President Mikheil Saakashvili wants to turn Georgia into a skier’s paradise. For a leader who has presided over a cabinet meeting in neon green ski pants, the idea seems natural enough. But the plan’s high price tag is raising concerns that this dream is more of a vanity project than part of a sound blueprint for economic growth.
Missing windowpanes, no water, no electricity and no gas. That was the scene that greeted one family of Internally Displaced Persons in Georgia after they were evicted from a make-shift shelter in Tbilisi in mid-January and moved into government-provided village housing.
Hundreds of Georgians displaced by the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia could face a fresh upheaval this week as evictions of Internally Displaced Persons from illegal temporary shelters in Tbilisi get underway. While government officials claim the evictions are unavoidable, critics argue that the policy will sacrifice what progress these individuals have made in rebuilding their lives.
Six months into Georgia’s much-touted initiative to make English the country’s second language, its Teach and Learn with Georgia program is getting middling grades from participating volunteer teachers.
The Georgian government is applauding the Millennium Challenge Corporation, one of the most influential US foreign aid agencies, for giving Tbilisi a chance to obtain a second, five-year grant.
Seventeen-year-old Ketevan, an Internally Displaced Person from the breakaway region of Abkhazia, has little reason to celebrate the holidays this year. Along with hundreds of other Georgian IDP families, Ketevan and her family face eviction from a temporary shelter in Tbilisi after January 1.
In a bid to promote Georgia’s profile in world markets and attract tourists and investors, Tbilisi has signed a deal with the global music entertainment network MTV for a high-octane concert to be televised worldwide, a source close to the negotiations has confirmed to EurasiaNet.org.
The concert, tentatively planned for May or June 2011, will be held in the Black S
Government transparency has long been a rallying cry for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration, but when it comes to public information about the state budget, that transparency can be hard to find.
After years of sidestepping criticism on the topic, Georgia’s governing United National Movement is preparing to tighten media ownership regulations. Tbilisi’s chief intent is to ban “offshore” ownership of Georgian media outlets.
