hadachieved their goals and are going to en-ter new markets.

Aside from the abundance of mar-keting and new technologies topics, Fu-tureGeorgia also highlighted topics likecontemporary art. TommyPetrov, Co-Founder of DaDa Agency, reported thatmodern art, theatre, cinema and adver-tising exist thanks to the era of Dada-ism. “The distinctive feature of Dada-ism was context changing- when you takesomething well known and add some-thing new, like Marcel Duchamp didwhen he painted a mustache on MonaLisa,”said Petrov.

Indeed, it seems that the main idea ofFuture Georgia Conference is all about Da-daism – you just need to take foreign expertknowledge and add something of your ownand fit it to the Georgian context.

Future Georgia Conference 2015 (from the Conference facebook page).

Georgia has rightly proved itselfready to host another successful in-vestment forum with September 18th2015 already marked on the calendarsof many international investors. Onthat day Cushman & Wakefield | Veri-tas Brown, together with the GeorgianNational Investment Agency and thegovernment of Autonomous Republicof Adjara, are planning to organize the“Investment Forum, Batumi 2015” atthe Hilton Hotel Batumi in the BlackSea Region. The aim of this forum is toprovide an intensive dialogue betweeninternational investors and Georgiancounterparts, with the view of efficientfuture cooperation.

Local and foreign investors, region-al and central government representa-tives, and business organizations willcome together to discuss various top-ics, including investment projects, pro-posals, investment climate character-istics and expansion of the commercialreal estate and hotel development sec-tor, something that has proved to be indemand for many years in Georgia.

“In recent years, Batumi has be-come not only a major tourism centerof the Black Sea region, but it’s alsothe most attractive investment desti-nation. This has resulted in a growinginterest towards the whole Adjara re-gion from both foreign and local inves-tors. The forum will provide potentialinvestors with an opportunity to getfamiliarized with Georgia’s attractiveinvestment environment, as the foreigndirect investment (FDI) inflow is themain priority for both central and re-gional governments. The aim of the fo-rum is to inform interested groupsabout the investment potential of theAdjara region, its leading economic sec-tors, and ongoing projects,” said Dav-id Baladze the Minister of Finance andEconomy of the Autonomous Repub-lic of Adjara.

A similar forum was organized inLondon in May 2015 by Cushman &Wakefield | Veritas Brown, togetherwith the Georgian National Investment

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Agency, and the event has definitelyshowed reported success. Georgia dem-onstrated itself to be an opportunisticmarket for investment and gained fur-ther international recognition as a com-petitive country to invest in.

“On behalf of Cushman & Wakefield| Veritas Brown, we fully support theinitiatives to bring additional investmentsto Georgia and look forward to a suc-cessful business forum on September18th,” said Steve Brown, Managing Part-ner at Cushman & Wakefield | VeritasBrown. “Meanwhile, attracting foreigndirect investment (FDI) is one of themain priorities for Georgia. Thus, a flex-ible investment environment, tax and leg-islative benefits, simplified companyregistration procedures, liberalized man-ufacturing regulations and a positiveapproach to foreign investors is a bigstep forward for attracting FDI to Geor-gia,” Brown continued.

It is obvious that this specific andother similar investment forums, willlead to Georgia’s further economic suc-cess, and undoubtedly this shall assistglobal investors to enter the Georgianmarket, increasing demand for variousreal estate properties, form new en-terprises and hospitality related áer-vices, and also the implementation oflarge-scale infrastructure projects; thisshall lead Georgia towards progressivedevelopment and vast economic suc-cess.

“Georgia has a fair, transparent and

secure investment environment, a vastuntapped potential in different sectorsof the economy, excellent geographiclocation and free trade agreements withstrategically important countries,” saidGiorgi Pertaia, Director of the Geor-gian National Investment Agency. “But,still to this day, one of the main chal-lenges for Georgia is awareness at in-ternational levels. This is why large-scale business events inside and out-side the country are very important forattracting more companies to Georgia.With the help of the Batumi 2015 in-vestment forum we aim to focus atten-tion on the advantages and business op-portunities in our country,” Pertaiasaid.

According to Pertaia, the Forum willbring together up to 250 business deci-sion makers and investors from the re-gion. “They will have direct access tothe representatives of government,consulting companies and organizationsproviding access to finance and we aresure that this will be a productive plat-form for engaging investors from thewider region into some large and medi-um-sized commercial projects in Geor-gia,” Pertaia added.

One thing is clear: Georgia has dem-onstrated repeated readiness to serveas a positive investment environment.Therefore, September 18th 2015 is asignificant date in the Georgian invest-ment climate, so Ready, Steady, GoGeorgia!

The Times Magazine released an anal-ysis explaining the 5 main reasons ofRussia’s economic decline based on somehigh-caliber research by leading expertsand organizations such as InternationalMonetary Fund or Pew Research Cen-ter.

“For the first time since 2009 - lowpoint of the global economic slowdown- Russia is in recession” - cites the pub-licationadding its economy will contract3 percent this year, though Moscow’s$360 billion in cash reserves will cush-ion the immediate blow.” It summarizesthat although Russia’s Vladimir Putin’scontinuedattempt to assert Russianpower on the international stage, it hasbecome clear that he is now ruling a “sub-merging market.”

Among the other hard problems, lackof diversification, high dependence on itsoil resources and no incentive to changeare some very aspects, which can simplyunderline Russia’s fragility in this tech-nology-based world of 21st century.

“For years, the Kremlin has support-ed and protected large state-owned com-panies at the expense of small and medi-um-sized enterprises (SMEs). But thosesmaller firms are the foundation of anystrong and well-diversified economy.SMEs spur innovation and respond ef-fectively to changing times, technologies,and consumer tastes. In the EU, SMEscontribute an average of 40 percent totheir respective countries’ GDP; in Rus-sia, SMEs contribute just 15 percent.Those are daunting figures for anyonelooking to start a business in Russia” –the Times emphasizes.

TTTTTakakakakakes Mores Mores Mores Mores More than 5 Fe than 5 Fe than 5 Fe than 5 Fe than 5 Facts to Explain Racts to Explain Racts to Explain Racts to Explain Racts to Explain Russia’ussia’ussia’ussia’ussia’s Economic Decs Economic Decs Economic Decs Economic Decs Economic DeclinelinelinelinelineWith the subtitle of “at the Mercy of

Oil Markets”, the analysis reviews Rus-sia’s dependence on oil prices citing theprice of oil has now fallen below $45 abarrel - welcome to the new normal.“OPEC continues to pump oil at histor-ic rates as it tries to price out competi-tors, and Iran expects to bring over amillion new barrels a day to world mar-kets after the lifting of international sanc-tions. These are deeply troubling devel-opments for Moscow, which relies onoil and gas sales for nearly 50 percent ofits government revenues”.

According to the article, Moscow’sgrowing so reliant on energy sales leadsit to the condition whenfor each dollarthe price of oil drops, Russia loses about$2 billion in potential sales.“For Russiato balance its budget, oil will need tosurge back to $100 a barrel.”

Considering Russia’s over-reliance oncrude oil (up 40 percent of Russia’s statebudget) - the country is left vulnerableto the current international sanctions.“Given the age of many existing fields,Russia will increasingly depend on cut-ting-edge technology from Western firmsto pump oil from difficult-to-reach shale

and deep-water reserves.”It seems thatRussia’s endeavors to turn for help toChinadoes not lead the country to alterthe western market because of China’slack ofthe technology Russia needs todraw those resources from the ground.According to the IMF the sanctionscould eventually cost Russia 9 percentof its GDP.

At the same time, Russia, which vi-tally needs rapid technological and eco-nomic growth to endure those westernsanctions and be a competitive force inthe world markets, it has rather optedfor something radically different.

Moreover, as the Time assumesRus-sians aren’t nearly as productive as foreach hour worked, the average Russianworker contributes $25.90 to Russia’sGDP, while the average for U.S. is $67.40.

There are other deadly elements, suchas endemic corruption, massive brain drainfrom the country, lack of freedom and nopotential to change – all of these make-one hard to predict the Russia’s positivedevelopment in the near future.“It’s nosurprise then that well-educated Russiansare leaving their country in droves. Be-tween 2012 and 2013, more than 300,000people left Russia in search of greenereconomic pastures, and experts believethat number has only risen since Mos-cow’s annexation of Crimea last year”.

The article ends with the assump-tion that “Putin knows what his peoplewant to hear however,It’s just not clearif he knows how to fix his flailing econ-omy.” In summation, there might be fivefacts but more to explain Russia’s eco-nomic decline.

AUGUST 21 - 271212121212 BUSINESS

Scott Hicks, Former Client Partner at Facebookand one of the region’s biggest experts in Facebookmarketing is delivering a half day workshop at theMarketing Kingdom Georgia 3, Georgia’s leadingmarketing event, taking place from 28-29 Septem-ber at the ExpoGeorgia in Tblisi.

We recently sat down with him and asked himabout his views and tips on today’s rapidly chang-ing marketing world. His fascinating anwers arebelow!

1. MOBILE AS A PRIORITY: With mobile-only users on facebook growing by 34%, and large-screen phones now accounting for more than one-quarter of all sales, brands need to think about howtheir social presence can cater to mobile users.Brand campaigns now need to start with mobile-first then scale up to desktop / laptop.Plan for ev-eryone to experience everything, from marketingemails through websites to social post, on mobile

Five Tips For Marketers By

Facebook’s Former Client Partnerexclusively.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT FREE: It’s nowa Pay-to-Play social world. Brands should investin smart social advertising (paid amplification).Take the time to dig deep on audience segmenta-tion and targeting on social platforms that are rightfor your brands. Focus on storytelling and use thepower of technology to add value in your commu-nications.

3. CONTENT MARKETING IS HARD BUTWORTH IT: Marketers will continue to be chal-lenged to produce meaningful / informative / en-tertaining content for more channels (social,websites, organic search, newsletters, press, paidsearch and more). Brands should be smart abouthow content can be leveraged and repurposed, andlook to their social audiences (fans) as inspiredsources of content that can be curated into authen-tic and highly sharable brand relevant content.

4. ONLINE VIDEO ISN’T JUST ABOUTYOUTUBE ANYMORE: From short video onTwitter’s Vine channel and Instagram, to even short-er GIFs on Tumblr, and full length shows on face-book, digital video is here to stay and is growingway beyond its traditional home on YouTube.Brands need to understand how to leverage videoacross their full marketing mix and look for morecreative (and less expensive) ways to produce vid-eo content.

5. SOCIAL SHOPPING: From Twitter Prod-uct Cards to the facebook “Buy” button, social com-merce is quickly gaining traction giving brands yeta new way to drive sales. Brands need to under-stand how to blend storytelling with commerce, andleverage / facilitate friends recommendations in away that adds value Vs being intrusive.

If you want to meet Scott and 10 other market-ing gurus from Coca-Cola, Unilever, P&G, VisaInternational and BBC get your ticket today for theMarketing Kingdom Georgia 3 by visiting theevent’s official website:

http://www.thepworld.com/pevents/event/99/marketing-kingdom-georgia-3

Scott Hicks, Former Client Partner at Facebook.

AUGUST 21 - 27 1313131313SOCIETY

Every year, on 12th of August, youthis placed in the center of public atten-tion. The International Youth Day isan annual celebration of the role ofyoung women and men as essentialpartners and key agents for change. Itis an opportunity to raise awareness ofthe challenges and hardships facing theworld’s youth, and celebrate the ac-tions they take around the world toimprove their well-being and that oftheir communities. This year, the maintheme of the day was “Youth CivicEngagement,” to commemorate theimportance of youth civic activism forsustainable development.

As the part of the worldwide cel-ebration, UNFPA Georgia CountryOffice organized an amateur versionof the intellectual game “What?Where? When?”. They invited morethan 50 young participants to competein answering questions from various

United NaUnited NaUnited NaUnited NaUnited Nations Ptions Ptions Ptions Ptions Populaopulaopulaopulaopulation Fund (UNFPtion Fund (UNFPtion Fund (UNFPtion Fund (UNFPtion Fund (UNFPA) MarA) MarA) MarA) MarA) Marks Interks Interks Interks Interks Internananananational tional tional tional tional YYYYYouth Daouth Daouth Daouth Daouth Day in Geory in Geory in Geory in Geory in Georgiagiagiagiagiafields- including the representatives ofdifferent NGOs and initiative groupsactive in youth-related issues such ashealthcare, social protection, education,employment, development and civicengagement. At the end of the intellec-tual game, members of the winner teamswere awarded gifts and certificates bythe UNFPA Georgia Country Office.

“The event was great. We were happyto have the opportunity to demonstrateour knowledge and get awarded for it.We found the questions interesting andchallenging and the prizes were alsovery attractive. I hope there are moresuch events in the future, so that we canparticipate and engage more,” saidGiorgi Mikeladze 24, member of thewinning team.

UNFPA is the leading UN Agencythat advances the rights and opportuni-ties of young people. UNFPA’s effortsto promote youth leadership and partici-

pation enable young people to developthe skills, knowledge and supportneeded to make informed decisionsabout their bodies, lives, families, com-munities, countries and the world.UNFPA has been supporting the govern-ment in development of the NationalYouth Policy and the Action Plan inGeorgia, which aims at establishing anenabling environment for the compre-hensive development of youth to fullyrealize their potential.

“Young people are driving changetowards a better future in the world.Unfortunately, there still exist barriersprecluding their full development andparticipation. Even today, adolescentgirls are often burdened by child mar-riage, sexual violence and unplannedpregnancies, preventing their develop-ment and full participation. It is impos-sible to achieve country’s sustainabledevelopment without investing in power

1878 of1878 of1878 of1878 of1878 of Cha Cha Cha Cha Chateau Mukhrteau Mukhrteau Mukhrteau Mukhrteau Mukhrani is Morani is Morani is Morani is Morani is More than a Re than a Re than a Re than a Re than a Restaurestaurestaurestaurestaurant...ant...ant...ant...ant...

Day dates back to 1999, when theUnited Nations General Assembly de-clared 12 August International YouthDay.“I am calling on young people tospeak out – and I am urging leaders tolisten,” – for International Youth Day,Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ap-plauded young people’s activities andfresh ideas in finding solutions to glo-bal challenges.

The event in Tbilisi was organizedwith the support of the UNFPA Geor-gia Country Office by the Youth Ini-tiative Group established within theAdvocacy Campaign “Youth Voice”,which is a regional initiative takingplace in the countries of Eastern Eu-rope and Central Asia region, aimingto ensure a broad consultation and co-ordination with the young people inthe region and their full participationin the ongoing discussion around thepost-2015 development framework.

of youth, their education and health, andenhanced civic engagement, as well aswithout creating equal opportunities forall adolescents and young people fordevelopment of their full potential. Thiscan be only achieved by multi-sectoralapproach in partnership with youngpeople”, - Lela Bakradze, Assistant Rep-resentative at UNFPA Georgia CountryOffice.

The history of the International Youth

By Mako Jaoshvili for Rest-oratormagazine

More than Wine! This is how I fa-miliarized myself with ChateauMukhrani a few years ago. Afterwards,the charm of the first impression attractsme even more and fills me with warmmemories of the place. Although thereare many magnificent places in Geor-gia, Chateau Mukhrani is still different.What makes it distinguished, you ask?It’s incomparable with its unique climateand amazing forest-park. The nameMukhrani valley comes from the Geor-gian word for oak, and the whole terri-tory is as strong as the roots of an oak.The historical glory and gravity haveclearly remained. Right after entering

the fenced area, you feel the power ofthe Mukhranbatoni magnet and pass intoa different time zone.

Chateau Mukhrani, implemented in1876, is the first Georgian chateau, pre-serving a unique concept that was ac-quired during the visit to France of IvaneMukhranbatoni, representative of theBagrationi dynasty. The IvaneMukhranbatoni Castle has been returned

to its renowned beauty and former ap-pearance in recent years. Also, gradu-ally the Mukhrani products have beenreintroduced and now represent a blendof traditional and modern technologies.

Those who have at least once visitedthis land will agree that the wine here istruly more than just wine, with its glori-ous and harmonious aroma and exquis-iteness. The legend says that all impor-tant issues of the country’s fate werediscussed here, that each feast was acelebration of arts. The photo archivesshow that the society that gathered herehad distinguished intellect and educa-tion.. There was a time when big Ilia andAkaki, Platon Ioseliani and many re-nowned public figures visited the place.Historical sources suggest that the

Mukhranian wine, meals and hospital-ity proved the rich taste and generosityof Mukhranbatoni. Look how “taste-fully” the 133-years-old feast is de-scribed: ‘Silk baghdads, clay jugs, horns,jars, Kakhetian bread and lavash (Geor-gian bread)... abundant and various pi-laf, different types of mushroom witheggs, pears... roast asparagus, fish ofseveral species and cooked varyingly.Food made of Matsoni, whipped sourmilk and so on and so on.”

The wine cellar is one of the mostprominent places of the four main wealthsof Chateau Mukhrani. Receiving guestsaccording to the old Georgian traditionsis a real honor indeed. This is a restoredGeorgian historical monument, a resur-rected epoch; it is caring for the names

of our ancestors. What a responsibilityto keep everything that is real and royalat the same time. The name too has beenchosen elegantly: Royal Marani, the wallsof which have witnessed numerous in-teresting stories since 1878.Not to talktoo long, and as they say it is better totaste once than read a hundred times, sohead out of Tbilisi towards Mtskheta andin as little as 25 minutes enter 19th cen-tury Mukhrani. Feel the harmoniousblend of historic roots with the contem-porary in the cozy interior of the restau-rant. The royal wine and the service ofinternational standards creates a remark-able blend, which makes ChateauMukhrani a place that will excite andequally fascinate both Georgian and for-eign guests alike.

Ivane Mukhranbatoni and a spread ofnatural products in the grounds ofChateau Mukhrani. Photo:chateaumukhrani.com.

AUGUST 21 - 27 1515151515CULTURE

WHAT'S ON IN TBILISIJune 27 – October 31“GEORGIANS IN WORLD WARII” IS AN EXHIBITIONDEDICATED TO THE 70THANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORYOVER FASCISM.

IOSEB GRISHASHVILI TBILISIHISTORY MUSEUM - KARVASLAAddress: 8 Sioni St.Telephone: 2 98 22 81

SERGO PARAJANOVI – “21STCENTURY DREAM”

SHALVA AMIRANASHVILIMUSEUM OF ART

Address: 1 Lado Gudiashvili St.Telephone: 2 99 99 09www.museum.ge

THE EXHIBITION “MADE INKALLININGRAD”Artists participating in the project:Oleg Bliablias, Yury Vassilev, AleksejÈhebikin, Alexandr Podoprigov, ElenaTsvetaeva, Evgeni Umansk, “SanDonato” Group, “Gentle Woman”Group, “Common Wince” Group,Danil Akimov, Dmitry Selin, EvgenyPalamarchuk, Topp & Dubio(Nederlands)

THE NATIONAL GALLERYAddress: 11 Rustaveli Ave.www.museum.ge

PIROSMANI’S 150THThe National Gallery is hostingpictures of David Kakabadze (1889-1952) and Lado Gudiashvili (1896-1980) together with sculptures ofIakob Nikoladze (1876-1951) andphotographs from the NationalArchives of Georgia and IakobNikoladze House-Museum depictingthe sculptor’s life and creative work.

June 17 – August 23THE EXHIBITION “THECAUCASUS FRONT THROUGHNINO JORJADZE’S CAMERALENS” THAT IS DEDICATED TO

AMIRANI CINEMAAddress: 36 Kostava St.Telephone: 299 99 55www.kinoafisha.ge

August 14-21

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.Directed by Guy RitchieCast: Henry Cavill, ArmieHammer, Alicia VikanderGenre: Action, Adventure, ComedyLanguage: EnglishStart time: 19:50Language: RussianStart time: 12:25, 15:00, 17:35,20:10, 22:40Ticket price: 7.50 – 12.50 Lari

IRRATIONAL MAN Directed by Woody AllenCast: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone,Parker PoseyGenre: Drama, Mystery Language: RussianStart time: 17:45, 20:00, 22:20Ticket price: 9.50 – 12.50 Lari

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUENATIONDirected by Christopher McQuarrieCast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner,Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson,Alec BaldwinGenre: Action, Adventure, ThrillerLanguage: RussianStart time: 12:00, 14:55Ticket price: 7.50 – 9.50 Lari

SOUTHPAWDirected by Antoine FuquaCast: Jake Gyllenhaal, RachelMcAdams, Oona LaurenceGenre: Action, Drama, SportLanguage: RussianStart time: 22:30Ticket price: 11.50 – 12.50 Lari

RUSTAVELI CINEMAAddress: 5 Rustaveli Ave.Telephone: 255 50 00www.kinoafisha.ge

August 14-21

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.(Info Above)Language: RussianStart time: 12:25, 15:00, 17:35,20:10, 22:40Ticket price: 7.50 – 12.50 Lari

THE VATICAN TAPESDirected by Mark NeveldineCast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, MichaelPeña, Dougray ScottGenre: Horror, ThrillerLanguage: RussianStart time: 12:00, 20:10, 22:20Ticket price: 7.50 – 12.50 Lari

PIXELS 3 DDirected by Chris ColumbusCast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James,Michelle MonaghanGenre: Action, Comedy, Sci-FiLanguage: RussianStart time: 14:05Ticket price: 8.50 – 9.50 Lari

ANT-MANDirected by Peyton ReedCast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas,Corey StollGenre: Action, Sci-FiLanguage: RussianStart time: 17:20Ticket price: 9.50 – 10.50 Lari PAPER TOWNSDirected by Jake SchreierCast: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne,Austin AbramsGenre: Drama, Mystery, RomanceLanguage: RussianStart time: 14:50Ticket price: 8.50 – 9.50 Lari

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUENATION(Info Above)Language: RussianStart time: 16:30, 19:50, 22:40Ticket price: 8.50 – 12.50 Lari

MUSEUM OF SOVIETOCCUPATION

Address: 1 Rustaveli ave.Telephone: 2 99 80 22

THE EXHIBITION IS DEDICATEDTO THE HISTORY OF THE ANTI-OCCUPATIONAL, NATIONAL-LIB-ERATION MOVEMENT OF GEOR-GIA AND TO THE VICTIMS OF THESOVIET POLITICAL REPRESSIONTHROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD.Here, visitors can encounter thestate’s personal files of “subversive”Georgian public figures, orders toshoot or exile, and other artifactsrepresenting Soviet-era cultural andpolitical repression in Georgia. Theexhibition hall is equipped withmonitors, where visitors can watchdocumentaries of various historicalevents. The exhibition also includesone of the train carriages in which theparticipants of the national uprisingof 1924 were executed. It is alsodedicated to the history of the anti-occupational, national-liberationmovement of Georgia and to thevictims of the Soviet politicalrepression throughout this period.

SIMON JANASHIA MUSEUMOF GEORGIA

Address: 3 Rustaveli Ave.Telephone: 2 99 80 22

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURE

Examples of work by early Georgiangoldsmiths were discovered duringarcheological excavations, and arecurrently reserved in the archeologicaltreasury. The exhibition presentsthree periods development in thehistory of Georgian goldwork, fromthe 3rd century BCE to the 4thcentury CE:KURGAN CULTURE (3-2 BCE),“GOLDEN FLEECE COLKHETI”(8- 3 BCE), KINGDOM OFKARTLI-IBERIA (3RD CENTURYBCE-4TH CENTURY CE).

CINEMA THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OFTHE WWI.Nino Jorjadze is the first Georgianwoman photographer to create avariety of photo series about WWIthat reflects the diverse andthematically rich history.

For the first time at the expositionwill be presented Nino Jorjadze’sphotos, letters, diaries, documentsand personal items from the CaucasusFront in 1914-1918. Additionally,photos from the family archives willbe shown which have been restoredby the Georgian National Museum’sphoto-paper conservation laboratory.

GALLERY NECTARAddress: 16 Agmashenebeli Ave.Telephone: 295 00 21

July 21 - August 22CATRIN BOLTGIORGI OKROPIRIDZEPRINZGAU/PODGORSCHEKThe four artists who are all living inVienna are working completelydifferent, both formally andconceptually. They never exhibited inthis combination, the exhibition andart-works are both experimental.

BAIA GALLERYAddress: 10 Chardin StrTelephone: 2 75 45 10

GEORGIAN ART XX-XXICENTURY

LISI WAREHOUSEAddress: Lisi lake

August 28MINIBUS AND SHOWPROPRESENTS

MINUS SHOWCASE:

RICHIE HAWTINMATADOR LiveWHYT NOYZ

Support byGREENBEAM & LEONStart time: 00:00Ticket price: 50 Lari

MUSEUM

MUSIC

GALLERY

The short movie ‘Father,’ by Geor-gian director Data Pirtskhalava and co-financed by TBC Bank, was named theBest Short Movie at the 2015 LocarnoFilm Festival.

The work, the winning project ofthe 2014 Georgian National CinemaCenter competition, participated inthe Pardi di Domani section of the in-ternational film festival program whichis devoted to future talent.

TBC Bank financially participatedin the production of the movie as well

TBC Bank-Financed Film TBC Bank-Financed Film TBC Bank-Financed Film TBC Bank-Financed Film TBC Bank-Financed Film WWWWWins ains ains ains ains at Locart Locart Locart Locart Locarno Film Fno Film Fno Film Fno Film Fno Film Festiestiestiestiestivvvvvalalalalalas financing the competition an-nounced by the Georgian National Cin-ema Center with an additional 100 000Lari. This contribution increased thefund of film production and made itpossible to finance more films thanplanned.

This was the first precedent of aprivate business getting involved infilm production together with a statesubsidy with the goal of supportingthe development of cinematography inthe country.

Kotetishvili, ‘First Day’ by TamarShavgulidze, ‘Funeral Man’ byTornike Bziava, ‘Exit’ by VakhoJajanidze, and ‘Preparation’ by GiorgiTsilosani. The premieres of the mov-ies were held in Amirani movie theatreon July 1st.

Locarno Film Festival has been heldin Locarno, Switzerland since 1964and is known as the festival of discov-eries, with the successful careers ofmany film directors or actors startingthere.

In addition to the Locarno FilmFestival’s winning movie, Father, TBC

Bank co-financed production of thefollowing movies: ‘Ogasavara’ by Tato

By Tamar Svanidze

Pen-and-ink narrates the history ofthe world. No less so in Georgia. Andnow twenty-two years of 17th centuryGeorgia, as viewed by an Italian Mis-sionary, are now available for the publicto enjoy in Tbilisi.

Georgian Art Palace (Museum ofTheatre, Music, Cinema and Choreog-raphy), Director, George Kalandia, thisweek announced that the National Li-brary of Ireland has given the Palace cop-ies of the pen-and-ink sketches paintedby Italian missionary Teramo Christo-pher de Castelli in the 17th century, dur-ing his travels around Georgia.

“This unique collection of Castelli’swork encompasses paintings that havenot yet been published. My aunt MedeaKalandia funded the creation of copiesof the album,” Kalandia said.

Teramo Cristoforo de Castelli was anItalian missionary from Genoa’s noblefamily. He arrived in the Caucasus in 1632

Italian MissionarItalian MissionarItalian MissionarItalian MissionarItalian Missionary’y’y’y’y’s C17th Ps C17th Ps C17th Ps C17th Ps C17th Pen-and-Ink Sken-and-Ink Sken-and-Ink Sken-and-Ink Sken-and-Ink Sketcetcetcetcetches Nohes Nohes Nohes Nohes Now in w in w in w in w in TbilisiTbilisiTbilisiTbilisiTbilisiwith a group of missionaries and spenttwenty-two years in Georgia. During hisjourney he kept a detailed sketchbook ofhis travel experiences in Catholic missionsin Georgia’s western region of Samegrelo,then an independent kingdom.

He left seven volumes of travel notesand pen-and-ink sketches and other il-lustrations, mainly of the people andlandscapes of Georgia.

The seven albums, which include thou-sands of illuminated papers and handwrit-ten reports, had been forgotten until thepriest Gioacchino di Marzo found themin 1878 in the Libreria Comunale ofPalermo, referred to formerly as the Houseof Theatins, and saved them.

The Georgian public learnt about thealbums only at the beginning of the 20thcentury when Georgian catholic MikhailTamarati found the albums in Palermo,photographed half of them and sent themto Georgia in 1910, where they wereplaced in keeping at the National Centerof Manuscripts.

The albums revealed not only thefaces of Georgian kings which were pre-viously unknown, but also the costumesof the time as well as much informationin various fields like art, history, geogra-phy, ethnography and local life.

When Georgia became part of theSoviet Union, the authorities preventedscientists of the time from going to West-ern Europe to study the albums. Conse-quently, they based their research on thephotos but not the original albums andthe studies at the time did not hold accu-rate information about the albums.

Several Georgian and Italian scholarsstudied the albums from 1970 to 1990and published a section of the albums,however, the studies were not withoutinaccuracies.

These precious art works of the Ital-ian missionary Teramo Cristoforo deCastelli are currently on display in Tbilisiat the Georgian State Museum of The-atre, Cinema, Music and Choreography.Don’t miss your chance to see them!

Pen-and-ink sketches painted by Italian missionary Teramo Christopher de Castelli in the17th century, during his travels around Georgia.

AUGUST 21 - 27 1717171717CULTUREBy Tony Hanmer

This trip to Canada, nearly over,marks the first such trip here, or any-where outside my Svaneti mountains,during which I won’t have visited thelargest bookshop I could find and spentsome hours there just... browsing.

In Canada, it’s usually a Chaptersbranch in Edmonton, supermarket-sizedand with its own Starbucks built in. Abibliophile’s paradise, where no one tellsyou you’ve been there too long, and youcan wander from section to section,checking out what’s new since you werelast in. Take a book, or a stack of them,find a sofa, and absorb for a while. Readin the coffee shop, drink among thebookshelves.

Once, short of time and ideas forChristmas, I gave everyone on my fam-ily list the same thing: a $10 gift certifi-cate to Chapters. (We have price limitson Christmas presents in my family, tohelp us focus on the meaning of thisholiday). Only one family membercouldn’t imagine finding anything use-ful among the tens of thousands of bookson offer, and so gave their card to an-other. This made me angry, but it’s a freeworld. Everyone else found somethingjust right for themselves.

When I lived in south-west Englandfrom 1990 through mid-1991, I had li-brary cards to my village branch, as wellas that of the town three miles away andthe bigger town about twelve miles fur-ther. For me, one of the things whichhas defined “a place I can live in” hasbeen to have either a library or a

PPPPPaaaaaggggge to Pixe to Pixe to Pixe to Pixe to Pixelselselselsels

bookshop, preferably both, the latter ide-ally offering old as well as new works.

The last thing I do before turning outmy night light is... read a few pages. Truestory, ask my wife.

So what’s changed on this trip? HaveI stopped reading?

No, but I’m mostly reading screensnow, instead of pages.

Don’t get me wrong—I love the verysmell, the feel and look of printed books.Always have, always will.

But whenever I travelled, it used tobe my habit to attempt to take a book

for every day of being away from home,lug them all with me somehow. Not be-cause I expected to read a book a day,but simply to have a good subset of thechoices my home library afforded me.A heavy habit at the best of times.

For a few years now, I’ve switchedto an e-book reader. I started out withthe smallest one I could find, the cheap-est and least feature-filled in order tohave wasted the least money if I waswasting my time. So, black and whiteand grays only, no sound or video capa-bilities, not even needing to have wi-fi.Just a half-decent storage capability; say,minimum half a gigabyte, to giveenough choice of material, and prefer-ably sized to fit a big pocket while in itscase. A Kobo Mini or a small Sonymodel, now discontinued, have been mychoices so far, both serving well. Theydon’t flicker a whit, have long batterylives and are sharp and contrasty enoughnot to strain my eyes at all. Even a built-in light isn’t a necessity.

Was it an easy switch? Much sim-pler than I thought it could be for a bookfanatic like myself, who amassed 700“real” books in St Petersburg, Russia,and then 800 in Tbilisi, Georgia. I’venever looked back, really. The sheer

convenience of the thing has persuadedme. I’m still getting the reading experi-ence, after all, which is really the point.Now, I’m selling most of my library toProspero’s in Tbilisi.

The ones I’ll likely never sell are themost expensive or irreplaceable ones,old volumes not yet digitized or thoseunlikely to be digitized soon, and a fewfirst editions. Chiefly, these types belongto my library’s extensive Caucasus sec-tion, which I like to think might be oneof the best personal collections on thesubject in the country. These books wereexpensive or difficult to buy, and I hopethat they can provide much useful in-formation to other people as well.

Plus, a good friend who is a locallibrary’s boss recently provided me withsomething I haven’t owned for more than25 years: a library card, valid for the next20 years (by the end of which, likely, wewill be in another state altogether, one inwhich these terms and ideas havechanged beyond recognition). This cardmeans so much more than it used to. Withit, I can now access physical books acrossCanada. In addition, worldwide via theinternet, I have a portal to the electronicside of the modern library: magazines,e-books, newspapers, multimedia, video,audio and training materials. Wow. I’mgood to go.

Like I said, the reading hasn’tstopped for me. Only its form haschanged; the enjoyment and usefulnesscontinue.

My traveling companions of old...

Tony Hanmer runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now withover 1000 members, atwww.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ .He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

By Alastair Watt

It was with a heavy heart that JabaKankava, captain of Georgia, left Ukrai-nian club Dnipro after eight years to joinFrench Ligue 1 side Reims on a three-year contract last week.

Kankava had helped Dnipro to thefinal of last season’s UEFA EuropaLeague, where they lost 3-2 in a thrill-ing Warsaw final to Sevilla, but despiteon-field success the club face severeproblems off it. Reports in Ukrainianmedia claimed that Dnipro’s players hadnot been paid for several months withsome key players already leaving theside this summer for pastures new.

Yevhen Konoplyanka moved toSevilla for whom he scored on his com-petitive debut last week in Tbilisi in theincredible Super Cup loss to Barcelona,meanwhile Croatian striker NikolaKalinic departed for Italian side Fioren-tina last week as Dnipro’s storied EuropaLeague final side began to dismantle.

Kankava’s bullish and tenaciousstyle made him popular with the Dniprofans, particularly toward the end of histime in Ukraine. However, at 29 yearsof age and the aforementioned salarytroubles at the Ukrainian side, the lureand security of a three-year contract inone of Europe’s strongest leagues wastoo attractive to resist.

While Stade de Reims may not be awell-known name among younger fansin Europe today, the French club wasonce a European force.

From 1948 to 1962, Reims won animpressive six French titles and twoFrench Cups. During that golden age forthe Champagne-Ardenne side, Reimscompeted twice in the European Cupfinal, one of those being the inauguralcompetition in 1956.

In front of nearly 40,000 people atthe Parc des Princes in Paris, Reims were

2-0 up within ten minutes against RealMadrid only for the Spaniards, spear-headed by Argentinian legend Alfredodi Stefano, to emerge as 4-3 victors.

A re-match followed in 1959 withReal winning 2-0 in Stuttgart, and diStefano again the tormentor.

Reims were also home to World Cupphenomenon Just Fontaine, the Frenchstriker whose haul of 13 goals at the1958 World Cup in Sweden remains arecord to this day.

Decades of dwindling unimpres-sively between French football’s firstand second tiers followed, with Reimseventually encountering financial diffi-culties in the early 1990s that wouldforce its reformation, starting from theamateur leagues.

Years of struggle finally concludedin 2012 when Reims gained promotionback to France’s top league, Ligue 1,after a 33-year exile.

Returning the club to its glory dayswould be nothing short of a miracle inthe current football climate where ParisSaint-Germain and their Arab backerscan lure the like of Uruguay’s EdinsonCavani and Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahi-movic to the French capital.

Marseille, Lyon and Lille are alsoequipped with expensive players asReims’ modest aim is to survive in thedivision, something they managed lastseason relatively comfortably, finishing15th in a 20-team league where the bot-tom three sides are relegated.

Nevertheless, Kankava arrives withhis new club excelling in the new sea-son, having won both of their openingfixtures against relative glamor sidesBordeaux and Marseille.

This begs the question, will Kankavafind a place in the starting eleven?

The grand welcome he was given dur-ing last weekend’s victory over Marseilleand the fact Reims parted 1.5 million eu-

AUGUST 21 - 27 1919191919SPORTS

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column,and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

See answers in the next issue

www.sudoku.comAnswers to previous puzzles

By Nina Ioseliani

On September 5, Tbilisi will host theRed Bull BC One Eastern Europe Final2015. Red Bull BC One is a global cel-ebration of Hip Hop, combining dance,music, style and art.

The event, which is being held inTbilisi circus, has been held in the citysince 2011.

This year will see Top 16 B-Boys andB-Girls of the region participating- withtwelve different countries representedduring the Final, including breakers

RRRRRed Bull BC One Eastered Bull BC One Eastered Bull BC One Eastered Bull BC One Eastered Bull BC One Eastern Eurn Eurn Eurn Eurn Europe Final in ope Final in ope Final in ope Final in ope Final in TbilisiTbilisiTbilisiTbilisiTbilisifrom Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria andAzerbaijan.

Each participant will have to showher or his best moves and rhythm ofdance. The winner will take part in RedBull BC One World Finals in Rome onNovember 14.

This competition will be led byRed Bull BC One’s all-stars such asLilou, Pelezinho and Mounir. Tick-ets will be available in Tbilisi circusticket offices and at biletebi.ge. Thefun and games kick off on Septem-ber 5 at 9pm.

GeorGeorGeorGeorGeorgian Cagian Cagian Cagian Cagian Captain Jptain Jptain Jptain Jptain Jaaaaaba Kba Kba Kba Kba Kankaankaankaankaankavvvvva’a’a’a’a’s Nes Nes Nes Nes Newwwww

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ros for his services, combined with beinggiven the number 4 shirt, all suggest thatKankava will be a mainstay in the Reimsside but he may need to be patient beforemaking the initial breakthrough.

He certainly won’t be short of Geor-gian sporting colleagues in France witha vast number of Georgia’s nationalrugby team based there, while nationalteammate Tornike Okriashvili is just ashort trip over the border in Belgium atRacing Genk.

As the French newspaper articlesconfirm, Kankava is best known in Eu-rope not for his admired footballing tal-ents, but rather an incident where hesaved the life of an opponent.

In 2014, Dynamo Kyiv’s OlehHusyev collided with a player, swallow-ing his tongue in the process. Airwaysblocked, the Kyiv man’s life was in dan-ger but Kankava reacted bravely to ad-minister the necessary help. His actionsearned him plaudits across the continentand was even awarded the Ukrainianorder of merit.

Kankava will hope to make hisReims debut this weekend at Nantes, butsoon his attentions will switch to inter-national football as he returns to theGeorgian squad following the suspen-sion that never was.

In June, Georgia played Poland inWarsaw in a Euro 2016 qualifier for

which head coach Kakha Tskhadadzewas wrongly informed that Kankavawas suspended for the match. The Geor-gian administrators had been undone bya change in UEFA’s rules whereby aplayer was to be banned after collectingthree yellow cards, not two.

Georgia face Scotland on September4 in Tbilisi before travelling to Dublinto face Ireland three days later.

Though Georgia’s hopes of reachingEuro 2016 have long vanished, the Scotsand Irish will have to carefully navigatetheir way past a Georgian side with noth-ing to lose, and a captain relishing a newlife at one of Europe’s forgotten historicclubs.

GENERAL MANAGER - George Sharashidze

BUSINESS MANAGER - Iva Merabishvili

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF - Katie Ruth DaviesCOPY EDITOR - Alastair WattJOURNALISTS: Alastair Watt, Tony Hanmer, Tamar Svanidze, Joseph Alexander Smith, Zviad Adzinbaia, Joseph Larsen,Beqa Kirtava, Meri Taliashvili, Eka Karsaulidze, Baia Dzagnidze, Zaza Jgharkava, Teona Surmava, Ana Lomtadze, MakaBibilashvili, Nino Melikishvili, Nina Ioseliani, Tatia Megeneishvili, Karen Tovmasyan, Nino Gegidze, Dimitri Dolaberidze,Nino Japarashvili, Maka Lomadze, George AbashviliPHOTOGRAPHER: Zviad NikolaishviliTECHNICAL SUPPORT: Misha MchedlishviliCIRCULATION MANAGERS: David Kerdikashvili, David Djandjgava

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