DFWatch staff TBILISI, DFWatch – U.S. President Barack Obama said after hosting the Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili in the Oval Office Monday that the United States will explore various trading options, including the possibility of a free trade agreement. The president made it clear that there still is a lot of work to be done and that … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – South Ossetian opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva wants to have her inauguration on February 10. The location for the ceremony has not been announced. “I appeal to the acting president of South Ossetia requesting that the transfer of power is done in a civilized way, as fits a legally elected president,” Russian news … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian Speaker of Parliament Davit Bakradze hopes that Switzerland will be able to fully monitor the flow of goods across the border between Georgia and Russia. Bakradze said this at a meeting with the delegation of the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department. Russia occupied parts of Georgia’s territories after the war in … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Villagers in Upper Svaneti are waiting for a report which is supposed to guarantee their forced resettlement follows a democratic process. But the country’s energy minister said in December that no matter what the results are of the environmental and social impact assessment, the Khudoni hydropower project will be built. Khudoni, or … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian president says diplomatic relations with Russia will only be restored if Russia closes its illegal embassies in Georgia’s two breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Mikheil Saakashvili’s statement comes as a response to what Russian president Dimitry Medevedev said Wednesday; that he wants to restore diplomatic relations with Georgia, but … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia’s foreign minister says his country never refused to restore negotiations with Russia. Grigol Vashadze made the statement during a session of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, while answering a question from an MP from the Netherlands. After a speech by Vashadzem the Dutch MP wanted to know what his views … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Russian president Dimitry Medvedev says he wants to restore diplomatic relations with Georgia. But the president adds, only if he won’t have to shake hands with one person. That one person is understood to be Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. Diplomatic relations with Russia and Georgia suspended after the war in 2008, when … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia is no longer the leading country in the South Caucasus in terms of media freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders. Georgia is on a shared 104th place among the 179 countries listed. Last year, Georgia was number 100 on Press Freedom Index, as the ranking list is called. This year’s lower … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – A group of about ten former pilots demand compensation from the government. For several years now they haven’t received their compensation, they say, not even after Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Wednesday the retired pilots gathered in front of the president’s residence and started a hunger strike, demaning compensation, and the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgians use nine times more wood than what is sustainable, according to a new study. If nothing is done, it will lead to a catastrophe, according to Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN). Annual firewood consumption, measured in energy output, is 12 billion kWh, while the sustainable level in Georgia is only 1.3 … Read more