Issue no: 1087 • SEP. 28 - OCT. 1, 2018 • PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY PRICE: GEL 2.50 In this week’s issue... Latest Report on Air Quality in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi NEWS PAGE 3 Shevtsova on the Tsunami of Change in Russia POLITICS PAGE 5 FOCUS National Bank of Georgia ON OCCUPANT Tightens Lending Regulations 25 years since Georgia lost Abkhazia, and BUSINESS PAGE 9 Georgia-Russia relations PAGE 4-7 Will We Ever Get There? SOCIETY PAGE 12 Nicolas Namoradze – First Georgian to Win Honens Niels Scott Rounds Up his International Piano Competition 5-year Tenure at the UNDP CULTURE PAGE 15 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY KATIE RUTH DAVIES iels Scott, the UN Resident Coor- dinator and UNDP Resident Rep- resentative and UNFPA Repre- sentative in Georgia of the past fi ve years, has ended his tenure and this Georgian Judoka Tushishvili Nweek headed off to his next position in Tripoli, Libya. Becomes World Champion We caught up with him quickly prior to his SPORTS PAGE 15 departure to get his take on Georgia past and pre- sent, and his outlook for the future of the country. “I was looking out the window as I was heading to work this morning at about 8:30 in the morn- ing. What I saw looked like a really modern, bus- tling city, which unfortunately comes with a lot of traffi c, but people were heading off to work and moving with a sense of purpose, thinking about the day ahead. That’s what symbolizes the biggest change for me of the past fi ve years: Georgians have become more business-like in their approach to life but have still retained their poetic and romantic character. Continued on page 7 Source: rovingsnails.com GEORGIA TODAY 2 NEWS SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 1, 2018 Georgian Fine Arts Museum to Opposition Accuses Regulatory Open to Public from October 2 The exhibition space is of 7,000 square BY THEA MORRISON meters and consists of three fl oors and Commission of Censorship 31 exhibition halls. The museum also has a storage facility equipped with the lat- BY THEA MORRISON he Georgian Fine Arts est high-standard technologies that can Museum had a soft opening keep 6,000 pictures. The building has a on Rustaveli Avenue on 120-room conference hall and an exhibi- September 26. tion space for temporary expositions. eorgia’s opposition parties Over 3500 works of well- The museum, which was built in the have criticized Georgia’s Tknown Georgian artists of the last 80 place of the former Artist's House on National Communications years will be exhibited in the museum, Tbilisi’s main artery road, besides the Commission (GNCC) after which have been collected by collectors promotion of Georgian modern art, gives it requested the removal Gia Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevar- artists an opportunity to conduct research. Gof the opposition’s pre-election videos dnadze in the family private collection Periodically, new works will be added about the presidential candidate Salome over 20 years. to the existing, permanent exposure. Zurabishvili, saying they were “inappro- Art pieces belong to the period from An “Art House” complex has also been priate and insulting.” 1945 to the present day. Among the exhib- designed for guests of the museum, which Zurabishvili is supported by the ruling its, visitors can see the works of Apolon combines restaurants, cafes, swimming Georgian Dream (GD) party, and the Kutateladze, Korneli Sanadze, Natela pools, sauna, exercise hall and boutiques. opposition believes that by restricting Iankoshvili, Edmond Kalandadze, Sergo There is also a three-story garage for 155 videos about her, the GD is trying to Parajanov, Jibson Khundadze, Albert cars. prevent society from seeing the reality. Dilbarian, Zurab Nizharadze, Lev Bai- Income received by the "Art House" The three videos depict Zurabishvili on the authorities not to prevent them tion] want to take the presidential elec- kakhiev, Givi Toidze, Tengiz Mirzashvili, will be spent on the development of the running away from reporters, making from carrying out their pre-election tion in a destructive direction,” he stated. Radish Tordia, Temo Japaridze, Gaiane museum. mistakes while talking in Georgian, and campaign. Kakha Bekauri, the chairman of the Khachaturiani, Tamaz Khutsishvili, Gogi People can visit the Georgian Fine Arts using inappropriate words and expres- The European Georgia opposition also Georgian National Communications Chagelishvili and Irakli Parjiani. Museum from October 2, 2018. sions. held a press-conference, accusing the Commission, said that the GNCC had The GNCC sent letters to all broad- GNCC of breaking the law. The party demanded the withdrawal of several casters, demanding the removal of the says it is censorship when they ask to political advertisements from TV com- videos. remove only the videos where Zurabish- panies due to “unethicality.” “The clips contain obscene content, vili is portrayed in a negative context. He says the decision of the commission regulated by Paragraph 4 of Article 54 “The GNCC is a tool in the hands of is not connected to politics. of the Broadcasting Act, which prohibits the ruling party, in order to help them “Three of the four political advertise- pornography and violation of human accomplish their political aims and make ments contain unethical expressions that dignity. The clips are considered inde- Zurabishvili President…This is political are prohibited by Georgian legislation. cent,” the GNCC stated, adding that if censorship,” Giga Bokeria, member of This is a political advertisement, and the TV stations to not obey their demands, European Georgia, stressed. according to the Law on Broadcasting, they will be fi ned. “Any broadcaster which obeys this it is prohibited to launch inappropriate The United Opposition, which has their absurd decision of the commission will advertising. That is why we said that own presidential candidate, held a brief- restrict free political speech and become these advertisements cannot be broad- ing to say that the advertisements were a supporter of Zurabishvili’s election casted anymore,” said Bekauri. not inappropriate as they depict the campaign,” he added. Rustavi 2 TV says they will not obey reality. Member of the GD majority, David the decision of the GNCC and call on “The videos show Zurabishvili speak- Matikashvili, says he agrees with the the other broadcasters not to remove ing and using the words herself. We only decision of the Regulatory Commission. opposition’s advertisements. showed this and nothing more…The Matikashvili believes that the opposition “The Regulatory Commission exceeded decision of the GNCC means that the parties are trying to discredit Zurabish- their powers and tries to impose censor- GD majority is doing their best to help vili, which, according to him, is wrong. ship. This is why we will continue to Zurabishvili win,” Giorgi Vashadze, Chair “Salome Zurabishvili is the target of a show videos,” Nika Gvaramia, Director Photo source: 1TV of the New Georgia party stated, calling black PR campaign... They [the opposi- General of Rustavi 2 TV station, stressed. GEORGIA TODAY SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 1, 2018 NEWS 3 Latest Report on Air Quality in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi ously. An online air quality monitoring gia has had over recent decades has been BY SAMANTHA GUTHRIE information portal is currently being completely unacceptable and brought developed where the public will be able us to very serious consequences. The to get daily information about air quality main focus of the Green Economy con- he National Environmental immediately and consistently. Due to cept is to protect the environment to Agency (NEA) of the Min- high public interest, the weekly survey improve the ecology of the country and istry of Environment Pro- will continue until the end of the current maintain natural resources for future tection and Agriculture of year. To determine the concentration of generations,” said Bakhtadze when he Georgia conducts continu- potentially harmful particles in Tbilisi’s announced the concept. Tous monitoring of atmospheric air qual- air, including lead, specialists will select As part of the Green Economy, starting ity using automated measurement sta- locations for samples to be taken in August 1 Georgia began implementing tions. The most recent tests measured advance, and the results will be refl ected a standard air monitoring system mod- the concentration of eight pollutants in in a single weekly report. eled after European practices. The eval- the atmosphere in Tbilisi, Batumi and The National Environmental Agency uation is based on the automatic moni- Georgia Ranked Kutaisi. The NEA found the presence of will publish its data on concentrations toring network that was previously in all measured substances to be within of contaminants in atmospheric air in place and is being expanded. A web normal levels, except for nitrogen diox- Tbilisi daily on the agency's website: portal will also be developed to allow ide (NO2) and solid particle (PM10) www.nea.gov.ge. On a weekly basis, citizens to receive regularly updated concentrations. details about atmospheric air quality online information on the air quality in 7th in Economic Specifi cally, concentrations of nitrogen across Georgia will also be available. certain locations. dioxide were observed in Tbilisi on Air quality is a continual subject of Last week, the Georgian environmental Tsereteli Avenue to be 1.4 times the concern for residents of Georgia, espe- non-profi t EcoVision presented the results annual average. On Abuseridze Street cially in cities. The World Health Organ- of their research on air quality in Tbilisi. in Batumi, the NO2 was 1.5 times the ization's (WHO) 2018 report ranked EcoVision teamed up with the Commit- Freedom 2018 annual average. The solid particle (PM10) Georgia 70th in the number of deaths tee on Environmental Protection and concentration was observed on Tsereteli caused by air pollution – the worst in Natural Resources of the Parliament of Avenue in Tbilisi to be 1.4 times the Europe.