American company to help government in organizing international events

By Tea Mariamidze

Thursday, August 20

An American lobbyist company will receive 1.3 million for arranging important events for the government

The PM says that the government pays a miserable amount of money to lobbyist companies for their activities

The details of the agreement, made between the government and the American lobbyist company Pillsbury in April, have been publicized by Levan Alapishvili.

According to the contract, the service of the company will cost the government 1.3 million Dollars and the first event the company will organize, is the visit of Georgian delegation at the70th assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New-York, at the end of September.

The analyst Levan Alapishvili approves this decision of the government, saying that the lobbyist company should have been hired a long time before.

“The government would have had more productive relationship with UN or US politicians if it had made this step before, but only the assistance from lobbyist companies will not develop the country, unless serious reforms are made,” the analyst stated.

The opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), approves the steps of the government and says that such decisions are necessary for the international image of Georgia.

“This is the right step, but we do not see the right accents in the contract; the main direction of this lobbyist company should be the actualization of Georgia on the background of Russian aggression, which is not seen,” UNM member Davit Darchiashvili said.

According to the diplomat and former Chairman of the Committee on European Integration, Viktor Dolidze, the necessity of lobbyist company assistance, indicates the inability of the government to work properly.

“These steps of government indicate the absence of coordinative work in the area; they should have spent this money on social projects,” said Dolidze.

Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili does not speak much about the agreement, saying that the service of the lobbyist company will cost nearly 40,000 USD a month.

“This agreement is a public document and anyone can see it; we are doing business,” he said.

The delegations of both the PM and the President are going to attend the 70th assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New-York at the end of September, where Gharibashvili intends to deliver his speech at the assembly while the President will take part in a conference dedicated to women’s rights after being invited by the Lithuanian President.