Tuesday, October 23, 2007, #202 (1469)

Press Scanner
Prepared by Diana Dundua

“Nino Burjanadze delivered presents to Dighomi orphanage”
Akhali Taoba reports that Speaker of Parliament Nino Bujranadze delivered gifts to a Dighomi orphanage on October 21.
The gifts include encyclopedias, schoolbooks, a TV and candy.
Burjanadze is also arranging for the children to take a trip to eastern Georgia’s Kakheti province, where they will visit Bodbe and the newly renovated Sighnaghi.
Their orphanage will also undergo repairs, and a small sports stadium will be built.
“I’m happy we brought good and useful presents for them. We knew that schoolbooks are pretty expensive, and we did our best to give them the books they needed for studies,” explained Burjanadze.

“Georgian-Russian negotiations in Geneva finished without any effective results”
Negotiations on Russian accession to the WTO went nowhere, Mteli Kvira writes.
Moscow and Tbilisi officials met in Geneva for the talks; Georgia is the last staunch opponent of Russian WTO accession, a process which requires unanimous consent from current members.
The Russian delegation was headed by a senior Economic Development Ministry official, Maxim Medvedkov. The Georgian team was led by deputy Minister of Economic Development Tamar Kovziridze.
According to Medvedkov, the Georgian side repeated its demand to legalize the Roki Tunnel and Psou customs checkpoints, both situated on the de jure Georgian-Russian border but within de facto secessionist territory, in return for allowing Russian accession to the trade organization.
“Moscow cannot satisfy this demand at this stage,” the Russian official said.
The next round of talks will be in two or three weeks, and Medvedkov remained optimistic a consensus could be found, the newspaper writes.

“The opposition presents its demands to the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus”
Representatives of the opposition coalition met with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby at the Tbilisi Marriott on October 21, reports Sakartvelos Respublika.
Coalition members, including Labor politician Soso Shatberashvili, said they presented Semneby with the demands outlined a joint manifesto released last week.
The opposition’s manifesto calls for democratic elections; a European-style parliamentary government; an independent judiciary; the restoration of territorial integrity; more local government; an end to political violence; a free press; enforcement of property rights; freedom for entrepreneurs; a minimum living wage and higher pensions; national integration for minorities; a hands-off approach to the Church; and quitting the CIS while moving towards NATO and the EU.
Opposition politicians say they talked with Semneby about the planned November 2 protest in front of parliament.
“This will be a peace action. We request Peter Semneby to deliver our warning to the government officials, to tell them not to use force during the rally,” Shatberashvili stated.
Semneby says he will try to encourage dialogue between the opposition and the administration, the newspaper writes.

“Paata Burchuladze concert held in Moscow”
Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall hosted a concert by world-famous Georgian tenor Paata Burchuladze, Sakartvelos Respublika writes.
The tenor sang selections from operas by Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.
Georgians living in Moscow were in attendance



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