By Vestnik Kavkaza
President of the Assembly of Peoples of Georgia Gocha Dzasohov said in an interview with The Georgian Times that after the elections one of the main tasks of the newly elected president will be the establishment of relations with the Russian Federation, because the dialogue with Russia will determine the solution of economic and political issues in Georgia.
Information: the Assembly of Peoples of Georgia is an international public organization founded in 2008. Among the goals of the organization is promoting the unity of the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus by the principles of peace, good neighborliness, mutual respect, protecting the interests of small nations, including the part that was forced to emigrate from Georgia, facilitation of inter-ethnic harmony and conflict resolution in international relations and harmonious development of comprehensive national cultural traditions .
The new president inherited, according to Dzasohov, a lot of problems , mutual resentment and lack of diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia. To date, there are no mechanisms for dialogue between Moscow and Tbilisi, except the Geneva discussions, but they do not provide the desired results, and in many ways they have already exhausted their potential. The future president of Georgia will have to find a new venue for dialogue, and here, according to the politician , it is possible to use the potential of the Customs Union. Entry into this alliance may be for Georgia a chance to restore relations with South Ossetia, which also expressed a desire to join it .
Dzasohov noted that, though in Tbilisi the idea of joining the Customs Union is perceived with suspicion, according to the latest opinion polls, 27 % of people do not experience any negative feelings towards it and do not preclude the entry into it, and another 39 % just have not thought of it. Global experience has confirmed that economic integration associations based on the abolition of restrictions in mutual trade are almost always beneficial to the countries participating in them. If the idea of joining the Customs Union is promoted, and it is explained to entrepreneurs, production workers, businessmen, people, what dividends they and the state as a whole may have, perhaps very soon, more than 50 % of Georgia's population will vote for joining it .
To confirm the feasibility of this step, Dzasohov spoke about the fact that the Georgian government has recently established funds for co-financing various sectors - from agriculture to energy, but without a guaranteed market this funding will not get any adequate return. Customs Union expands the opportunity to sell products in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. This could be the key to economic prosperity for many residents of Georgia. In addition, joining the Customs Union could solve the visa issue with Russia.
Speaking about relations between Tbilisi and the West, Dzasohov suggested that Georgia has always been considered by the United States and its partners as a specific tool to influence Russia. But the situation has now changed. The United States has enough problems within the country and in the world, including both economic and political ones. Russia showed itself to the world as a fair player and a peacemaker, with ambitions of world power . The Syrian crisis is the proof of this. As for Georgia's entry into NATO, then, according to Dzasohov, it will take decades to overcome the bar set by changes in the economy, in the judicial system , in the field of human rights. In addition, in any case, the question will arise about the boundaries; without determining them, the entry into NATO is not realistic. So Georgia's way to accession to NATO is quite controversial.
Initialing of an agreement on associated membership in the European Union, according to Dzasohov, is also a long-term perspective which does not give Georgia anything significant, both economically and politically.
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In Armenia, debates were held about the governmental amendments to the law "On payment of the holders of public office”. The government has proposed to introduce a new mechanism for determining wages for about 165,000 civil servants, including teachers, doctors and firemen, etc. According to the "New Era" newspaper, the mechanism proposes to determine the size of salaries by indices, and the base rate of pay since 2014 will be 66 million drams (about 163 dollars). According to the bill, the president's salary index will be 20, the Prime Minister’s one – 18, the ministers’ one – 12, MPs’ one - 10. They are followed by the officials of middle and lower ranks, as well as doctors, teachers. It is assumed that the salary of civil servants will be approved annually in conjunction with the budget. "Aravot" makes it clear that under the bill, the president's salary will increase by 203 %, i. e. with from 436,000 to 1,320,000 drams (about 3255 dollars), the salary of the Prime Minister and the Speaker - by 208% , or from 373 thousand to 1.19 million drams (about 2935 dollars.) .
Many MPs have considered it symbolic that the bill followed the draft law on the abolition of unemployment benefits. According to the “Lragir” newspaper, MP of the Armenian National Congress Nikol Pashinyan made a statement with sharp criticism of the bill saying that the government denies unemployment benefits, but the salaries of the president, the speaker and the prime minister are increased. He said that he would vote against it, because these people are not worthy of higher wages. During the years of their rule the poverty rate increased from 27.6 to 35%, and emigration also increased..
The "Yerkir" newspaper quoted the head of the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party Halust Sahakyan , who supported the bill: " Let the MPs salary increase , the latters may allocate part of the sum to charity to provide assistance to any kindergarten or school, because there is no deputy who brings home the entire salary," he said. In his opinion, the salary increase is aimed at improving the image of the country.
MP from the Party of "Heritage" Zarui Postanjyan called it an immoral document. She believes that it is impossible to raise salaries of ministers and deputies when other citizens have nothing to buy food and said that the government is against the people. The representative of "Prosperous Armenia" Naira Zohrabyan also made a critical statement noting that the bill can be good from an economic, political and social point of view; however, the government, especially in this difficult period, in social terms, was not entitled to raise its salaries, and that the country's image is formed not by highly paid officials but by people living from hand to mouth .
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According to the "Dagestani Pravda" newspaper, in December the international competition to develop the concept of the Makhachkala –Kaspiysk agglomeration will begin. The contest will become a tool in developing the best scenario of integrated and coherent development of municipalities included in the agglomeration processes: urban districts of Makhachkala and Kaspiysk, as well as the adjacent areas of municipalities and urban and rural settlements located in their territory.
Makhachkala today as the city does not meet the needs of citizens, as it is overloaded from all points of view; there is the problem of population growth, the influx of the rural population , the development of territories is held inconsistently , there is no exact vision of how they interact with each other. The city lacks any development plan causing inefficient use of investment potential , which, according to experts, is about $200 billion.
The competition project aims to use international experience in the field of territorial development to form a set of strategic and tactical solutions to meet the challenges of the current situation.
The newspaper says that at the first phase the jury , which will include Russian and foreign experts in the field of territorial development and urban planning, will determine four teams of professional designers with a decent experience in the growing cities of the world. The purpose of the second stage of the competition is the development of concepts for the selected teams.
As a result of the competitive phase, the jury will choose the winner, who will finalize the concept of Makhachkala – Kaspiysk agglomeration and develop master plans for a number of pilot projects of the development of key areas of agglomeration.
The results of the competition should be the basis for the development of technical project of planning documentation for municipalities included in the Makhachkala – Kaspiysk agglomeration.
Discussions are underway with international contestants, the teams that worked in areas with similar socio - economic characteristics are chosen. Basically, these are the countries that have been the area of growth in the last decade. These are the Middle East, the Gulf and Latin America.
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"The republic is increasing the number of volunteers" – the "Ingushetia" newspaper reports talking about the next action by the charitable foundation "Maal" for the needy people. At this time, the foundation worked with the National Committee for Youth and the leadership of the "Volzhanin" farm enterprise which by agreement with the fund provided to the volunteers an area for harvesting potatoes for two days. The potatoes collected by volunteers in the fields of "Volzhanin" will then be distributed among the poor families with many children and families which include people with disabilities. Besides the "second bread", each family will get a bag of sugar and flour. According to the fund, they wanted to show that to help those in need, it is not necessary to possess any sums of money.
