The News in Brief
Friday, December 14
Mikheil Saakashvili attends European People’s Party summit
President Mikheil Saakashvili is attending the European People’s Party summit on the personal invitation of the event's organizer, the President’s official Facebook webpage says.
The main topics of the summit are the common values and aspirations of European leaders.
Leaders of European countries, the President of the Council of Europe as well as representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament are attending the summit. (IPN)
PM Ivanishvili plans to visit Azerbaijan
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili will visit Azerbaijan in late December, his press office said on Thursday. The announcement was made after a meeting between PM Ivanishvili and Azeri Ambassador to Georgia Azer Huseyn on December 13th. During the visit to Baku Ivanishvili will meet his Azeri counterpart Artur Rasizade and President Ilham Aliyev.
It will be Ivanishvili’s second foreign trip after taking the PM’s office in late October. He visited Brussels in mid-November. (Civil.ge)
Situation in Georgia discussed in Washington
Economic and political developments and the recent arrests of former government officials were the issues discussed at the annual meeting of the US-Georgian Business Council in Washington.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development Deborah A. McCarthy called on the government of Georgia to protect the rule of law and conduct the investigation against former officials fairly and transparently. (Rustavi 2)
Georgian PM meets socially vulnerable people
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili met with socially venerable people who gathered in front of his residence, including a number who had spent the night before outside. The 30 people, who have settled in the former railway hospital, have urged the Prime Minister to allow them to stay there as well as supply the building with electricity.
Ivanishvili promised that the Minister for Healthcare and Social Affairs will meet them in few days and draft out certain plans to resolve their problems. (Rustavi 2)
Information that the President has two planes is not true - Manana Manjgaladze
Information released by the Defense Ministry that the President of Georgia has two planes is not true, the President’s Spokesperson Manana Manjgaladze stated on the President’s website.
”The President only uses one plane, while the other one belongs to the government. After the elections this situation did not change. The president still uses only one plane, while the other one belongs to the Defense Ministry,” Manjgaladze said.
Vako Avaliani, the Advisor to the Defense Minister, said the Defense Ministry bought the second plane for the President a year ago.
”It does not mean that the President will remain without a plane. He had two planes,” Avaliani said, adding the money saved by only using one plane will be spent on social issues. (IPN)
Governmental residences in Tskneti may be sold
Deputy Economic Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili announced after the cabinet session yesterday that governmental residences may soon be privatized or given a different function.
"The Tskneti governmental holiday residences are actually empty, only a few families are staying there. As proposed by the Prime Minister, we think that these buildings should be either included in the privatization list or find some other useful function.” Kumsishvili said.
Kumsishvili said according to government estimates, the state budget will save one million GEL by suspending funding for these residences.
(Rustavi 2)
President Mikheil Saakashvili is attending the European People’s Party summit on the personal invitation of the event's organizer, the President’s official Facebook webpage says.
The main topics of the summit are the common values and aspirations of European leaders.
Leaders of European countries, the President of the Council of Europe as well as representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament are attending the summit. (IPN)
PM Ivanishvili plans to visit Azerbaijan
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili will visit Azerbaijan in late December, his press office said on Thursday. The announcement was made after a meeting between PM Ivanishvili and Azeri Ambassador to Georgia Azer Huseyn on December 13th. During the visit to Baku Ivanishvili will meet his Azeri counterpart Artur Rasizade and President Ilham Aliyev.
It will be Ivanishvili’s second foreign trip after taking the PM’s office in late October. He visited Brussels in mid-November. (Civil.ge)
Situation in Georgia discussed in Washington
Economic and political developments and the recent arrests of former government officials were the issues discussed at the annual meeting of the US-Georgian Business Council in Washington.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development Deborah A. McCarthy called on the government of Georgia to protect the rule of law and conduct the investigation against former officials fairly and transparently. (Rustavi 2)
Georgian PM meets socially vulnerable people
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili met with socially venerable people who gathered in front of his residence, including a number who had spent the night before outside. The 30 people, who have settled in the former railway hospital, have urged the Prime Minister to allow them to stay there as well as supply the building with electricity.
Ivanishvili promised that the Minister for Healthcare and Social Affairs will meet them in few days and draft out certain plans to resolve their problems. (Rustavi 2)
Information that the President has two planes is not true - Manana Manjgaladze
Information released by the Defense Ministry that the President of Georgia has two planes is not true, the President’s Spokesperson Manana Manjgaladze stated on the President’s website.
”The President only uses one plane, while the other one belongs to the government. After the elections this situation did not change. The president still uses only one plane, while the other one belongs to the Defense Ministry,” Manjgaladze said.
Vako Avaliani, the Advisor to the Defense Minister, said the Defense Ministry bought the second plane for the President a year ago.
”It does not mean that the President will remain without a plane. He had two planes,” Avaliani said, adding the money saved by only using one plane will be spent on social issues. (IPN)
Governmental residences in Tskneti may be sold
Deputy Economic Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili announced after the cabinet session yesterday that governmental residences may soon be privatized or given a different function.
"The Tskneti governmental holiday residences are actually empty, only a few families are staying there. As proposed by the Prime Minister, we think that these buildings should be either included in the privatization list or find some other useful function.” Kumsishvili said.
Kumsishvili said according to government estimates, the state budget will save one million GEL by suspending funding for these residences.
(Rustavi 2)