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Georgian businesses strive to meet new EU hygiene regulations

TBILISI, FEB. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s National Food Agency said it had suspended operational licences for 11 meat businesses because they failed hygiene requirements set out under new rules imposed by the EU.

The suspensions show the complexities of trying to bring hygiene standards in Georgia up to EU requirements so that businesses can take advantage of a new deal brought in last year which allows Georgian companies to export directly to Europe.

The 11 business included three slaughterhouses, four meat whole- sale facilities, three catering facilities, and one farmers’ market. On top of that, 34 business operators were fined due to minor infringements.

In an interview with The Conway Bulletin, Kakha Sokhadze, deputy head food safety inspector at the National Food Agency, said many local businesses still need to adapt to the new regulations.

“Because of the obligations we have with the EU, we are increasing the number of inspections and the more you cover, the more you find cases of non-compliance. Business operators should understand that there are new rules and new requirements,” he said.

Last year the EU and Georgia signed an Association Agreement that paved the way for various producers to export goods to the EU. Georgian companies have already signed deals with European importers to send wool and honey.

And the deal with the EU is having a far-reaching impact in Georgia.

Even meat which is not being exported now has to comply with new rules aimed at boosting hygiene.

Various labelling requirements, for example, were brought in on Jan. 1.

To export to the EU, each food category needs to be certified, said Carlo Natale, deputy head of the EU’s delegation in Georgia.

“Each product is approved after several studies and measurements are made in the country of production,” he told the Conway Bulletin. “At the moment we are examining fish and its various types of process- ing. Then, we will examine dairy products. The last one will be beef and meat. They are the most difficult.”

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Italy moves olive trees for Azerbaijani gas pipeline

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FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Italy have started moving 200 olive trees that stood in the way of the TAPI pipeline which is slated to pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. Environmentalists had wanted the pipeline re-routed to save the trees but the pipeline’s backers said that this would delay Azerbaijani gas reaching Europe and also add millions of dollars to the cost. The authorities, in the end, decided it was simplest just to move the trees.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Textile production drops in Kyrgyzstan

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FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Textile production in Kyrgyzstan was 27% lower in January compared to the same period a year earlier, media reported quoting official statistics. This is important as it shows the impact of a downturn in the economy. Textile production, outside mining, is one of Kyrgyzstan’s main earners.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Thousands protest in Georgian capital to support Rustavi-2 TV channel

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TBILISI, FEB. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — An estimated 10,000 people protested in central Tbilisi against what they said was the attempted silencing of TV channel Rustavi-2’s anti-government rhetoric.

The demonstration was one of the biggest for several years in the Georgian capital and was a reminder that street-level politics are still a potent force in Georgia.

Rustavi-2, one of Georgia’s most popular TV channels and a supporter of the opposition UNM party, suspended broadcasts for two days before the demonstration.

Zaal Udumashvili, deputy director of Rustavi-2 and anchor of its main news program, told the demonstrators that the fight to save it was a fight to save democracy itself.

“Rustavi-2 is back on the air from now on, which means that the channel will never go off again,” he was quoted by media as saying.

“If Rustavi-2 falls, this will not be the fall of only one television. This will mean that there will be no space left for covering your problems, for bringing your problems to the entire country.”

Rustavi-2 is the focus of an ownership struggle currently playing out in the Supreme Court. The protesters said that the Georgian Dream government was trying to seize the channel from Giorgi and Levan Karamanishvili, associates of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, through businessman Kibar Khalvashi. Mr Khalvashi is a former co-owner of Rustavi-2 who says his stake in the TV channel was taken from him illegally.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Azerbaijani president appoints his wife as Vice-President

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FEB. 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as his First Vice-President, drawing allegations of nepotism.

The position of Vice-President was only created in September after a referendum.

It’s still unclear exactly what role Mrs Aliyeva will play as First Vice- President. Under the constitutional amendments passed last year, the First Vice-President will take over running the country if the President dies or becomes ill.

Mr Aliyev took over as Azerbaijan’s President in 2003 from his father, Heydar. He has since tinkered with the constitution, strengthening his own power and cracking down on opposition activists and the media.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Remittance flows to Tajikistan continues to slow

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DUSHANBE, FEB. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajiks working in Russia sent $1.9b back to Tajikistan in 2016, representing around a third of the national GDP, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said quoting Central Bank statistics.

The data underlines the fall in the value of the remittances being sent back from Russia, where a drop in oil prices and Western sanctions imposed after Russian interference in eastern Ukraine, has hit the economy and pushed it into a recession.

“Over 870,000 Tajikistan citizens are working in Russia. The amount of their money transfers to the motherland was $1.9 bln in 2016, corresponding to one third of the republican GDP,” Tass news agency quoted Mr Ushakov as saying.

Remittances of $1.9b is around 15% lower than in 2015, which was itself nearly 50% lower than in 2014. The proportion of Tajikistan’s national economy that remittances makes up is also down sharply. Previously, remittances sent to Tajikistan from Russia accounted for around half of its GDP.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are often described as being the most remittance-dependent countries in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Tablet production increases in Armenia

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FEB. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia produced 2,012 tablet computers in 2016, up from 932 in 2015, media reported quoting the national statistics service. The US-Armenian joint-venture Technology and Science Dynamics Inc started making tablets in 2014 under a headline scheme designed to try to turn Armenia into something of tech-hub destination. Last year it also started producing smartphones.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Kyrgyz police arrests crowds protesting

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FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kyrgyzstan detained the prominent opposition figure Almanbet Shykmamatov, allegedly questioning him for nine hours over corruption allegations. Dozens of people protested outside the White House, the presidential office. Mr Shykmamatov is a member of the Ata Meken political party, which draws it support mainly from the south.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)f

Blast at Uzbek chemical factory kills five

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FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A blast at a chemical plant in Ferghana, east Uzbekistan, on Feb. 23 killed several people, the Uzbek government said.

It declined to give any more details about the blast, other than to report that an investigation had been set up, but the Sputnik news agency quoted a source at the fertiliser factory as saying that at least five people had been killed and that several more had been injured.

“A total of five people have been killed at the site of the explosion, all of them were part of a repair team. Several others are now in a hospital,” the source told Sputnik, a Russian news agency.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said that the blast occurred at the ammonia production facility of the Farg’onaazot company which produces fertilisers.

Analysts will look at how Presi- dent Shavkat Mirzioyev, in power since September when Islam Karimov died, and his government handle this industrial accident – both releasing information about it and dealing with any potential local anger.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Currencies: Azerbaijani manat, Kazakh tenge

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FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh tenge added another 1% on to its value this week, bolstered by a rise in oil prices, and the Georgian lari added 2%, a rise that analysts attributed to a general improvement in global economic sentiment.

It was a different story, though, across the South Caucasus, where the Azerbaijani manat lost another 0.8% to fall to 1.7925/$1. This is frustrating for the Central Bank as the manat had looked good to break 1.7445/$1, the level it reached at the start of February – its strongest since November.

In any case, the manat has recovered since the end of January when it bottomed out at 1.95/$1.

But the Chairman of Board of Directors of Financial Markets Supervision Authority, Rufat Aslanli, told media that the manat couldn’t rely on oil prices to pull it out of its negative spiral. “Oil price has impact on sustainability of our economy, but not on the exchange rate of dollar,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)