Issue no: 1201 • NOVEMBER 8 - 11, 2019 • PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY PRICE: GEL 2.50

In this week’s issue... Number of Georgian Emigrants Up NEWS PAGE 2 The Minister of Education Mikheil Batiashvili Resigns POLITICS PAGE 4 Lithuanian Advice on Dealing with Russia’s Hybrid Warfare POLITICS PAGE 6 The Intricacies of Church & State Life POLITICS PAGE 7 On Vano Merabishvili’s FOCUS Imminent Release POLITICS PAGE 7 ON IDENTITY may face clashes this CEO of Informational weekend on the airing of a fi lm Highway Technologies SA: about a young homosexual PAGE 4 Georgia is Very Attractive for Companies like Mine BUSINESS PAGE 8 A Tale of Two Georgias? Ren Zhengfei's Northern BLOG BY SOPHIE KATSARAVA MBE – CHAIR European Media OF THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AT THE Roundtable, Part 3 BUSINESS PAGE 10

oes Georgia struggle to tell the story of her progress today? And The Personal Letter Ryan if so, where does the problem lie? Do we fi nd it hard to convince our Smith’s Mother Wrote to Western friends that, in fact, eve- Drything we do aims to make Georgia a reliable, her Family’s Murderer true friend to the West? Why do we get over- whelmed by waves of negativity and false nar- SOCIETY PAGE 13 ratives? And why do we allow ourselves to be undermined by those pursuing their own inter- Misha Avsajanishvili Judges ests rather than publicising more of the positive progress Georgia has made? the First Bocuse D’Or To put my thoughts into perspective, let’s remind ourselves of a story you have heard many National Competition times and yet remains relevant and important: Once Georgia regained its independence in the CULTURE PAGE 15 early 90s, the ‘century’s project’ of the Baku-- Ceyhan pipeline was launched to improve Geor- gia’s standing in the world. After decades of Soviet occupation, independence was followed by a long Special Offer for readers period of turbulence, severe civil confrontation, a devastating social-economic crisis, lost territories of Georgia Today and waves of refugees in our own country. Continued on page 4 -15% off all Diet Plans! PAGE 7 GEORGIA TODAY 2 NEWS NOVEMBER 8 - 11, 2019 Public Defender Demands Number of Georgian Emigrants Up Investigation into Allegations BY TEA MARIAMIDZE

Voiced against Clergy he 2019 Migration Profi le released by Georgia’s State Commission on Migration Issues reads that the num- ber of emigrants leaving TGeorgia increased last year. The highest number of emigrants in the last four years was recorded in 2018 and amounted to 76,367 people. 57% of Geor- gian emigrants are men. According to UN DESA, the largest number of emi- grants from Georgia live in Russia, how- ever, the number of Georgians emigrating to Russia in recent years has been decreas- ing, and the number of Georgian citizens Image source: Visa center who leave it has been increasing. As a In addition, the Commission says that Turkey on the basis of work, family result, the migration balance of Georgian since the entry into force of visa-free reunifi cation and short-term visits. citizens in Russia has decreased. travel, the rate of refusals for Georgian In addition to migration, the report In addition to Russia, a large number citizens to enter the EU have signifi cantly noted that the number of Georgian citi- of Georgians emigrate to Greece, Ukraine, increased. The highest number of cases zens returning from the EU countries Armenia and Azerbaijan. The number of border-crossing denial was recorded signifi cantly increased in 2018 and is of Georgian applicants asking for per- in 2018, with Germany, Greece, France, expected to continue to rise in the com- manent residence and citizenship in the Cyprus and Poland leading. These are ing years. The countries from which the United States in 2015-2017 was more or the countries (with the exception of most return home are Germany, Greece less stable. In 2017