The News in Brief
Thursday, July 3
UNM Walks Out of Inter-Agency Group on Elections
United National Movement (UNM) opposition party has accused inter-agency commission for fair elections of failure and unwillingness to address campaign-related violations and said it would no longer participate in the meetings of the group.
The commission, also known as Inter-Agency Task Force for Free and Fair Elections (IATF), is chaired by Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani and is made up of representatives from the political parties and various ministries and state agencies; it is tasked to look into election stakeholders’ campaign-related complaints and to issue non-binding recommendations.
“Commission continues its practice of justifying illegal actions or inaction of law enforcement agencies,” said UNM’s representative in IATF, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, who walked out of the commission’s July 1 meeting in protest. “The United National Movement will no longer be participating in a farce called inter-agency commission meetings chaired by Minister Tsulukiani.” (civil.ge)
Sniffer dogs detect drugs at Tbilisi Airport
Drug traffickers be warned - drug detection dogs are in action at Tbilisi International Airport.
From today, people who illegally bring drugs into Georgia are facing human and animal intervention in a bid to reduce illegal drug importation into Georgia.
Five internationally-trained police dogs are now based at Tbilisi International Airport.
Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Tchkaidze opened the special K-9 project today, which saw officers from the Georgian Interior and Finances Ministries, together with five police dogs (K-9), tasked with enacting a drug detection scene at the airport.
The human-animal drug detection teams undertook an intensive eight-week training course in the US where they learned the latest skills to detect drug smuggling.
The event was attended by US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland, First Assistant Secretary of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Carol Perez and Georgia’s Minister of Finance Nodar Khaduri.
Norland said any project that aimed to fight against drugs was of great importance, even more so now that Georgia had signed an Association Agreement with the European Union. He said the project was fully harmonized with EU regulations.
Perez noted drugs were a global problem and thanked Georgia for improving its capability to combat drug smuggling.
"We thank Georgia for joining us with this project as drug dealers do not recognize borders,” she said.
The service dogs will work at Tbilisi International Airport and will be housed in open-air cages that meet international standards, said Georgia’s Interior Ministry. (agenda.ge)
Rescuers save Canadian tourist
Officers of the Emergency Management Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took a tourist with a broken leg out of a gorge in Lentekhi. The Emergency Management Department says the Canadian tourist, born in 1984, fell into a ravine. The tourist urgently needed assistance. The Emergency Management crew arrived on the ground by helicopter. The tourist was taken to a hospital by helicopter. The tourist is in stable condition. (Ipn)
Restoration work of roads at the Dagestani section of the Russia-Georgia road begins
Restoration of roads at the Dagestani section of the Russia-Georgia road has begun according to Russian media.
As head of “DagestanAutoDoor” Zagid Khuchbarov said “30 billion rubles will be spent to build the Avaro- Kakheti road section”. According to Khuchbarov, head of Dagestan Ramzan Abdulatipov pays great attention to this project.
We remind you that this road was closed in 1992. Information about restoration of the Dagestani section of the Russia-Georgia road was released nine months ago. (Frontnews)
4G mobile systems and services to be introduced by the end of 2014
The introduction of the fourth generation mobile systems and services (LTA) is intended by the end of 2014 - the members of the Economic Council chaired by Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili announced today. The meeting was held at the Government`s Administration.
The chairperson of the communications regulatory commission, Vakhtang Abashidze reported the situation in the mobile communication network of Georgia to the members of the Economic Council.
The commission will open an auction for the frequencies required for the network development later this fall, while the introduction of the fourth generation mobile services will begin by the end of the year.
Other economic projects were also discussed at the meeting of the Economic Council today. (Rustavi2)
Georgia will move to the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan in early autumn
Georgia will move presumably to the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan in early autumn, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tamar Beruchashvili told Frontnews on Wednesday. “This will presumably take place in early autumn. But the most important thing is that Georgia has already started implementation of the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan. We had a meeting with the European Commissioner in Brussels a few days ago. There is readiness and support. In fact, we have serious success and we will have a visa-free regime with the EU in the near future,” Tamar Beruchashvili said. (Frontnews)
United National Movement (UNM) opposition party has accused inter-agency commission for fair elections of failure and unwillingness to address campaign-related violations and said it would no longer participate in the meetings of the group.
The commission, also known as Inter-Agency Task Force for Free and Fair Elections (IATF), is chaired by Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani and is made up of representatives from the political parties and various ministries and state agencies; it is tasked to look into election stakeholders’ campaign-related complaints and to issue non-binding recommendations.
“Commission continues its practice of justifying illegal actions or inaction of law enforcement agencies,” said UNM’s representative in IATF, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, who walked out of the commission’s July 1 meeting in protest. “The United National Movement will no longer be participating in a farce called inter-agency commission meetings chaired by Minister Tsulukiani.” (civil.ge)
Sniffer dogs detect drugs at Tbilisi Airport
Drug traffickers be warned - drug detection dogs are in action at Tbilisi International Airport.
From today, people who illegally bring drugs into Georgia are facing human and animal intervention in a bid to reduce illegal drug importation into Georgia.
Five internationally-trained police dogs are now based at Tbilisi International Airport.
Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Tchkaidze opened the special K-9 project today, which saw officers from the Georgian Interior and Finances Ministries, together with five police dogs (K-9), tasked with enacting a drug detection scene at the airport.
The human-animal drug detection teams undertook an intensive eight-week training course in the US where they learned the latest skills to detect drug smuggling.
The event was attended by US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland, First Assistant Secretary of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Carol Perez and Georgia’s Minister of Finance Nodar Khaduri.
Norland said any project that aimed to fight against drugs was of great importance, even more so now that Georgia had signed an Association Agreement with the European Union. He said the project was fully harmonized with EU regulations.
Perez noted drugs were a global problem and thanked Georgia for improving its capability to combat drug smuggling.
"We thank Georgia for joining us with this project as drug dealers do not recognize borders,” she said.
The service dogs will work at Tbilisi International Airport and will be housed in open-air cages that meet international standards, said Georgia’s Interior Ministry. (agenda.ge)
Rescuers save Canadian tourist
Officers of the Emergency Management Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took a tourist with a broken leg out of a gorge in Lentekhi. The Emergency Management Department says the Canadian tourist, born in 1984, fell into a ravine. The tourist urgently needed assistance. The Emergency Management crew arrived on the ground by helicopter. The tourist was taken to a hospital by helicopter. The tourist is in stable condition. (Ipn)
Restoration work of roads at the Dagestani section of the Russia-Georgia road begins
Restoration of roads at the Dagestani section of the Russia-Georgia road has begun according to Russian media.
As head of “DagestanAutoDoor” Zagid Khuchbarov said “30 billion rubles will be spent to build the Avaro- Kakheti road section”. According to Khuchbarov, head of Dagestan Ramzan Abdulatipov pays great attention to this project.
We remind you that this road was closed in 1992. Information about restoration of the Dagestani section of the Russia-Georgia road was released nine months ago. (Frontnews)
4G mobile systems and services to be introduced by the end of 2014
The introduction of the fourth generation mobile systems and services (LTA) is intended by the end of 2014 - the members of the Economic Council chaired by Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili announced today. The meeting was held at the Government`s Administration.
The chairperson of the communications regulatory commission, Vakhtang Abashidze reported the situation in the mobile communication network of Georgia to the members of the Economic Council.
The commission will open an auction for the frequencies required for the network development later this fall, while the introduction of the fourth generation mobile services will begin by the end of the year.
Other economic projects were also discussed at the meeting of the Economic Council today. (Rustavi2)
Georgia will move to the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan in early autumn
Georgia will move presumably to the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan in early autumn, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tamar Beruchashvili told Frontnews on Wednesday. “This will presumably take place in early autumn. But the most important thing is that Georgia has already started implementation of the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan. We had a meeting with the European Commissioner in Brussels a few days ago. There is readiness and support. In fact, we have serious success and we will have a visa-free regime with the EU in the near future,” Tamar Beruchashvili said. (Frontnews)