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The Telegraph Names Georgia Top Travel Destination for UK Airlines

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The Telegraph Names Georgia Top Travel Destination for UK Airlines Issue no: 889 • OCTOBER 21 - 24, 2016 • PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY PRICE: GEL 2.50 In this week’s issue... Tbilisi Marathon to Take Place in City Center NEWS PAGE 2 Obama Calls Donald Trump’s Admiration of Putin ‘Unprecedented’ POLITICS PAGE 6 Separatist Commander, Alleged War Criminal Killed in Ukraine’s Donbass FOCUS POLITICS PAGE 7 ON EU RELATIONS & GEORGIAN VALUES Neuter and Spay Day with Ambassador Janos Herman discusses Mayhew International in Tbilisi EU-Georgia relations, values and bilateral cooperation PAGE 8 SOCIETY PAGE 10 Boris Akunin Meets Georgian The Telegraph Names Georgia Top Readers SOCIETY PAGE 10 Travel Destination for UK Airlines Tabliashvili’s Fairytale beyond he UK daily newspaper The Tel- Illusions egraph has named Georgia a top CULTURE PAGE 13 travel destination in an article titled: ‘17 amazing places UK air- lines should wake up and launch Product Tfl ights to.’ The article names 17 top destinations within Management 9,000 miles of London that need to be con- nected to Britain and can be reached from Workshop for Britain with just a single fl ight, and recommends British airline companies to launch direct fl ights Performing Arts there. The article recommends readers visit Geor- Professionals in gia “one of the oldest countries in the world,” and cites one of the tourists: Adjara "These days, its fi ne Art Nouveau buildings CULTURE PAGE 15 and pretty, traditional balconied houses are what some would call shabby chic. Yet new hotels and shopping malls are springing up and gentrifi cation is under way in its more historic districts. Tbilisi feels like a city fi nally coming into itself. In other words, get here fast before everyone else does!" Georgian-born British singer Katie Melua is also quoted in the article. "It's steeped in history – the Old Town, with its twisting alleys, is particularly fascinating," she says. "It's a city that's very much off the beaten track. Not many tourists have been there, which makes it all the more worth visiting." GEORGIA TODAY 2 NEWS OCTOBER 21 - 24, 2016 Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili Georgia’s PM Initiates Changes to Constitution by Creating Special Working Group ports the initiative of the PM, saying he is ready to BY THEA MORRISON participate in the creation of a working group. According to the Head of the President’s Admin- istration, Giorgi Abashishvili, the President welcomes eorgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kviri- the initiative and is ready to establish a special work- kashvili initiated the creation of a ing group which will involve the participation of the special working group that will be President, PM and the Parliament Speaker. engaged in the process of making “The PM’s initiative will end speculations about amendments to the Constitution fol- the constitutional majority and will be of high Glowing the elections. legitimacy,” said Abashishvili. The initiative was announced by the PM at today’s The opposition party United National Movement cabinet sitting, whereby he stated that the ruling (UNM) stated the constitutional majority repre- Georgian Dream (GD) wants a constitutional major- sents a threat for Georgia and urged voters not to ity in order to fulfi ll its promises given to the pop- support the ruling team. ulation. “I call on everyone who does not want the estab- “GD is winning with an absolute majority, which lishment of a one-party regime in this country to fi rst of all is a huge responsibility for us before the go out to the polling stations in the second round country and before voters,” he said, going on to and vote for the UNM candidates and, by doing underline that the constitution needs amendments, so, defend Georgian democracy,” the leader of the but that the process should be carried out through UNM, Davit Bakradze, said. broad public involvement and without any haste. Moreover, a group of civil society members Kvirikashvili also commented on the statements released a statement yesterday calling on pro- of the opposition, which said that if the GD gets a Western political parties which were unable to pass constitutional majority, there is a danger that the the 5 percent threshold in the fi rst round, to sup- country may turn away from democratic principles. port opposition candidates in the second run-offs. According to the PM, such statements are specu- “A constitutional majority could damage the lations ahead of the second round of elections. democratic process. It allows the ruling party to “These are totally unhealthy and artifi cial specu- change the Constitution and violate the balance of lations. A constitutional majority is a big respon- powers between the branches of government,” the sibility for the government, which aims at imple- statement reads. menting ambitious plans for the country’s As a result of Georgia’s October 8 parliamentary development,” he stated. elections, the ruling team already has 67 guaran- According to Kvirikashvili, civil society will be teed seats in Georgia’s 150-seat parliament. If the actively involved in the process of carrying out GD manages to win in at least 46 out of 50 major- changes to the Constitution, in order to transform itarian districts during the October 30 second round it into a democratic and European one. elections, it will gain a constitutional majority in Georgia’s President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, sup- the new parliament. Tbilisi Marathon to Take Place in City Center 24,000 GEL (USD 10,200) last year, which was BY NINO GUGUNISHVILI matched and doubled to 48,000 GEL (USD 20,400) by Heidelbergcement. The funds were spent on the rehabilitation of a he Georgian capital Tbilisi will host special care center for people with disabilities in its fi fth annual marathon on October Rustavi, an industrial city south of Tbilisi. 23 as hundreds of runners gather on Registration for the Tbilisi Marathon will remain the city’s main thoroughfare Rustaveli open until October 22. Avenue to take part in the event. TOrganized by German building company Heidelbergcement, the race will include a 21-kilometer half marathon, a 500-meter Kids’ Run for children ages 6-11 and a 100- meter sprint for 12-15-year-olds. Held under the aegis of the Tbilisi Municipality, Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and the German Embassy in Geor- gia, the event hopes to promote a healthy lifestyle and raise funds for at-risk chil- dren, said Michael Hampel, the General Director of Heidelbergcement in the Cau- casus. All proceeds for the event will be donated the Children’s Hospice in Georgia. The Tbilisi Marathon managed to raise GEORGIA TODAY OCTOBER 21 - 24, 2016 NEWS 3 EU Is Ready to Work with Tourism Administration New parliament of Georgia Presents Bureau for BY THEA MORRISON Conventions and n the recent Foreign and Security Policy 2016 report of the European Exhibitions Council, the European Union (EU) expressed readiness to work with will also focus on promoting the business BY NINO GUGUNISHVILI the new, democratically elected tourism potential of the country abroad. Iparliament of Georgia and called on all Ketevan Bochorishvili, Deputy Minis- MPs of the new parliament to work ter of Economy and Sustainable Devel- together for Georgia’s interests. he New Conventions and opment noted that diversifi cation of the The document was published on Octo- Exhibition Bureau ‘Meet- markets is needed in order to transform ber 17 and focuses on continuing the georgia.ge’, introduced by Georgia into a four-season touristic des- quest for solutions to the acute crises in the Georgian National Tour- tination country. the EU's neighborhood, whilst protect- ism Administration ‘Meetgeorgia.ge’ is said to have been ing and defending human rights, and on T(GNTA) at Courtyard Mariott Hotel created following world best practise in building and strengthening peace and Tbilisi this week, aims at fostering the the tourism sphere and according to stability globally. devlopment of business tourism in Geor- reports and studies undertaken by USAID The EU welcomed the October 8 par- gia, seeking to become a hub for inter- in the years of 2012-2014 about business liamentary elections in Georgia, which, Foreign and Security Policy 2016 of the European Council reads that the EU is ready national meetings, exhibitions, confer- tourism development opportunities in to cooperate with Georgia’s new parliament. Source: CNN according to the report, were held in a ences, tours and various other events. It Georgia. generally peaceful and orderly way. Moreover, the EU expressed its readi- Union governing its relationship with “Besides some incidents of violence ness to support Georgia's efforts to over- the post-Soviet states of Armenia, Azer- near and in polling stations, the pre- come the consequences of confl ict in baijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and liminary assessment of the OSCE/ODIHR Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkha- Ukraine, intended to provide an avenue Election Observation Mission found the zia and South Ossetia, including through for discussions of trade, economic strat- elections to be competitive, well-admin- the activities of the EU Monitoring Mis- egy, travel agreements, and other issues istered and respectful of fundamental sion (EUMM) and the EU Special Rep- between the EU and member states. freedoms,” the document reads. resentative (EUSR) for the South Cau- The document reads that in its rela- Also, the EU looks forward to working casus and the crisis in Georgia. tions with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, with the democratically elected new “The EU will remain fi rmly committed the EU will continue to focus on the parliament and government once the to its policy of supporting Georgia's implementation of the respective Asso- electoral process is completed, as the sovereignty and territorial integrity ciation Agreements (AAs), which will second round of elections is to be held within its internationally-recognized help to steer reform processes in these in 50 single-mandate constituencies on borders,” the report reads.
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