By Vestnik Kavkaza
As the presidential election approaches, the political situation in Georgia escalates. The situation in foreign policy remains precarious. In an interview with The Georgian Times, director of the Georgian Center for European Studies, political analyst Kakha Gogolashvili, describing the pre-election environment, expressed satisfaction with the fact that the media in the country are very pluralistic, illuminate all opinions both in the pro-government and in the opposition channels, but to create the conditions for objective and fair elections, and suggests the authorities should more aggressively combat actions, such as those that have been carried out against the United National Movement (UNM). Recall thath the stage of primaries from UNM on July 20 in Zugdidi was accompanied by protest, and protesters threw eggs, stones and bottles at members of the party. July 21, a similar incident took place in Batumi. As a result, on a charge of disorderly conduct 12 people were detained. The action organized by the opponents of UNM in Tbilisi on July 27, among which, according to the representatives of the party, there were the people who brought clubs with them, also ended with detentions.
Speaking about the chances of the candidates in the presidential race, the political scientist said that the current high rating of the candidate from the coalition "Georgian Dream" Margvelashvili is not due to his personal rating but to belonging to the ruling power and the personal support of Bidzina Ivanishvili. The interviewee does not rule out the victory of the candidate of the United National Movement, Bakradze. In any case, he said, Bakradze is a politician who is not associated with the crimes and mistakes committed by his party; he called him more experienced, balanced and politically weighty candidate.
With regard to the foreign policy sphere, Gogolashvili said that in the Georgian-Russian relations, in contrast to earlier times, in addition to the format of the Geneva talks, there is a direct dialogue, but there is no result that would be acceptable to Georgia. Major differences remain. The political scientist believes that some attempts by the authorities are not enough, and we need more "people's diplomacy", which will help to transform the conflicting interests to the mutual ones.
Head of the Centre for European Studies stressed the importance for Georgia of the decisions of the upcoming summit of "Eastern Partnership" in Vilnius, during which initialling of the agreement on association with the EU is expected to Georgia. He said that contrary to what the opposition says, Georgia does not turn off from the pro-Western course, though it never completely followed this course. This requires full compliance with the requirements of Western politics and democracy, which has not been achieved. Despite this, our policy was pro-Western and will be the same, because this is the requirement of the people, Gogolashvili concluded.
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Azerbaijani newspaper "The Mirror" reports about the beginning of the implementation of decisions of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank which approved on June 27 the granting of additional credit of 220 million dollars for the project Rail Trade and Transport Facilitation Project, the beneficiary of which is the "Azerbaijan Railways" (ADY). Additional funding is allocated in addition to the previously granted loan of 450 million dollars. According to the publication, the new funding will be mainly used to improve the energy supply system and alarm from Baku to the Georgian border. Existing systems restrict traffic by one train per 35-40 minutes. "The new power supply and alarm on the key transport corridor of Azerbaijan will increase the frequency of trains to 8-minute interval, which will increase the capacity of the network of “Azerbaijan Railways" by 4 times”, Jacques Bure, a senior engineer of the World Bank for road construction and leader of the project, explained.
In addition, the European Investment Bank (EIB), preparing for the signing of a framework agreement with Azerbaijan, offers in addition to a similar project proposed by the German development bank KfW, financing the renovation of rolling stock of "Azerbaijan Railways".
The article says that the government is now in the process of organizing the financing of these purchases. They will cover the immediate needs of ADY of updating and expansion of the rolling stock of locomotives and cars of various types. Back in May, KfW mission visited Baku for consultations on cooperation with ADY to purchase new locomotives. Previously, the bank made renewed funding proposals accompanied by strong technical support. Bank offered to prepare a feasibility study and tender documents at its own expense for the tender for the purchase of 50 electric locomotives.
Earlier this purchase was put beyond the World Bank project, which allowed to finance the implementation of other components without additional funding. Later the company has determined its minimum medium-term demand for rolling stock – 12 multi-system electric locomotives and 100 passenger cars.
The newspaper notes that in contrast to Russia and the Baltic countries, Azerbaijan is not planning to place high-speed trains in operation, and the estimated speed after the repair work will reach 140-160 km / h. Taking into account, that the distance from Baku to the Georgian border is about 500 km, for many people getting to their destination points in less than 4 hours will be very convenient, the author of the article believes.
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“Signing the agreement between Armenia and Georgia on a deep and comprehensive free trade area with the European Union will create a kind of united economic space for two republics, with all the positive consequences”, the Armenian weekly "Business Express" quotes the opinion of the parliamentarian from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Gagik Minasyan expressed at the press conference. According to him, the conditions for transit of Armenian goods through Georgia are favorable, that in itself is very important, given the complete absence of economic ties between Armenia and its neighbors to the east and the west.
The republican also believes that the implementation of the full the opportunities offered by the agreement with the EU and real economic development of Armenia need large investments, the opportunities of which are to a certain extent provided by this agreement. Asked about the reasons for reduction by the end of the first half in a five-year dynamics of foreign investments to Armenia's economy by more than 40%, Minasyan explained that this is due to difficulties in the global economy as a whole. He said the euro zone crisis and general uncertainty lead to a drop in investments not only in Armenia, but also in other countries.
The newspaper reminds that the EU is the largest trade partner of Armenia, the turnover of the parties is 32%, or 951 million euros in 2012 alone. Under the agreement on a deep and comprehensive free trade area with the EU, in the long term, Armenia's economy each year will receive additional 146 million euros with an increase in GDP by 2.3%. The newspaper says that the agreement will have a major impact on trade of Armenia, facilitate the Armenian export of goods to the EU market, as well as imports of European goods to Armenia. The projected increase in Armenian exports by 15.2% and imports by 8.2% in the long term will lead to an improvement of the trade balance of the country. In this case, Armenia should take steps to improve sanitary conditions in the production and the standards of their products to the European ones.
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The Ingush newspaper "Serdalo" reports that in the near future in Karabulak the first factory in manufacturing of products made of corrugated cardboard will open with the designed capacity of 15,432 thousand square meters of corrugated board and corrugated containers a year, built in the framework of the Federal Target Program "Social and economic development of the Republic of Ingushetia in 2010-2016." The bulk has been completed, the works on accomplishment of adjoining territory are going on. Head of the Directorate of the Federal Target Program Bashir Toldiyev said that the customers of the factory will by not only the enterprises of Ingushetia, but also producers from other regions of the country. The agreement is signed with the Yaroslavl cardboard factory for training specialists from Ingushetia. The total number of jobs at the plant will be 117 people.
The factory will produce a wide range of corrugated sheet 2, 3 and 5-layer cardboard and fabrication of corrugated packaging of all sizes and configurations. Over time, it is expected, along with the main production, to establish a program for the collection and recycling of waste paper and waste produced in the manufacture of corrugated cardboard both in the factory and from different companies, retail chains and other objects. Recycling allows a 35% reduction in pollution of the whole environment and 74% - of water resources.
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The Tskhinvali sewing factory, in which in Soviet times there were about 1,200 people, and that as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the war of 1989-1992 was forced to suspend its activities, after twenty years of inactivity shall resume production, the newspaper "South Ossetia" reports. The rebirth of garment factory is due to "BTK Group", a Russian company from St. Petersburg. Tskhinvali factory will become a branch of "BTK Group", the main activity of which is the development and manufacture of professional clothing. The production hall is equipped with modern Japanese equipment. The official opening of the facility is scheduled for the end of August.
In St. Petersburg, the company organized the first refresher training for seamstresses; further training will be provided by the factory itself. For this purpose, specialists of the company arrived in in Tskhinvali.
