Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to allocate 800,000 manat ($470,590) for the overhaul of the Duriya-Shumrud road in the Astara district.
Day: December 19, 2023
On December 19, the National Statistics Service of Georgia (Geostat) published preliminary data indicating that in January-November 2023, Georgia’s foreign trade increased by 14.7% compared to the same period of 2022, totaling $19.6 billion in value.
Source: Geostat
In January-November 2023, exports from Georgia increased by 11.1% to $5.6 billion, while imports rose by 16.1% to $14 billion. As a result, the country’s negative trade balance was $8.4 billion, representing 43.1% of its foreign trade turnover.
In the same period, Turkey was Georgia’s largest trade partner with $2.7 billion in trade volume, followed by Russia with $2.2 billion, United States with $1.85 billion, China with $1.5 billion, and Azerbaijan with $1.37 billion.
During the reporting period, Azerbaijan was Georgia’s largest trade partner in exports with $788 million, followed by Armenia with $711 million, Kazakhstan with $649 million, Kyrgyzstan with $628 million, and Russia with $605 million.
In terms of imports, Georgia’s largest trading partners were Turkey with $2.3 billion, the United States with $1.77 billion, Russia with $1.59 billion, China with $1.24 billion, and Germany with $864 million.
In January-November 2023, the largest commodity groups in exports were led by motor cars – $1.95 billion. Then come: copper ores and concentrates – $472 million US dollars; wine of fresh grapes – $240 million; spirituous beverages – $177 million; ferro-alloys – $148 million; nitrogenous fertilizers – $147 million; natural or artificial mineral and aerated waters, not containing added sugar – $122 million; medicaments put up in measured doses – $109 million; mineral and aerated waters, containing added sugar – $103.5 million; electrical energy – $103.3 million; other commodities – $2 billion.
As for imports, the major commodity groups here are motor cars – $2.88 billion; petroleum and petroleum oils – $1.05 billion; medicaments put up in measured doses – $489 million; petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons – $388 million; telephone sets and apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data (including wired/wireless networks) – $331 million; copper ores and concentrates – $230 million; motor vehicles for the transport of goods – $154 million; automatic data processing machines and units thereof – $50 million; cigars, cheroots, cigarillos, and cigarettes – $141 million; tractors – $126 million; other commodities – $8.08 billion.
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- 13/12/2023 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 14.7% in January-November 2023
- 13/11/2023 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 16.2% in January-October 2023
- 19/10/2023 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 16.5% in January-September 2023
- 13/10/2023 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 16.6% in January-September 2023
- 19/09/2023 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 16.8% in January-August 2023
- 13/09/2023 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 16.8% in January-August 2023
On December 18, the German Minister of Interior and Community, Nancy Feaser accompanied by a delegation arrived in Georgia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia reported. As part of the official working visit, Nancy Feaser met on December 19 with the Georgian Minister of Interior, Vakhtang Gomelauri. The meeting was marked by the signing of an Agreement on Migration and Mobility between the Government of Georgia and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
“The Agreement aims to bolster collaboration between Georgia and the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of labor migration and education, with an emphasis on enhancing educational and internship initiatives for Georgian students and researchers,” – reads the Georgian MIA press release. The agreement also aims “to intensify efforts against illegal migration, which includes strengthening cooperation on the readmission and reintegration of Georgian citizens of who have violated visa-free travel regulations.”
According to the Georgian Ministry of Interior, the discussion also focused on the future prospects of cooperation between the two countries in the fight against illegal migration and organized crime.
During the meeting, the Georgian Minister of Interior emphasized the importance of Germany’s decision to include Georgia in the list of safe countries of origin, noting that the decision “serves as a validation of Georgia’s democratic governance and attests to the effective protection of human rights by the state institutions of Georgia.”
On December 15, the German Parliament passed a legislative act, recognizing Georgia as a safe country of origin. The move is aimed at speeding up the processing of asylum applications and facilitating faster deportations for those who are rejected. The Germany Ministry of Interior defines safe countries of origin as those where there is generally no fear of state prosecution and where the state protects its citizens.
According to the Georgian MIA, “the German side acknowledged successful implementation by Georgia of the Readmission Agreement with the European Union.” The German Minister also positively assessed the measures taken by Georgia to respond to the challenges of visa-free travel with the EU. At the end of the meeting, “both parties expressed their optimism for increased cooperation in the future”, underpinned by the signed agreement.
- 23/11/2010 – EU, Georgia Sign Readmission Treaty
After the meeting, the ministers held a joint press conference where the details of the signed agreement were clarified.
According to Gomelauri, under the agreement, the parties will prevent and combat illegal migration, human trafficking, misuse of documents and visas. “Many [people] left, as if for work, and then they disappeared… We found them in other countries, sometimes there were cases of theft,” – said Gomelauri, adding that if a person works legally, he/she will have no problem. He also said that individuals will not be deported if they are in Germany for medical reasons, for example for medical operations that cannot be done in Georgia.
The German Minister also stressed the importance of the signed agreement. She said that the circular migration will continue under the agreement “to ensure that the better work opportunities will be created on the German market”.
More to follow…
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In its opinion of December 15-16, 2023, on Georgia’s anti-corruption legislation, which focuses on the provisions added to the Anti-Corruption Law in November 2022, the Venice Commission states: “The current institutional design does not provide for a sufficient degree of independence of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)”.
The Venice Commission considers that ACB’s competences to oversee the financing of political parties and monitor asset and interest declarations of high-level officials require additional safeguards to be included in the Law. The Commission highlights the fact that the power to appoint and dismiss the head of the ACB is largely in the hands of the Prime Minister and considers this “particularly problematic”.
Noting that the November 2022 amendments to Georgia’s anti-corruption law aimed at institutional strengthening of anti-corruption activities and the fight against corruption in order to fulfill one of the European Commission’s priorities, the Commission however refrains refrains from assessing EU criteria compliance. The Venice Commission says, nevertheless that “bringing various preventive anti-corruption functions together in the ACB falls short of the stated aim of rigorously addressing high-level corruption.”
The Opinion stresses that “independence with an adequate level of structural and operational autonomy, involving legal and institutional arrangements to prevent political or other influence is considered a fundamental requirement for specialized anti-corruption bodies.”
The Venice Commission finds that “the current institutional design does not provide for a sufficient degree of independence of the ACB and considers that its competences to oversee the financing of political parties and monitor asset and interest declarations of high-level officials require additional safeguards to be included in the Law.”
To boost ACB independence, political neutrality, and public trust, the Venice Commission recommends the following:
- that the Law be amended to require cross-party support for the appointment of the head of the ACB, by appointing him/her either with a qualified majority in Parliament, with an appropriate anti-deadlock mechanism (requiring more than an ordinary majority) or an appropriate alternative, reflecting broad, cross-party agreement in Parliament (for example, in the form of a double majority, entailing a majority among parliamentarians both from the majority and the opposition), and that – given that the ACB is accountable to Parliament – any decision on early termination of his/her term in office be made by the Parliament, not the Prime Minister;
- that further amendments be made to the Law regarding the grounds for dismissal, restricting the discretion of the dismissing body in this respect, in particular by limiting the ground “fails to perform the duties” to usual cases of physical or mental incapacity and clarifying / delineating the provisions on criminal convictions, drug consumption and incompatibilities.
It is furthermore recommended to revise certain other elements of the November 2022
provisions, in particular:
- to consider providing functional immunity to the head of the ACB and his/her deputies;
- to enhance the professional requirements for the position of head of the ACB;
- to clarify the provisions on mandatory drug testing of officials (in particular their relation to the work of the ACB) and/or to remove these from the Law altogether, whereby the requirement for the drug test results to be published is to be deleted from the Law and a clear legal basis is to be provided for the possible testing of the Head of the ACB him/herself;
- to take measures to ensure that the ACB carries out a substantive verification of asset and interest declarations and, in addition to the random selection of declarations, takes a risk-based approach to ensure that the most relevant declarations are assessed against officials’ legal income, in order to reveal cases of unexplained wealth or to identify potential conflicts of interest;
- to include precise and explicit references to the relevant provisions in data protection legislation in the Law;
- to define the role of the Inter-Agency Anti-Corruption Council with greater clarity and precision, ensuring that there is no overlap with the functions of the ACB and removing the accountability of the ACB to the Inter-Agency Anti-Corruption Council, whereby consideration should be given to provide the ACB with the authority to set up its own advisory council instead.
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Karabakh Separatists Say They Are Implementing Withdrawal Deal As Aid Arrives Through Lachin Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
The TUMO Center for Creative Technologies is expanding its multi-year initiative to capture detailed 3D scans of hundreds of Armenian heritage sites.
In 2018 and 2019, TUMO students made their first 3D scans of Armenian historical and cultural heritage monuments in a series of special learning labs. They used laser scanning and photogrammetry to document sites including the Matosavank monastery in Dilijan National Park, Amberd Fortress on Mount Aragats, the Dadivank monastery in Karvachar, and Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi. Since then, the number of scanned sites has reached 230, and will now expand to include all of Armenia’s important monuments over the coming years.
St. Hovhannes Church, Sisian
TUMO’s digital preservation initiative includes a large number of important monuments in Artsakh. In the weeks immediately following the 44-Day War in 2020, TUMO teams carried out high-resolution 3D scans of 46 historical monuments in Martuni, Martakert, Askeran and Berdzor. These included archeological sites such as Tigranakert, churches and monasteries such as the Tsitsernavank monastery, and historic monuments such as the Hak bridge. In November of 2022, TUMO scanned over 30 additional heritage sites in Artsakh and on Armenia’s borders.
The resulting high-resolution 3D data sets and visualizations make it possible to document and study cultural monuments in detail, contributing to long term preservation. They also provide material for educational and cultural activities as well as digital media production. Just as importantly, they allow scholars and institutions to monitor cultural heritage sites and eventually carry out preservation and restoration projects as needed.
Holy Mother of God Church, Yeghvard
The initiative is now continuing in Armenia at a rapid pace, with multiple sites being scanned every month, both through laser scanning and photogrammetry. It is expected to cover a total of 300 major monuments over the next two to three years. In parallel, the captured data is being processed to produce high-resolution, full-color 3D renderings that users can interact with, walk through, measure, and examine in detail. These interactive renderings, along with historical overviews and other associated data, will be made available on an open-access online platform to be launched in 2024 and continuously updated thereafter.
Process of 3D scanning
“It is very important that this digital archive will be available to the public and that it includes detailed documentation of the sites both in Armenia and Artsakh,” said TUMO CEO Marie Lou Papazian. “This will allow experts in the field to better monitor cultural and historical heritage monuments that are at risk of damage and destruction, and will help them in any future work of restoration and reconstruction.”
TUMO will continue to announce project developments, including updates on the publication of the online platform.