Issue #1245

Issue no: 1245

• MAY 8 - 14, 2020 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

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In this week’s issue...

Occupied South Ossetia Reports First Coronavirus Cases

ON THE FRENCH RESPONSE

GT LIVE interviews the French Ambassador on COVID-19

PRICE: GEL 2.50

NEWS PAGE 2

May 9 – Of Falsified History & Kremlin Propaganda

PAGE 4

POLITICS PAGE 3

The Growing Divide between the US & China POLITICS PAGE 5

Welcome to Georgia!

National Tourism Awards Team Helps Support Tourism Sector during COVID-19 Crisis BUSINESS PAGE 6

Quarantine CSR: Sheraton GM on Volunteering the Hotel as a Lockdown Facility SOCIETY PAGE 7

Facebook Removes Hundreds of Propaganda Pages, Accounts in Georgia

BY AMY JONES

T

his week, Facebook announced that it had removed 511 assets from its platforms which discredited opposition parties and supported the ruling party, Georgian Dream. The accounts, pages and groups were linked to the Espersona media company, which has links to Georgian Dream.

The Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), responsible for investigating the assets on behalf of Facebook, released an indepth report on their work.

The report noted that a further 23 Facebook accounts, 80 Pages, 41 Groups, and 9 Instagram accounts investigation had been linked to individuals associated with the opposition party United National Movement. “We found this activity as part of our investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior in the region.

Our assessment benefited from local public reporting in Georgia,” DFRLab said.

In particular, of the 511 aforementioned assets, DRFLab identified pages, groups, and accounts

No Time for Rest: Caritas Czech Republic Responds to Covid-19 Related Needs SOCIETY PAGE 9

Liberty Bank Signs MoU with UNFPA to Promote Healthy, Active Ageing & Gender Equality in Georgia SOCIETY PAGE 9 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

Markets As of 01ͲMayͲ2020

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on Facebook and Instagram that mimicked Georgian health authorities and political opposition members, seeking to discredit prodemocracy activists and members of the opposition.

Although those behind the assets attempted

to conceal their identity, often using fake accounts, DRFLabs investigation traced them to Esperona, which is owned by the former head of the Department of Public Relations of the Government of Georgia, Koka Kandiashvili.

Continued on page 3

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GT Index (USD)

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2

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

Occupied South Ossetia Reports First Coronavirus Cases

BY NINI DAKHUNDARIDZE

O

n May 6, Russian-occupied South Ossetia (Tskhinvali region) reported its first three cases of novel coronavirus. Ossetian-owned news agency RES wrote on Wednesday that the man who has tested positive for

COVID-19 had returned from Russia on April 30.

"The man has been isolated in the Infectious Diseases Hospital," Chief Medical Officer Marina Kochiyeva reported to RES. As Kochiyeva claimed, “everyone who came into contact with him has also been isolated.”

Within a few hours, “the man” was identified as a 14-year-old boy, a student at the North Caucasus Suvorovskoe

Military School in Vladikavkaz.

With the first case came two more - a woman and her 6-year-old son who, according to Kochiyeva, “had traveled to North Ossetia ‘for other medical conditions’ and tested positive upon their return to South Ossetia’s southern Akhalgori (Leningor) District yesterday.”

Reportedly, these two patients were then asymptomatic and had been put into quarantine.

Saakashvili May Chair Executive Committee of Ukraine’s Council for Reforms

BY ANA DUMBADZE

F

ormer Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili claims that he will be appointed to the National Reform Council of Ukraine, not as Secretary of the Council, but as Chairman of the Executive Committee, Ukrainian media outlet Censor.net reports.

"Not as a secretary, but as chairman of the executive committee," the former Georgian leader said in an interview. He could not name an exact date for his appointment.

Earlier, it was reported that the Ukrainian President a state of Saakashvili as Secretary of the National Council on

Reforms.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had offered the former Georgian leader the seat of Deputy PM in charge of reforms, which caused dissatisfaction among the members of the Georgian government. However, Ukrainian media reported that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has withdrawn the issue of his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister from the Verkhovna Rada.

David Arakhamia, Chairman of the faction 'People's Servant' of the Ukrainian Rada, said that Saakashvili would work in the Ukrainian government in a "different format."

"As I know, another decision has been made. It will be announced in the coming days," he said.

US Ambassador Congratulates GT on 20 Years in Print

A

mbassador Kelly Degnan: As a former journalist, I understand and deeply value the crucial role of an independent media in a healthy democracy. For twenty years, Georgia Today has helped to fulfil that role, by providing reliable, non-partisan

reporting on Georgia’s main political, economic, social, and cultural developments. I congratulate the journalists, editors and staff of Georgia Today for their valuable contributions to Georgia’s diverse media landscape and their commitment to media freedom and ethics.

Keep up the good work!

Source: Ministry of Education of Georgia

Microsoft Positively Evaluates Georgia's Distance Learning

BY MARIAM MERABISHVILI

A

nthony Salcito, Vice President of Education at Microsoft Corporation, praised the measures taken by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia to promote distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis.

“We are inspired by the tremendous efforts and perseverance of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia in adapting the system in

response to the COVID-19 crisis. It was these steps that helped the students to continue their studies smoothly despite the challenges they faced.

"The OECD recognized Georgia as a leading country in this direction. That is why we wanted to give the opportunity to the representatives of other countries to learn more about Georgia's approaches. We are proud that Minister Mikheil Chkhenkeli participated in the first Virtual Education Transformation Summit and shared his experience with more than 300 leaders in the education sector,” Salcito said.

The Minister of Education, Science,

Culture and Sports of Georgia Mikheil Chkhenkeli took part in the first summit of virtual education transformation organized by Microsoft Corporation, addressed the public and introduced them to the challenges facing the Georgian education system and ways how to solve them against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The summit was attended by representatives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) and more than 300 leaders in the education sector.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

3

May 9 – Of Falsified History & Kremlin Propaganda OP-ED BY DAVID BRAGVADZE

M

ay 9 is the day when in Georgia and in some other post-Soviet countries, the day of victory over fascism is commemorated. Defeating one of the great evils in Mankind’s history is a remarkable feat, but when this event is exploited by equally evil forces for their own propaganda and malign influence, things tend to get a bit less straightforward. To address this, the Georgian Institute for Security Policy (GISP) felt obliged to once again tell the uncomfortable truth, which despite being common knowledge, is diligently ignored by the Kremlin.

In Putin’s Russia, May 9 has become one of the integral cornerstones of state propaganda. Today, the day is almost entirely devoid of its original meaning and has little to do with historical veracity.

In Russia, they call it the Great Patriotic War, instead of World War II. The reason for that being the convenience that the Russian version offers: while the Second World war started on 1939 with Nazi Germany invading Poland and ended on 2nd September 1945 with Japan’s defeat, the Russian timescale ranges from 22.06.1941 to May 9, 1945. The reason for the different start is simple: Russia starts with the date Germany invaded Soviet soil, because back in 1939, the USSR was an ally of the same Germany that invaded Poland and Moscow, having given a green light to the operation. According to the MolotovRibbentrop Pact, the two powers agreed on spheres of influence, which was followed by an invasion of Germany within a week.

That the attack on Poland was a coordinated affair is further proven by yet another detail: a month after signing the agreement, there was a joint Soviet & German military parade in the city of Brest, where both sides celebrated putting Poland down.

Obviously, it’s not a pleasant reminder for the Kremlin propaganda machine, which would rather portray itself as the great force of good that defeated the greatest evil known to Man. An equally

unpleasant reminder is that while Germany was invading Poland and France, the Soviet Union kept itself busy subjugating Finland and the Baltic countries.

But aside from the Soviet contribution to the starting of World War II, there are several other facts the Kremlin would rather you didn’t know, or if you do, to forget.

Russian propaganda wants to portray the Soviet Union as the main force that put an end to the Second World War. In truth, the Soviet omnipotence is yet another, carefully concocted, myth. This is why you won’t hear Russians mentioning the Lend-Lease Bill, that made possible the instrumental US logistical and humanitarian aid. At today’s rates, the economic aid given by the US to the Soviets would make around $194 mln, an astounding amount at that time. Disregarding the importance of humanitarian aid, the Kremlin usually also downplays the importance of the military allied forces, pointing to the fact that the Soviet Union gave the biggest number of human lives to the common cause. While that is undoubtedly so, the absolutely majority of contemporary historians maintain that the astounding losses the USSR suffered is partially down to the mismanagement of the military staff and their disregard for human lives. Stalin didn’t care about numbers.

As for the end of the war, the Kremlin didn’t deem it important that after the capitulation of Germany, the war would go on for another four months and conclude with Japan’s surrender. This wouldn’t play into Kremlin hands, because the Oceania front was manned by American forces and it would be a tad difficult to represent it as the Soviets singlehandedly achieved milestone victory. This, of course, didn’t discourage Moscow from seizing the Kuril Islands from the defeated Japanese, which remains a subject of dispute between the two countries to this day.

As Putin’s Russia doesn’t have much to offer what it considers to be the Russian sphere of influence, the Kremlin has to resort to the false narratives of May 9 to entice the nations of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union that it was the Soviet army that freed Central & Eastern Europe from Nazi occupation, as the Soviet people fought shoulder to shoulder

to defeat the great evil. Understandably, these very nations also quite vividly remember the time of Soviet occupation and how the Kremlin rule was always at hand to change their lives “for the better”.

Just to name a few, the Hungarians in 1958 and the Czechs in 1968, in Budapest and Prague respectively, harbor clear memories of the atrocities the Soviet army committed on their soil.

Russia is adamant that it’s the only country that gives due honors to the veterans of the Second World War. To prove this, May 9 each year is marked by a massive military parade on Red Square. Interestingly enough, it appears that the numbers of WW2 veterans in Russia remains practically the same, despite the passing of time. Russian war veterans appear to be in possession of the elixir of youth, because simple math dictates that if the youngest Soviet soldiers at the time of the Second world war were at least 16, now they would be at 91, while on Red Square each year, you might stumble upon people that in no way resemble octogenarians. This, however, won’t be the case

this year, because due to the pandemic threat, Russia had to postpone the parade.

And one more note on veterans: unlike other countries that welcomed the returning Prisoners of War with open hands, the Soviet Union branded them traitors and sent them to the Gulag. Which is obviously an act that screams utmost care and appreciation towards war veterans.

Putin’s Russia suffers painful spasms each time a sovereign country tries to break free from Kremlin-brewed false narratives. The 2007 cyber war against Estonia, after the latter took down a statue of a Soviet soldier, is but one example.

Apart from trying to break down the Estonian government sites, Russia resorted to propagating anti-Estonian sentiments among the country’s Russian-speaking population.

Merely a week ago, even the pandemic media-storm couldn’t cover the purported murder plot, wherein a Russian spy was detained in Prague, possessing a diplomatic passport and carrying poison seemingly destined for the Prague Mayor, who had been brave enough to remove the

statue of General Ivan Konev from the city center. Obviously, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, dismissed the news report as fake.

The Kremlin actively uses public organizations, politicians, and influence agents in different countries. A clear example of this is the organization "Immortal Regiment", which was registered in Georgia on October 10, 2019, but before registration, on May 9, managed to hold one provocative demonstration.

The Kremlin will continue to manipulate the May 9 issue in the future. Obviously, Georgia will be the target of this propaganda. However, we need to think; can we have a common future with those who can offer nothing but a falsified past?

Georgian Gov’t to Ease Numerous Restrictions from May 11 Restrictions on entry and exit were imposed in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Batumi and Kutaisi on April 15.

The travel restrictions in Kutaisi and Batumi were lifted on May 5.

BY ANA DUMBADZE

T

he Georgian government, in its efforts to minimize damage to the country’s economy as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, is already moving to ease restrictions on citizens and businesses. Announcements were made by Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia at Thursday’s presentation of the Anti-Crisis Plan to Open Tourism.

EASING TRAVEL IN COUNTRY Georgia will lift all restrictions on entry

EASING PURCHASING & PRODUCTION RESTRICTIONS

and exit to Tbilisi from May 11. Travel restrictions will also be lifted in Rustavi and Gardabani from May 14, and in Marneuli from May 18.

However, despite the process of gradually lifting imposed restrictions, the nationwide curfew between 9 PM and 6 AM will remain in force.

All shops, except malls, clothing and shoe stores, are to reopen from next Monday.

"From May 11, we will reopen all kinds of production. In addition, retail and wholesale shops will be opened which have an entrance from the street and which do not sell clothes and shoes. This does not apply to malls, clothing and

shoe stores. All other types of stores will be open from Monday,” the PM noted.

OPENING THE BORDERS From June 15, Georgia will open local tourism services, and from July 1, the country will be ready to receive international tourists.

“We will create safe corridors on land borders with our neighboring countries and, based on bilateral negotiations, with countries that are of touristic interest to us. Talks have already begun. Georgia will be one of the first countries to open its borders and tourist infrastructure to receive guests from abroad,” the PM elaborated.

Facebook Removes Hundreds of Propaganda Pages, Accounts in Georgia Continued from page 1 He worked for Georgian Dream from April until December 2013, before becoming a consultant to the Government on public relations.

Kandiashvili has been accused of improper information operations in Georgia before. Recently, local media and NGOs linked him to a troll factory, a claim he has repeatedly denied. Facebook removed his personal account, as well as his managed pages, groups and

the account of his ex-wife, Nona Kandiashvili.

Espersona also took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. DRFLab identified fake pages impersonating prominent health official Levan Ratiani, which regularly posted updates about the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

The investigation also identified 269 inauthentic pages and fringe news agencies which had around 8,400 followers in total, and that published pro-government and anti-opposition content. Most

of the pages were created on the same day in 2019, and had similar “About” descriptions and external websites, making it highly probable they were managed by the same body.

In addition, Facebook removed 99 groups that posted diverse content, such as news and religion. These groups were often run by the same administrators and were used to share content from the fringe news agencies.

This is not the first time Facebook has removed assets related to Georgia from

its platforms. In 2019, assets by private marketing firm Panda, which is also linked to Georgian Dream, were taken down.

With parliamentary elections to be held at the end of the year, Georgian Dream is promoting its public image to help its political agenda, especially following many anti-government protests in 2019. The use of fake groups and accounts can heavily influence the online political climate in a country, and in turn, reflect on voting.

The spread of disinformation online threatens democracy in Georgia, which has already slipped over the past two years, according to figures by the Economist Intelligence Unit. A report released

by Freedom House, a US-based NGO, similarly assessed that Georgia’s level of democracy had slipped from 3.29 to 3.25. Georgia is classed as a hybrid democracy, however Freedom House noted that the country has moved closer towards an authoritarian regime in several parameters over the past year.

4

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

MAY 8 - 14, 2020

GT Live Interviews Meets French Ambassador to Georgia Diego Colas to Discuss COVID-19 & Beyond

BY TEAM GT

will benefit from it and therefore sustain a vigorous recovery. These are the general short-term and medium-term measures to try to weather the economic crisis.

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I

n the second interview from GT LIVE INTERVIEWS’ “AMBASSADORS GO LIVE,” series, GEORGIA TODAY’s Editor-in-Chief Katie Ruth Davies met French Ambassador to Georgia Diego Colas.

This week, French financial newspaper Les Echos published an article titled "Georgia in the EU: and why not?" written by economist Sébastien Cochard, which noted that “what is happening in Georgia concerns us and we should be interested in it.” Earlier last week, the French edition L’opinion suggested in an article titled 'The European Union: Is Size Decisive?' that “Georgia offers a much more favorable environment for investors and entrepreneurs than most EU countries."

Before we spoke to Ambassador Colas, we looked at the latest COVID-19 statistics from his home country France, which is 643,801 km² and has a population of 66.99 million.

France is the 6th on the Worldometer coronavirus list after the US, Spain, Italy, the UK and Russia, with 174,191 total cases. 25,809 French citizens have died, and 53,972 have recovered. There are 94,410 active cases, 3,147 (4%) of whom are critical.

WHAT ABOUT BRINGING SOCIETY BACK TO A NORMAL ROUTINE? Schools will start opening in France starting May 11, first with elementary schools, followed a week later by middle schools. At the end of May, we will assess whether the high schools will open again.

Universities will start again in September. What has not been completely organized yet is the end of year exams. For the Baccalaureate, we will rely more on testing throughout the year.

Notwithstanding this significant effort of the teachers, this [online learning] is a system that cannot go on, especially in households where the parents don’t speak French and so cannot help their children study. Another reason for the desire to open schools soon is to support children from vulnerable families.

May 11 is a day we have quite a lot restarting: younger children at schools, some shops, some public transport, we will have more children voluntarily going back to school after a few weeks, then more businesses and restaurants will kick in, so it is a gradual process. Based on the epidemiological situation, we will assess whether to slow down the opening, or to go into confinement again.

WHAT STEPS HAVE YOUR COUNTRY’S GOVERNMENT AND HEALTHCARE SYSTEM TAKEN TO FIGHT COVID-19, AND HOW EFFECTIVE DO YOU THINK THAT FIGHT HAS BEEN? One of the first measures when the virus started accelerating in Europe and globally was to make sure that people stayed or returned home. It was a particular challenge for the Foreign Service because we had about 180,000 French people abroad trying to return home. From Georgia, flights heading towards Western Europe were always available, so it was not too difficult to do. But in the rest of the world, there were some countries where it was quite a challenge.

When it comes to the health response, I think the response that we put in place in France was inspired by the same principles as in Georgia, which was very much a scientific process. A board of scientists advised the President, PM and Government what measures to take. This implied a lot of testing at the beginning in order to identify the virus, its location; to introduce confinement or close schools, things like that. And then at the mature stage, when the virus spread throughout France, a general confinement measure was put in place to make sure the virus did not develop too quickly and we had time to increase the hospital response capabilities.

Countries will think differently than they did before when it comes to what productive capacities they have

At the beginning of the pandemic, we had about 4000 beds for corona cases, which we increased to 8000, as the number of infected increased. But we always managed to keep on top of the situation.

At the peak there were about 8000 beds ready and 7000 people in care. The strategy worked to slow down the virus so that we were able to deal with all the cases as they came. It was quite a challenge for the hospitals. But the strategy as a whole was a success and I want to pay homage to those doctors and nurses who made it happen.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU DO/RECOMMEND BE DONE DIFFERENTLY? It's a good question and one I think people will have to ask a lot over the coming weeks and months as we assess the response. We don't have the luxury of being able to go back in time. And we have to acknowledge that this is a virus which didn't behave the way many viruses behave, so there were a lot of surprises for the doctors and scientists, which meant we had to adjust our measures more than once.

The legitimate debate is, was there a need for generalized confinement? Is it a measure that had to be taken, despite the obvious cost to the economy? Was it too much? I think with hindsight, it is pretty clear that it was right, when we see the rise in the mortality rate, when we see the pressure at hospitals to deal with all the cases.

MANY PUBLICATIONS, BOTH IN THE US AND EUROPE, HAVE OVER THE PAST MONTH PRAISED GEORGIA’S HANDLING OF THE PANDEMIC. FROM WHAT YOU’VE READ OR HEARD, WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THAT? I very much agree with these publications. I think the government and society at large did a very good job. The

government has shown itself to be competent and transparent, and society proved to be resilient, united, not losing that critical spirit which is a factor of success, but being disciplined and showing a very good image of Georgia to the world.

There's been some controversy recently about the Lugar Lab. So I want to be on the record as among those who support the Lugar Lab. I think it has been a very key factor in the success of the Georgian response. I also want to praise the transparency, because Georgia was very much in a transparent mode and very open with the numbers.

We're not at the end of the story yet, but so far, I have the impression that things have been handled in a transparent and competent manner. And Georgia has proven to be a very reliable partner to the West, being itself a very Western country in its way of doing things.

WHAT IS FRANCE DOING TO SUPPORT ITS CITIZENS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO LOST THEIR JOBS DUE TO THE PANDEMIC? We've taken measures to support people who are at home and not at work because either their companies have stopped working or because they themselves cannot get to work.

We have a system in place where more than 80% of the salaries are being paid by the government. Of course, this temporary unemployment scheme can’t work forever, but for the short term of the containment measures, it's an effective tool so people don’t lose their incomes. Then the solution will be a strong recovery.

For that, we're taking various measures to support companies, among them tax breaks, bank guarantees and solidarity funds. The point of this approach is to make sure that the productive capital is not destroyed, so that when the recovery happens, there are companies there who

WHERE IS FRANCE IN TERMS OF DEVELOPING A VACCINE? WHAT IS THE EXPECTED OUTCOME? ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO SUPPORT COUNTRIES THAT DON'T HAVE THEIR OWN VACCINE RESEARCH GOING ON AT THIS TIME? We have research going on in France.

We do not have a vaccine yet, but we have results. We're also very keen to make sure that it's not just some countries or people developing a vaccine that only benefits themselves. We really want to make sure that for all the studies, we put the resources of the world together to develop vaccines. That’s why on May 4, we launched an EU-organized program of cooperation between states and international organizations, such as WHO, as well as partner foundations, in order to pool our resources.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR COUNTRY IN 6 MONTHS OR 1 YEARS’ TIME? AND INDEED THE WORLD? HOW CAN THE ECONOMY RECOVER? We don't really know whether the virus will disappear or whether there will be a second wave. But one of the factors of success will be whether we are able to keep the productive capital operating.

In the longer run, most countries will think a little bit differently than they did before, in particular when it comes to what sort of productive capacities they have on their own territories, what they can produce in their own country. Of course, we don't want to plunge into a world of autarchy or a world of protectionism because this is guaranteed to fail.

One strategically important sector is agriculture, an area Georgia has great potential in. 1950s France was in a similar situation, where much needed to be rebuilt. We developed plenty of tools, especially in agriculture, and we're very keen to share this expertise with Georgia.

Reconstruction can be a very exciting thing if it is done quickly and vigorously and making sure we protect the vulnerable.

We need to make sure that as we press for economic recovery, we don't leave the vulnerable behind AND IN GEORGIA’S CASE, HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT TAKE FOR A FULL RECOVERY? CONCERNING THE TOURISM SECTOR, FOR EXAMPLE. I think Georgia has done the right thing in the past 20 years, across society, through its chosen western path of development, and has broadly benefited from it. I think it's been a great success.

Today, though, Georgia is counting a lot on international tourism, on its Western investments. International tourism is probably not the first thing to expect to quickly return at the end of confinement. But that doesn't mean we should despair. Quite the opposite. Western donors and Western countries have reaffirmed their commitment to stand by Georgia. France and other countries have signed a letter, committing us to a very strong level of support to the [Georgian] government, so there will be quite a lot of support coming on our side. Among the donors is, obviously, the European Union, which has developed three assistance packages. But it’s not only about money, it is also about political support and expertise.

One aspect that needs careful focus [during the recovery] is the vulnerable.

We really need to make sure that as we press for economic recovery, we don't leave them behind, first because a crisis like this is harder on the vulnerable, but also because at a moment like this, the country needs all its forces. Take women, who tend to have a double burden both in Georgian and French societies: it's very often women working on the frontline in hospitals and supermarkets, and who also have families and homes to support. There's also the global issue of violence against women and children.

The Georgian government has taken quite a lot of measures in this regard. It's important that all the vulnerable people in society are helped so that they can contribute to the [post-COVID] recovery.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TAKE-AWAY FROM THIS WHOLE EXPERIENCE? We live very frenetic lives, and this has forced us to stop. It's been somewhat brutal. You become a diplomat because you want to meet people and as Ambassador in Georgia, I've been lucky to meet a lot of people. But suddenly that stopped and there were fewer people around.

Contact by phone and other means is not quite the same, and for that reason, it's been somewhat difficult to do. But it's an occasion to reflect on and rediscover the essential people in our lives.

Now we have time to think about what is most important to us, what duty of care we have for others, both in our family and working lives. I would hope we don’t merely slip back into that frenetic lifestyle again, but take what we have reflected on during this time into account.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

5

When the United States Catches a Cold BLOG BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

T

here is no such thing as absolute certainty in politics and economics, but I have a feeling in my bones that Georgia may be affected by a reduction in US aid, though we’re locked in until at least the end of the fiscal year in September. Most likely, the effect won’t be immediate. In the meanwhile, things look not so attractive in America itself. The crux of the matter is that the American Federal Reserve has lowered its interest rates to zero.

There goes a saying in America: “When the United States catches a cold, the world gets the flu.” Now the whole world has the flu, but the current American administration loudly proclaims that America will be the first to recover.

Undeniably, acrimonious political languagehasdevelopedbetweensomenations, the most audible altercation having occurred between China and America, all connected with the distribution of the killer microbe. Does this mean anything?

It might, assuming that eventually the world will benefit, except for China, as the American press tells us. That’s because the United States of America has a president like Mr. Donald Trump. In the hands

of any other president, especially democratically appointed ones, the situation, namely the American attitude toward China, could have been utterly different from the one the world is witnessing right now. Trump revived the American economy once, and he can do it again, starting by disengaging from China and bringing American manufacturing, and the jobs that comes with it, back to the United States, or alternatively, by sending them to countries like Georgia.

At the same time, the Feds are confidently predicting that the next three months might be worse than anything America has ever experienced in history.

It also emphasized that an unparalleled drop in economic activity is quite thinkable in the next few months, openly hinting that an augmented governmental incentive might be necessary, and the economy will need further support from the entire workforce of the country if they want the recovery to be quick and vigorous. Because 30 million Americans have joined the ranks of the unemployed in the past two months, it will presumably take a solid amount of time to get back to where the country was before the virus, the ultimate goal being the highest rate of employment. This is the current governmental policy which cannot be simpler and clearer in the force majeure which has caught the entire

world napping. In its statement, the Federal Reserve said it is "committed to using its full range of tools to support the US economy at this challenging time."

Despite this optimistic evaluation, the damage to the economy is already colossal and it needs serious intervention to alleviate the strife. The Federal Reserve is doing its utmost to use every possible cushion to smoothen the destructive impact on the domestic economy and global financial markets, but this is certainly happening at the expense of the invidious standard of living which the States created under the leadership of this president. So far, Corona looks stronger than the human efforts.

The global economy, including American and Georgian, will weaken further, but it cannot deteriorate forever: ways out have to be sought. This is exactly what America, together with the rest of the world, is engaged in, but nobody can say now for sure how effective the efforts are going to be.

The American economy looked to be in perfect health just a couple of months ago until the virus attacked it with its gigantic destructive force, followed by ubiquitous layoffs and business shutdowns, annihilating consumer spending, exterminating the country’s manufacturing potential and wiping out its construction prospect.

Why should Georgia or this journalist be interested in the current condition of the American economic mechanism? It is more than simple to answer this trivial

question: America’s wellbeing is directly proportional to the standard of living in this country. It’s not very difficult to understand and recognize this basic truth, is it?

The Growing Divide between the US & China OP-ED BY EMIL AVDALIANI

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any an analyst can exaggerate the impact the the novel coronavirus might have on the world. After all, global supply chains are unlikely to dissipate and the European Union will continue to exist. That said, the pandemic makes and will continue to make changes translating into the geopolitical realm.

We are likely to see increased efforts in the US to create momentum for a disentanglement from China, primarily in the economic sphere. Washington will also be active in regards to its allies in Europe, where calls for a similar policy will grow louder in Europe. Indeed, recently in Europe we have seen a hardening stance on Beijing. As in the US, this follows a trajectory that was already visible before the pandemic when, in 2019, the EU institutions characterized China as a “systemic rival.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump attend their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 29, 2019. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images

The pandemic has also set the scene for another straw of continuous ideological competition. Both the US and China were already engaged in such a

battle, but the crisis will accentuate the divide between the West (especially the US) and China. Many in the West now say the division is between the demo-

cratic US and non-democratic (even autocratic) China, a similar feature the Cold War divide between the US and the Soviet Union was famous for.

The pandemic thus ushers in an epoch of distinct distrust between China and America. The latter will gradually shift its geopolitical attention away from the Middle East and toward China and Southeast Asia. This was visible before, in the presidency of Obama, but from 2020 onwards will only accentuate, irrespective of who will be the next US president.

The US will fumble but will eventually come up with a coherent geopolitical stance covering the entire Eurasia. This follows an interesting pattern in US foreign policy. To form a definitive foreign policy stance, that is, to cast a foreign state as an unequivocal geopolitical enemy, the US usually needs to experience a deep geopolitical shock that would consolidate its vision of the rival.

The coronavirus could serve as a defining moment for American foreign policy for the next decade. We can expect to see something on the scale of the US

foreign policy refocusing after WWII to counter the Soviet Union in Eurasia.

Then, as it is now, the US political elite had trouble coming up with a concrete and long-term foreign policy agenda.

Years passed before Washington created a containment policy which stopped the Soviet expansion. Similar is happening nowadays. Those in the top American leadership who have so far been ambivalent regarding China will slowly be sidelined. More and more American allies around the world will be re-engaging the US. China will be seen as an outright competitor.

Not all is guaranteed success on the US side. China is much more powerful than the Soviets. Its influence is far wideranging and more difficult to contain than was the case in the Cold War. But the US will nevertheless have to come up with a far more stringent stance on China and ways to counter it. Still, the Americans look far beyond the pandemic.

What is at stake is dominance over the ocean, without which the US’ geopolitical power will be questioned.

Les Echos: Georgia in the EU: and Why Not?

BY ANA DUMBADZE

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rench financial newspaper Les Echos has published an article, titled "Georgia in the EU: and why not?" written by economist Sébastien Cochard.

"While the European Union has just lost one of its members to the West, another country, to the East of Europe this time, hastened to emphasize that it would replace the United Kingdom in Brussels: Georgia. This is essentially what Salomé Zurabishvili, current President of Georgia and a former French diplomat, said," reads the article.

The author of the publication notes that some may meet this proposal with a smile and look at "Small Georgia" with pride, however, "this would be a mistake for many reasons."

"The first reason is that in these tragic days of the pandemic, when the EU is still facing a migration crisis that has caused great damage to the EU, it is clear for everyone that part of our lives is determined by events on our borders. Georgia turned out to be what Russia calls "the

nearest foreign country" for the EU. Therefore, what is happening in Georgia concerns us and we should be interested in it,” he writes.

"On the one hand, Georgia is a bridge between Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and on the other hand, the political and economic situation in Georgia is improving," reads the publication.

"Georgia is committed to democracy.

Last month, the government announced a major reform of the country's electoral system. Thus, the government fulfilled the main promise of the Georgian Dream.

Agreement on electoral reform was achieved through multilateral negotiations with opposition parties, mediated by the European Union and the United States. Proportional representation in the Parliament of Georgia will increase and Georgians will vote with about the same system as Europeans," it further notes.

The article also emphasizes that the vast majority of the Georgian population strongly supports interation with the European Union. The author notes that Georgia has signed an association agreement with the EU, which includes a free trade agreement. Georgia is also the chair of the Council of Europe.

Source: lesechos.fr, Image: Elodie Gregoire/REA

"Along with political stability in Georgia, the economy is also growing significantly, which is crucial, especially if we remember that the European Union is first and foremost a common market. For example, the World Bank highlighted the significant improvement of the country's economic and social system during the 25th anniversary of its cooperation with Georgia. Poverty reduction is particularly noteworthy. This figure was 32.5% in 2006 and 16.3% in 2017, ” the author writes.

The author also said that "during the reign of the previous Georgian government, the 2008 Russia-Georgia war reminded Europe that it is necessary for the protection of the security and prosperity of the European Union to pursue a prudent and active policy outside the EU." "Does this mean the enlargement of the European Union and Georgia's membership in the long run? The challenge is great and largely depends on the Georgians. However, it is in the interests of the European Union and France to constantly keep an eye on a politically stable country with a dynamic economy and a pro-Western government and population located on the European border," the author concludes.

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BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards Team Helps Support Tourism Sector during COVID-19 Crisis times!” she tells us.

“The group was created on March 24, and since then we’ve been providing information about governmental, business and consulting company programs that support business, and offering news articles, online meetings and webinars about various issues connected to the industry. We carefully choose relevant content to share that can help industry players to recover and adapt to the new reality faster, which is why we believe the information shared in the group is valuable for every member.”

WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN FROM THE BUSINESS SECTOR TO THIS INITIATIVE? ARE MANY BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVES ACTIVELY INVOLVED? Business representatives are actively involved in our initiative. They’ve already developed some SME business supporting programs, and we would be more than happy to build valuable connections between them.

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE FACEBOOK GROUP. WHAT DO YOU POST THERE AND WHO IS INVOLVED? Content shared in the group is about governmental, business and consulting company programs for supporting busi-

INTERVIEW BY TEAM GT

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he tourism sector is suffering, and will continue to suffer, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. It is on the shoulders of government, business owners and the public to ensure that the economy is ready for the long haul on its way back to success.

GEORGIA TODAY spoke to Maryna Chayka, Founder of the Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards, on her team’s initiative to help the hospital-

nesses, plus questionnaires, news stories, meetings and webinars about various issues related to the sector. We’ve already conducted an online webinar with Aneta Korobkina about the Algorithm of how to deal with emotions in a crisis. Aneta Korobkina is a professional international trainer, coach, speaker and General Manager of KA World (Leadership, Effectiveness and Service). She has 12 years’ experience in the restaurant and hospitality sector in seven countries- the USA, Switzerland, India, Russia, Turkey, Greece and Macedonia, and for the past 5 years, she has been a consultant business trainer and speaker at conferences, forums, corporate events and seminars with up to 800 participants.

Concerning local professionals, we’re actively involved in the planning process and will share news soon through our social media platforms.

DOING RESEARCH IS CRUCIAL. WHAT MESSAGES AND REQUESTS HAVE YOU RECEIVED THROUGH YOUR QUESTIONNAIRES? WHAT DOES TOURISM NEED RIGHT NOW? Based on our surveys and current statistics, the main problems for business is the financial impact and operational processes; they need help in the mentioned directions. But the research pro-

cess is still active may change the overall picture. Of high concern is loan repayments, with companies wishing to resume paying loans in some months, after they recover from the crisis.

BASED ON THE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THOSE EMPLOYED IN THE TOURISM SECTOR, HAVE YOU GIVEN OUT ANY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT HOW BUSINESSES CAN BE SUPPORTED AT THIS TIME? As mentioned above, the research process is still ongoing. After closing and analysing it, Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards will offer the results to every interested field, who can make the necessary changes and be really productive in the SME segment.

Also, we plan to organize an online conference and put the most relevant and crucial topics for the tourism and hospitality industry to discussion, with a list of speakers from both the private sector and governmental side. We are sure that together with different initiatives, the market leaders will come up with an effective anti-crisis plan and we will all find ways to recover fast. The biggest focus in the current situation will be development and promotion of domestic tourism.

ity sector during this difficult period.

“The Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards team’s goal was to help tourism and the hospitality industry by providing helpful information, and to motivate all to remain positive during these hard times. We had a brainstorming session with the marketing team and were thinking about a platform that could do the above, and we came up with the idea of a facebook group ‘Tourism while COVID-19’ (ტურიზმი COVID-19-ის პირობებში) Our project made quite a big contribution to the industry in good times, and we sure weren’t going to be quiet and do nothing during the hard

EU, UNDP Help Georgia’s Rural Regions Respond to COVID-19 Crisis

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ohelpGeorgia’sruralregions respond to the economic and social challenges emerging amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the European Union and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched a GEL 9 million grant program together with the Agriculture and Rural Development Agency (ARDA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. The grants are designed to boost rural entrepreneurship, create sustainable jobs, improve the management of natural resources and promote climate action.

The program will be implemented in eight municipalities – Akhalkalaki, Borjomi, Dedoplistskaro, Kazbegi, Keda, Khulo, Lagodekhi and Tetritskaro – where UNDP and the EU are working together to promote livelihoods outside agriculture. Applicants can be based elsewhere in Georgia but will need to show a connection with the targeted municipalities.

“The grant program is a flexible and effective instrument for strengthening

the rural economy,” said Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) of Georgia. “It will help diversify economic activities in Georgia’s regions and foster non-farming businesses across the country.”

“The EU is mobilizing all possible resources to assist Georgia to recover from the current crisis. I’m especially glad that these grants will target rural areas around the country, where economic development can be a challenge even in normal times,” said EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell.

The Rural Development Program is assisting non-agricultural business startups and growing enterprises with grants worth up to GEL 170,000 per project.

Additional grants worth up to GEL 30,000 will be provided to businesses to improve energy efficiency. To ensure sustainability, all grantees are expected to provide at least 20% co-financing for their projects. Applications for the current round are due by 1 August 2020. More information is available at www.arda.gov.ge

“Georgia’s exemplary COVID-19 response has saved lives,” said UNDP Head Louisa Vinton. “Our new grants program is aimed at saving livelihoods that are threatened by the shutdown, and also at applying the principle of ‘building back better.’ We have a chance now to promote green alternatives in rural areas that will benefit both people and planet.”

The EU and UNDP are long-term supporters of rural development in Georgia.

More than GEL 600 million (EUR 179.5 million) in EU assistance has been allocated to Georgia under the ENPARD program for 2013-2022. This support is designed to improve agricultural productivity, refine rural development policies and create new economic opportunities for rural communities, both in agriculture and outside of it. In parallel to UNDP’s work in rural development, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is working with the EU and MEPA to operate a grants program to support farm businesses and improve food security.

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

7

British American Tobacco Organizes Special Concert in Sheraton Metechi Palace for People in Quarantine

BY ANA DUMBADZE

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n Friday, May 1, British American Tobacco organized a special concert at the Sheraton Grand Metechi Palace Tbilisi, aiming to cheer up those placed in mandatory quarantine in the hotel.

Singer Elene Kalandaze stood in the Sheraton Open Space Yard and performed well-known songs to improve the mood of the “guests” watching from balconies, while top Master Chef Guram Baghdoshvili cooked special dishes for them.

The event represents a great continuation of British American Tobacco’s corporate social responsibility.

“British American Tobacco continues its corporate social responsibility efforts,” Zviad Skhvitaridze, Corporate Director of British American Tobacco, told us. “We started with different projects, such as providing face masks, protective shields for essential workers like doctors and journalists, and we continue this project with Sheraton, because the Sheraton Metechi Palace had a great idea to host people in quarantine. This process will continue until the end of May. They are hosting up to 2000 people absolutely free of charge.

Sheraton was one of the first hotels to come up with the initiative to allocate more than 200 rooms with 3-course meals and 5-star service for people in

quarantine, which is really good. Then, other companies, and individuals decided to cheer their guests up with this special musical event. The concert caught the attention of the international media, such as Reuters, BBC, etc. So, it will be a very motivational thing for other companies and individuals to follow both in Georgia and abroad. It’s a very good project and we are going to continue our CSR efforts in the future.”

Master Chef Guram Baghdoshvili, who cooked special dishes for the residents of the hotel in quarantine, noted that caring for people in need is the most important thing in a crisis.

“Today, the most important thing is not what we cook, but what we do for people. When we have isolation problems, it’s not easy. We cooked everything with heart. I would like to thank the staff of Sheraton, everyone who contributed to making these people happy.

All of us are doing our best to survive and defeat the coronavirus,” he said.

GT also spoke to singer Elene Kalandzadze.

“I’m really honored to participate in this mini concert. We have beautiful people stuck in quarantine and we should never forget that the most important thing in the whole world is caring for and loving each other. I hope everything gets back on track soon. I want humanity to be the main thing and I am definitely sure that humanity is going to win. We will defeat this virus and everything will be just fine.”

Want to watch it LIVE? Scan here and enjoy!

Quarantine CSR: Sheraton GM on Volunteering the Hotel as a Lockdown Facility excited about the event, and it was challenging to move the equipment around the hotel so that people on each side would all hear the performance from their balconies.

The best compliment for us was a gentleman who was dancing on the balcony and drew a big heart on the window; he was one of the many happy guests who were delighted with the performance of a renowned local artist. Overall, I think Elene’s performance was one of the things our guests will remember long after their quarantine experience with us.

INTERVIEW

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s part of our facebook series GT LIVE INTERVIEWS, we had a chat with Fred Smits, General Manager of the Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace, one of the 60 plus hotels throughout Georgia which kindly opened its otherwise tourist-bare rooms to the healthcare service as quarantine facilities. There are around 5000 people in 14-day quarantine in Georgia right now, and 180 of those are being hosted by Sheraton Tbilisi. Last Friday, the Sheraton team treated these guests to a free concert in the Sheraton Open Space Yard, featuring singer Elene Kalandaze, and served them a special meal made by Top Master Chef Guram Baghdoshvili.

WHEN DO YOU SEE SHERATON GETTING BACK TO "BUSINESS AS USUAL"?

HOW WILL IT DO SO? Want to watch it LIVE? Scan here and enjoy!

WHAT FIRST INSPIRED SHERATON GRAND TBILISI METECHI PALACE TO VOLUNTEER ITS SPACE AND SERVICES TO THE STATE FOR QUARANTINE PURPOSES? Since opening the hotel in 1991, we have never closed our doors; except when we did the renovation a few years ago. During any crisis, our hotel was always a safe haven in the city. During this crisis too, we were determined to not close our doors, to remain open for our guests. And now, when the country needed assistance in a time of crisis, we were all set in terms of our mindset and facilities to provide accommodation for persons in need.

HOW WERE THE STAFF TRAINED AND HOW ARE THEY COPING WITH THE CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE? From the very onset of the coronavirus crisis, we were training our staff to follow all official recommendations, including personal hygiene and wearing masks.

The company also ensured their local and online training. The Ministry of

Health provided them with training too.

As to how they're coping- those here are working voluntarily. They are very motivated to help!

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE QUARANTINED IN SHERATON? When you arrive at the hotel, you enter your room and the door is closed for 14 days. Your temperature is measured three times a day, and meals are delivered three times a day in disposable boxes and plastic bags. Thus, it’s a very different experience from what you would normally get during a stay at a five-star hotel.

However, we still try to make the guests’ stay a pleasure. If someone has a birthday, we make them a birthday cake.

Children get toys…There are still plenty of things you can do to entertain people in quarantine. We try our best to bring a little bit of joy to the everyday lives of our guests.

TELL US ABOUT THE SPECIAL EVENT YOU PLANNED FOR QUARANTINED "GUESTS" LAST WEEK. In order to amuse our guests, we try to fill every day with something. The first event we did was cooking with Guram.

He’s a very passionate chef, and was very well received by the guests. We also do yoga classes, and quizzes where people win prizes. Elene was also very passionate about singing for our guests. We were

It’s difficult to say. In Georgia, we have six phases of gradually relaxing the restrictions. The hotel will be officially empty as of May 25. Then we’ll conduct disinfection works throughout the building.

When do we expect our first guests after this? We’ll open the terrace on June 8; if we’re allowed to open earlier, we’ll do so. Inside restaurant facilities will probably be open by June 23. Rooms- in the first week of July.

Nobody knows exactly what awaits us, so people are hesitant to book their stays now. However, we do see requests coming in for September, October, November.

It’s all very tentative and slow. However, if you look at China, the majority of the hotels that were closed a few months ago are operating now.

Business will surely be back, but very, very slowly.

WHAT DO YOU FORESEE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY, AND HORECA SECTOR, IN TERMS OF POST-COVID RECOVERY? In Georgia, the tourism sector was flourishing before the pandemic. That’s not gone; it’s not that suddenly that the country is not attractive anymore.

It’s more about how the worldwide

tourism industry will regain its strength; how the restrictions from country to country will pull back; this will take time. We shouldn’t expect a boom of tourists this summer, but we will see it coming back slowly.

The great thing about Georgia is that it has a very low number of infected persons compared to other countries around the world; this I think is due to the effective measures taken by the government. I also think this is a good message for future tourists- that Georgia is a country that takes things seriously and can take care of its citizens. I think the success in tackling the coronavirus pandemic is going to be a big, big help for the country’s future.

DO YOU THINK THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE THAT COULD BE DONE TO GET THE ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK FASTER? I know there is a lot of interest from abroad concerning Georgia as a country to invest in. It’s an attractive country for many foreign companies due to a myriad of factors. I do think that once the global restrictions are lifted, Georgia will attract many investors. The main thing is to stay positive; if we fail to do so, we won’t get anywhere.

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST TAKE-AWAY FROM YOUR #STAYHOME TIME? I think there are a lot of take-aways from this period. How our staff has approached the situation has been one of the greatest take-aways for me. They have stood up and done whatever had to be done with sincerity and passion. And they did this totally voluntarily.

Transcribed by Elene Dzebisashvili GT LIVE INTERVIEWS is a weekly series of live interviews hosted by our Editor-in-Chief Katie Ruth Davies on the @GeorgiaToday facebook page, where we meet ambassadors, celebrities and businesspersons to discuss the latest hot topics and hot projects.

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SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

Green Budget to Address Environmental Issues in Georgia - A New Joint Initiative of ADA/CENN and the Environmental Protection & Natural Resources Committee of the Georgian Parliament

Nana Janashia, CENN Executive Director

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new Green Budget Project is set to develop a manual recommendation document for the Georgian Parliament in order to effectively create and implement budgeting mechanisms for environmental protection. The project utilizes instruments that facilitate and align both national and global environmental protection goals by making informed budgeting

decisions. The Green Budget Project is a result of a joint initiative between CENN and the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee of the Georgian Parliament, financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), with funds of Austrian Development Cooperation, within the scope of the project - ‘Promoting Sustainable Forest Management for Climate Resilient Rural Development in Georgia.’

Glass recycling in Georgia – Ltd Kere

What a Mess BLOG BY TONY HANMER

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y wife got the phone call at just after 6 AM, and knew as soon as she saw the caller’s name what it must be about at this hour. Never not bad news, unless it’s a drunk! “Dad died about an hour ago…” He had been declining for some time, but this was still a shock.

We knew that we had to race to Kakheti for the funeral, current conditions notwithstanding. But while we packed and settled affairs, we also had to wait until 9 to call the 144 hotline and find out if our trip would even be legal. Yes, they said, as long as we circled the quarantined cities, such as Kutaisi and Tbilisi, which lay in our path. No problem, and off we set.

I had been wondering if we could arrive before the curfew of 9 pm kicked in, but this fear was quite unfounded. In Zugdidi, I drove through the open McDonald’s line, had a quick stop to wolf it

down, and we continued. The roads were nice and free; of four checkpoints, only the last one, already in Kakheti, actually stopped us to check our temperatures.

We made the 600 km in about 9 hours.

The east-west Georgia crossing pass of 60 km was slower and more clogged than I’d thought it would be, but this was our only bottleneck, the highways’ finished parts making up for lost time dramatically. Through that pass, I had plenty of time to see how Chinese-Georgian progress is going on the huge engineering project of extending this highway through this most challenging part. My last trip through was in December, and they haven’t been wasting time since.

The sheer scale of the thing boggles the mind. Enormous ramps, deforestation and land moved where needed, new bridges. Double tunnel mouths in such bewildering locations and orientations that I can only ask myself: by what Escher/ Moebius/Mandelbrot tricks of fractal dimension will they even be connected, in ways which do not mock the laws of time and space and send the hapless driver to other universes, let alone other

“The Green Budget Project could kickstart major reforms in the country for more a resilient and sustainable future, and I am glad that we will be one of the catalysts for these changes,” said CENN Director Nana Janashia.

“CENN is ready to assist the government to become more accountable for their environmental commitments and support them in transitioning the country towards sustainable and resilient societies”

Nino Tsilosani, Chairperson of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee

During the March 11 assembly of the Environment Protection and Natural Resources Committee, a working group was formed to implement the Green Budget Project, made up of Members of Parliament, representatives of environmental protection organizations and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, as well as relevant specialists. The working group will create the Green Budget Project document and present it to Parliament for approval. The document will identify the financial challenges of environmental protection and facilitate the establishment of an effective parliamentary budgeting process.

The document will also analyse the efficacy of putting into practice the State’s environmental protective functions and obligations and will outline priorities that will serve as a foundation for forming recommendations to fulfil environmental protection goals for the 2021 budgeting process. Within the scope of the project, the first environmental protection aspects of the state budget will be assessed, followed by the budget’s

“The Green Budget project will be the first document of its kind for the Parliament of Georgia, which will unite the priorities in the direction of environmental protection and will implement these priorities in the fiscal policies of the country” said Nino Tsilosani, Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources

galaxies of our own? It seems utterly chaotic at the moment, but I’m equally sure that, months or years and billions of currency units later, it will all be sorted out and result in nice smooth driving through neckless bottles for us all. We’re not wasting all this time and money, are we? No, indeed, we have planned much too carefully for that.

Which turns out to be a nice metaphor for the situation I see the whole planet in at the moment. The confusion is growing, even among and inside the most developed and educated nations, over this Virus thing and what to do. News reports of such astounding polarity are jamming the airwaves, the pages real and virtual, that I hardly know what or whom to believe at all anymore. The feeling grows in me that the most powerful nation in the world, with whom we must all sink or swim, has placed Freedom on its main pedestal of godhood, above all else, no matter the risk to life.

Medical and scientific reports soberly contradict each other; people apparently of great importance lie and accuse each other of lying, or at least untruth (what’s the difference?), but don’t bother to sue each other for libel. It looks to be all going to Hell.

The other metaphor I saw along the way was a set of roadside trees which

were in the process of being choked to death by a slow but seemingly inexorable parasitic creeper, covering them from ground to crown. It was horribly ugly and chaotic, one of the examples in nature of a life form which I would rather not see at all, would rather didn’t exist. I suppose it has its place in the grand scheme of things, but I can’t see this, and its presence disturbs me.

And then I remember and return to what I consider to be the bedrock of truth, my faith. If someone says “There are no absolutes,” I reply, “Absolutely?”

I don’t peer into Scripture and see how this will all play out, to the last detail.

But I can accept that this life is less than a drop in the timeless ocean of eternity, at once a joke to be laughed at from the perspective of there and a time of deadly significance in determining what “there” there will be; while “that there” turns back and reflects on “this here” at the same time, infecting our mote with the infinite significance of our… choices.

I don’t have children to inherit my property? So what? In the end it won’t

Basic Data and Directions document and then the mid-term action plans of facilities working in the field. The results of said analysis will assist the working group to develop the aforementioned manual document for Parliament for the 2021 budget hearing, sharing important recommendations to assist Georgia in reaching its environment protection goals.

matter, either to me or to the world.

Without an eternity and absolutes, life to me seems to be devoid of all real meaning. I can’t accept that. Believing in the absolutes, I find the meaning, and the hope.

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

9

No Time for Rest: Caritas Czech Republic Responds to Covid-19 Related Needs the logistics of sample collection, and the tracking of test results. To assure seamless data exchange, the system will be linked to the current NCDC´s laboratory management system. Subsequently, at least 100 staff of laboratories and medical facilities will be trained to use the system.

BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

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edical equipment delivered, hundreds of physicians trained, thousands of flyers printed.

That's how Caritas Czech Republic (CCR) has aided Georgian authorities, physicians and the general population in their battle against COVID-19. By the end of April, the value of such interventions had amounted to 63,000 EUR. “Just after the outbreak, we started to identify immediate needs and then to tailor our projects to respond them,” says Jan Blinka, head of CCR´s mission in Georgia. The list of such needs has quickly grown, from providing accurate information to the population and training doctors and journalists, to developing a new information system for laboratories.

ONLINE TRAINING FOR RURAL PHYSICIANS One of CCR´s most important, and in equal measure, logistically challenging tasks was to familiarize all of the country´s 1274 physicians with the new State Protocol "Management of suspected cases of COVID-19 in primary healthcare”. The doctors, divided into 66 groups of 15-20, participated in online training sessions.

“Organizing it was very difficult as vil-

AWARENESS RAISING AND THERMOSCREENING CAMPAIGNS IN ZUGDIDI

lage doctors in Georgia experience technical problems. Some of them don’t have computers, some don’t have internet connection or simply lack IT literacy.

Many of them can be reached only through mobile phones and therefore, using an online learning platform was no easy task for them,” says Rusudan Chkhubianishvili, CCR Project Manager.

The content of the trainings included infection prevention and control measures, communication with patients, and

organizing of a remote triage system and reporting system. Follow-up supervision will be provided to the physicians for six weeks until the end of May.

NEW DATA SYSTEM The development of a unified laboratory information system is another intervention, whose benefits will be reaped by the country's entire healthcare sector.

The system is designed to facilitate the process of patients' testing registration,

To address the needs arising from COVID19, the CCR team also tailored its development activities in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. The goal is to provide the local population with accurate information about the disease, and proper ways of protection and safe behavior, as well as to support local institutions in their thermoscreening efforts.

During the initial stage, the team had 12 000 flyers and 4000 NCDC information posters printed and disseminated in the Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti region.

Then CCR set out to support thermoscreening conducted by the Zugdidi Public Health Office.

“We are glad to cooperate with the local government. With our joint actions, we can contribute to Georgia’s return to a normal state as early as possible with minimum losses,“ explains Tamar Kurtanidze, CCR Project Manager. “We are ready to resume provision of screening services at our center in Zugdidi and

continue to take care of the health of our citizens”.

MEDICAL MATERIAL AND EQUIPMENT FOR KHULO HOSPITAL The CCR team has also handed out various equipment and materials to a hospital in Khulo in the Adjara Autonomous Republic as part of the EU funded project ‘Promotion of Rural Development and Diversification in Khulo Municipality’. The items in question included medical masks, face shields, medical gloves, medical cap, shoe cover, disinfexol, and a cardiac monitor. The hospital's 70-strong staff members and about 90 daily visitors will benefit from those supplies necessary to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

“This subproject was not originally planned for. It was the ENPARD project’s quick response to the Khulo hospital’s need to improve its operational capacity and protect its staff and visitors from the virus,” says Giorgi Murvanidze, CCR project manager.

“We could not have achieved any of above-mentioned interventions without cooperation with our partners at the Ministry of IDPs, Labor, Health and Social Affairs and without financial support from our donors, the Czech Development Agency and EU-funded ENPARD program,” adds Jan Blinka, CCR´s Head of Mission.

Liberty Bank Signs MoU with UNFPA to Promote Healthy, Active Ageing & Gender Equality in Georgia

O

n Thursday May 7, JSC Liberty Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia Country Office. The purpose of this MoU is to provide a framework of cooperation and facilitate collaboration between Liberty and UNFPA in areas of common interest: to promote healthy and active ageing and gender equality in Georgia.

Liberty Bank will partner with UNFPA Georgia to inform older people about COVID-19 and disseminate relevant materials among the older people across

the country. UNFPA Georgia and Liberty Bank will also conduct a joint campaign to raise awareness on COVID-19 among older people, their family members and caregivers; Liberty Bank will support “60+ clubs for healthy and active life”, initiated by UNFPA Georgia in partnership with local municipalities and NGOs. UNFPA Georgia and Liberty Bank will also explore opportunities to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in Georgia.

“I am extremely proud of this new partnership, which reinforces Liberty’s commitment to the safety of older pop-

ulation in Georgia and also prevention and raising awareness regarding COVID19.” said Vasil Khodeli, the CEO of Liberty Bank. “For the past few years, at Liberty, we have been continuously creating special spaces and events for the 60+ population through various educa-

Isolation Diaries #5 – Keep Moving BLOG BY AMY JONES

R

unning is far from convenient in Tbilisi’s streets, where cars block the pavement and random lumps, bumps and holes are everywhere. At the start of lockdown, I swimming-pool-esque dived onto the tarmac during a run, breaking my fall with my face. I didn’t run much after that.

This week I decided to bury the excuses and hit the streets once again. I ignored the stares as I ran along Barnovi Street towards Vake Park, legs wobbling in my running shorts. I tried to forget the burning in my lungs as I pounded along the river next to the pollution chugging cars, back in mass after the travel ban. Yes, Tbilisi really is not great for running.

Despite the obvious discomfort, getting out in the (not so) fresh air and

exercising does wonders for my mood.

I collapsed in a heap on the corner of my street, tired but happy, having run through my thoughts and cleared my head.

Exercise is not just important to keep physically fit, it’s also vital for mental well-being. That’s why many governments have encouraged their citizens to continue exercising through lockdown.

So, if you’re feeling a bit “meh” about the eighth week of lockdown, get your trainers on and get active. You can buy sports equipment online if you need to.

I wish you good luck!

Common excuses busted: 1. People are watching me when I exercise outside It’s normal to feel self-conscious when exercising in public spaces. But, remember, no-one is really looking at you and even if they are, who cares!

2. My gym is closed, I can’t exercise There are plenty of opportunities to

exercise outside or do homework outs.

In light of the current crisis, many gyms are offering online classes. YouTube also has a huge range of workouts including everything from yoga to HIIT training.

Around Tbilisi, you’ll also find workout stations.

3. I’m too unfit to exercise If your body is happily hibernating through lockdown, take small steps each day to be more active. Take a 10-minute walk and increase the distance each day.

Being active, even if only for a few minutes, is better than doing nothing at all.

4. I don’t have time to exercise There are lots of ways you can increase activity during the day without noticing it. You could walk to a supermarket that is slightly farther away, spend time playing outside with the kids, do some exercises whilst watching your favorite Netflix series. It’s important to carve exercise into your routine, no matter how busy you are.

tional and entertainment programs offline and online. Today, we are excited to greet UNFPA as our partners and join the forces towards promoting the importance of a healthy and active life for the elderly, as well as explore the opportunities to promote gender equality and the empow-

erment of women in Georgia.”

“We at the UNFPA see huge potential in this partnership with Liberty Bank,” said Lela Bakradze, Head of the UNFPA Georgia Country Office. “Promoting healthy and active ageing and gender equality will help the country to progress towards achieving sustainable development. It is very important to partner with Liberty Bank, a company which shares our values and is ready to invest in the better lives of senior citizens, women and adolescent girls in Georgia.

We believe that our cooperation will be a new step towards building a more equal society where no one will be left behind.”

10

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

EU-Supported Sewing Workshop, Run

by Nuns, Produces 5,000 Face Masks

BY NINI DAKHNDARIDZE

I

n response to the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, states and companies around the globe have stepped up to increase the production of medical masks. In addition to over eight factories in Georgia already producing medical masks, the European Union supported a sewing workshop in Dedoplistskaro municipality in Kakheti, at the Kviratskhovloba Convent in Mirzaani. The workshop, run by nuns, has produced 5000 face masks.

The nuns handed those masks to the Municipality City Hall to ensure that they are distributed to the people at risk, medical staff and those at the frontline of the fight against the pandemic.

“Due to the crisis situation, we decided to produce medical masks,” said Mother Ketevan. “They are in high demand and in a very short supply, not only in our municipality, but countrywide. Given the state of emergency, people find it difficult to purchase them. Our nunnery workshop produced 5000 masks within 10 days. The ultimate beneficiaries of our production are the residents of Dedoplistskaro municipality.”

To help reduce the risk of getting infected during the pandemic, the EUsupported Dedoplistkaro Local Action Group (LAG) announced a small grant competition back in early April. On the LAG’s decision, the EU grant, to the amount of 6,120 GEL, was awarded to

the sewing workshop of the Kviratskhovloba Convent.

This is not the first time that the nuns have won a grant. In 2019, the nuns won their first EU grant when they took part in the competition announced by Dedoplistskaro LAG and organization HEKS/EPER within the framework of the EU’s ENPARD program. With EU support, the nuns built a sewing workshop and bought several sewing machines.

At the time, the sewing workshop aimed mostly at promoting tourism services in the municipality. The village of Mirzaani is home of the Museum of landmark Georgian 20th century primitive painter Niko Pirosmani, who only rose to international fame posthumously. Tourists often visit the Pirosmani Museum and the nearby monastery. The nuns’ workshop and its giftshop offer tourists handmade items and souvenirs inspired by traditional Georgian ornaments.

The nuns’ workshop also works to empower local women by giving them the opportunity to learn traditional handicrafts and become employed. They learn to embroider, sew, process felt, and make various handmade souvenirs in the Convent workshop. The items created by them are also sold in the nunnery shop, which gives local women economic benefit.

Increasing employment opportunities and thereby reducing poverty is one of the missions of the EU-supported projects in Georgia. The EU-supported ENPARD project ‘Promoting Citizen Engagement for Economic Development

Image source: The European Union

(PROCEED)’ is implemented by HEKS/ EPER Georgia in partnership with the Biological Farming Association ‘Elkana’.

The project aims to contribute to the diversification of the local economy in the Dedoplistskaro municipality of the

Kakheti region.

The EU has been supporting agriculture and rural development in Georgia through the ENPARD program since 2013, with a total budget so far of EUR 179.5 million.

The nunnery’s involvement in the fight against the coronavirus shows that although many representatives of the Georgian Orthodox Church act to prove otherwise, some members of the Church take the social responsibility seriously.

CULTURE

Discovering 19th Century Georgia in Images, Part 2

BY TONY HANMER

G

eorgia has had long contact with outsiders who entered and began getting to know it, both those hostile and seeking to conquer it and those who were conquered by its beauty and numerous charms. The 19th century really saw the numbers of such visitors increase and, as this century had also seen the birth and popularization of photography in its 3rd decade, many of the country’s first photographs were taken by foreign visitors as well as by Georgians themselves Vittorio Sella, hailing from the town of Biella in northern Italy, was both a mountaineer and a photographer, visiting the high places of Racha and Svaneti 3 times.

He scaled 30 peaks in the general Caucasus, too. Svaneti was his main focus, and here his name is revered amongst much of the population, his works on display everywhere. The main road through the Svaneti he knew was nothing more than a horse track, Ushguli waiting until 1929

or so to see its first automobile-navigable road. Challenging conditions for the boxcamera photographer indeed. Sella was also active in other mountainous regions of the world, including the mighty Himalayas and Alaska. His work includes not only magnificent landscapes and multiplate panoramas but also wonderful outdoor portraits of both famous and unknown

people in their village and home settings.

And he named his daughter Tinatin in honor of the country where much of his best photography was done. This writer has had the honor of visiting his home town and residence in the early 2000s, meeting his elderly grandson who managed his extensive, fragile archive of glass negatives.

Finally we turn to Roinashvili, born in mountainous Dusheti and educated in the Khlamov studio of what was then called Tiflis. He began his own independent photographic career and studio there in 1865, and even set up a traveling museum of photography which moved around Georgia and elsewhere in Russia proper, showing many people such images for their first time ever. His work concentrated on both landscapes and images of famous intellectuals of his day. He is regarded as the premier pioneer of the art among his people.

Photographs helped introduce many thousands of people to a land of which they had perhaps never even heard, in all its exotic nature. No doubt many of them were also spurred to visit Georgia for themselves. Writers had done a similar job for some centuries already, and continue to do so to this day (as do photographers and more recently filmmakers, the latter beginning in the early 20th century). Now, when images, sound, video and words recorded a second ago can reach practically anywhere on the planet, Georgia is being rediscovered all over again. Rightfully so, the attention

much deserved, the visitors usually richly rewarded for their efforts.

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for Georgia Today since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook. com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

2020 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award Winners Announced

BY ANA DUMBADZE

This year, the winners of the photo contest were chosen by an international jury in the following categories:

T

BEST REPORTAGE

aking into account the existing reality, this year Kolga Tbilisi Photo Week was held in a rather different format, seeing all events hosted in a virtual space at www.kolga. ge.

On May 4 the International Photo Awards Ceremony was held and shown on social media networks, on the official Facebook page and through Artarea/ Tv2.0 live broadcasting.

This nomination saw two winners: Mouneb, 'War Notes,' and Kiran Ridley, BEST REPORTAGE: Mouneb, War Notes & Kiran Ridley, Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protests different meaning, everything about normality disappears," Mouneb says.

"The daily, life has a different meaning, everything about normality disappears.

The daily routine is definitely abnormal, even if it seems normal for people who live there. Every day, bombs fall, people die, buildings are destroyed. The reality of the war cannot be denied; however, there are people who are significantly trying to resist the bitterness of this ter-

rible war through their determination, hope and desire to live”.

The project 'War Notes' illustrates the struggle of civilians to overcome the war in Eastern Ghouta, Syria, which was under siege by Syrian government forces for over 5 years. The siege ended when the Syrian regime, supported by Russian forces forced the people to leave the area after months of heavy shelling that caused the deaths of thousands and led to full destruction of the area.

'HONG KONG PRO DEMOCRACY PROTESTS' “Since 9 June, Hong Kong has been

plunged into a political crisis, with waves of demonstrations and several violent clashes between Police and protestors.

What started as a protest against a proContinued on page 11

CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY MAY 8 - 14, 2020

11

“Corona Days” Artworks Promote Young Georgian Artists: Vakhtang Khelashvili & Tamar Tali Toidze he’d much rather let the paintings speak for themselves and encourage personal reflections from viewers.

Although he’s been productive during these trying times, Vakhtang says he’d like to see the lockdown end soon. “I do hope these days of isolation will end soon, and that a vaccine will be developed fairly quickly and there’ll be a bright future for us all!” says the artist.

Our second young artist is Taliko Toidze, better known professionally as Tamar Tali Toidze.

A young woman of various artistic interests, Taliko is now based in Tbilisi.

She, too, graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and has taken time to learn Govelin tapestry, cloth design and painting. “I express myself in many ways,” the artist explains. “But I really found myself in sculpture.” She creates sculptures with her own stylizations and has taken part in numerous exhibitions.

Although she still considers herself a sculptor first, she has a beautiful approach to painting, sowthing which can be clearly seen in her works exhibited by BI Auction.

The artist’s first piece is titled ‘Vacuum Self-isolation’. “Isolation is a vacuum; we sink into our minds, our depths, infinitely; reaching out in search of our own selves,” Taliko explains.

The second piece, named ‘Comprehend’ is an artwork that for the creator visually represents the words: “I will try to clear my mind and escape my melancholic isolation.”

Taliko is making the best of the quarantine, expressing, exploring, and even losing herself in her works. “I literally turned my house into a workshop,” the

BY NINI DAKHUNDARIDZE

G

EORGIA TODAY is continuing collaboration with BI Auction, presenting artists participating in the online exhibition ‘Artworks @Corona Days.’ This issue, we present to you two young artists, Vakhtang Khelashvili and Tamar Tali Toidze.

BI Auction founder partner Bengü Akçardak Küçük tells us that one of the biggest plusses of the ‘Young Artists Competition’ is that it gives us a chance to motivate young artists to work in different mediums. Vakhtang and Tamar, for example, usually sculpt.

“But for the competition,” Bengü explained, “as we restricted the medium to ‘oil on canvas’, they applied with their oil works. We hope they’ll smile back on this in 30 years!”

Vakhtang, the first young artist we’re presenting to our readers in this piece, painted his ‘first’ oil on canvas for the competition; another first step in an artistic career which already counts works exhibited abroad.

Born and raised in Tbilisi, Vakhtang has been attached to the field of visual arts and architecture since he was very little, he tells us. He got a Bachelor’s in Architecture and a Master’s in Sculpture from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 2017. He is now studying digital and traditional arts.

During his “Corona Days,” Vakhtang has been working on his second and third oil paintings: ‘King of Hearts’ and ‘Essence of Light’. He doesn’t like to explain his perception of his own works,

‘Comprehend’ by Tamar Tali Toidze

‘King of Hearts’ by Vakhtang Khelashvili

artist tells us enthusiastically. Although making her art helps her get through, she still feels anxious about what the post-pandemic world might mean.

“I think we're going to see big changes in our routines. I think some things are going to become more distant, but people will get used to it.”

About BI Auction ‘for ART’: BI Auction is the first Art Auction Company of Georgia, established in 2016. The company’s aim is to promote Georgian art and artists and enlarge the market. In four years, BI Auction ‘for ART’ has organized seven auctions and presented more than 400 paintings from 120 Georgian painters. In every auction, the collection is selected from among a thousand paintings from the well-known legendary artists of Georgia and also from promising young artists.

2020 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award Winners Announced Continued from page 10

posed government extradition bill allowing citizens to be extradited to China has since morphed into a wider call for democratic rights in the semi-autonomous city. Since the controversial extradition bill was withdrawn, protests continued, with protestors calling for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to meet their remaining demands, which included an independent inquiry into police brutality, the retraction of the word 'riot' to describe protests, amnesty against prosecution for all those arrested, Carrie Lam's resignation, and genuine universal suffrage in a call for true democratic rights”.

Kiran Ridley is an award-winning photographer working throughout Europe and Asia. Most of his work concentrates on news, social-political topics and the human experience. Fascinated by people and naturally curious about the human condition, Kiran is passionate in documenting ongoing situations throughout the world, capturing the human dynamic, trying to seize the unexpected in a succession of unique moments that we humans create, whether in our hopes and dreams or in anger. His work has been published globally, including in The Sunday Times Magazine, The Times, The LA Times, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Figaro, Le Point, Die Welt, El Pais, Forbes, Observer and Guardian newspapers, Time, Spiegel, amongst many others. Based in Paris,

his work is distributed by leading photographic agencies Getty Images (Europe) and Polaris Images in the United States.

BEST MOBILE PHOTO: MERAV MAROODY, 'CÁDIZ' Merav Maroody, a Berlin-based set and actors photographer and an art magazine chief editor (msuse art and sexuality magazine), has been working in the last 10 years on various film productions in the US, Europe, and Israel. While working on a small Hollywood production in Los Angeles, fresh out of school, she was discovered by a Sony pictures’ producer and for the next five years was one of Sony’s top five set photographers in Europe. Throughout her career, she has had the chance to work alongside talented DOP’s, including Douglas Milsome (“The Shining”, “Full Metal Jacket”) and actors including David Hasselhof, JeanClaude Van Damme, and, in a recent film, Alexander Fehling. Maroody’s experience with working on film productions has laid the way for her to start developing her own personal film ideas. For the last 8 years, she has been living in Berlin and taking pictures of actors and sets.

ONE SHOT: AREK RATAJ, 'AN HOUR BEFORE THE LOCKDOWN'

BEST CONCEPTUAL PHOTO PROJECT: GIORGI SHENGELIA, 'ACCIDENTALLY PORTRAITS' Giorgi Shengelia was born in 1984 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated in 2006 and in 2009 moved with his family to live in Florence, Italy. While there Giorgi became interested in art and photography. In 2012,

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George Sharashidze COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT

Commercial Director: Iva Merabishvili Marketing Manager: Natalia Chikvaidze

GEORGIA TODAY

he decided to take a course in photojournalism in the school of Marangoni. During his studies he also got to know photo agencies (Prospekt, TerraProject) and their works. After finishing his first photo project (four rooms) he moved back to live to Tbilisi to work on independent photo projects. In 2014, he was chosen for Noor-Nikon Masterclass Istanbul.

"Coincidences often condition changes.

My family's photo archive burned long ago. Only a small number of photos survived. Burned, torn, cropped, and distorted small photos speed up the searching process. The small nostalgic photos inspired me to work on a new genre that would give me the same feelings as the photos surviving the fire. I try to create this mood in accidental portraits that I see every day," says the photographer.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT:

Editor-In-Chief: Katie Ruth Davies

Arek Rataj is a Poland-born freelance photographer and lecturer. In 2019, he started teaching at Jianghan University in China's Wuhan and photographed

Journalists: Ana Dumbadze, Vazha Tavberidze, Nini Dakhundaridze, Tony Hanmer, Emil Avdaliani, Nugzar B. Ruhadze, Beka Alexishvili, Elene Dzebizashvili, Photographer: Aleksei Serov

daily life when the coronavirus outbreak began in the very first world epicenter.

During the outbreak, he collaborated with Associated Press.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: NIKITA TERYOSHIN, 'NOTHING PERSONAL - THE BACK OFFICE OF WAR'

“Every day we see pictures of war and destruction on the news; the expenditure on armaments is setting new records year after year. Well, let’s take a look at the other side of the subject – behind the curtains of the global defense business. Nothing Personal shows the back office of war, which is the complete opposite of a battlefield: An oversized playground for adults with wine, finger food and shiny weapons. Dead bodies here are mannequins or pixels on screens of a huge number of simulators. Bazookas and machine guns are plugged into flatscreens and war action is staged in an artificial environment in front of a tribune full of high ranked guests, min-

Website Manager/Editor: Katie Ruth Davies Layout: Misha Mchedlishvili Webmaster: Sergey Gevenov Circulation Managers: David Kerdikashvili, David Djandjgava

isters, heads of states, generals and traders. I deliberately don't show you the faces of the participants. It is not my intention to fix everything upon a certain person. I just want to give insight into this exclusive happening. The pictures were taken at 14 defense fairs on 5 continents," says the author.

Nikita Teryoshin was born in Leningrad (RU) in 1986, studied photography at FH Dortmund, and now lives in Berlin. His genres are street, documentary and everyday horror. He has participated in group exhibitions in Germany, Italy, the UK, United States and Singapore. His first solo exhibition was in 2017 at La Chambre Gallery in Strasbourg. His work has been published in magazines such as VICE, SZ Magazin, ZEIT Magazin, GUP, Mouvement and VRIJ. Until May 10, viewers will have the opportunity to visit local and international, personal and group exhibitions in the virtual space.

Along with the exhibitions, Kolga Photo Week's Education Section hosted discussions of international photo experts, portfolio reviews of international photographers, editors, curators and art critics. Additionally, as part of the week, the TBC Status Education Platform ‘Status Meetings’ hosted two discussions: on May 5, José Luís Neves ‘Let’s Get Physical! Interrogating the Boundaries of Photobook Making’ and on May 8 at 7PM, Canon Ambassador Clive Booth with ‘Recipe for a Portrait’.

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