Patarkatsishvili to Meet Saakashvili

Influential media and financial tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili will meet President Saakashvili on May 11 to discuss the business climate in the country, Patarkatsishvili told his television station Imedi.

Patarkatsishvili unleashed criticism towards the Georgian authorities over pressure on the business sector and on his television station while addressing the Federation of Georgian Businessmen (FGB) on March 29.

Patarkatsishvili told Imedi TV on May 11 that the he still adheres to the criticism he voiced in March, but added that President Saakashvili’s speech at a government’s session on May 10, wherein the President called for protection of business, gives him a reason to be optimistic.

“Now it is time to implement those words of [the President],” Patarkatsishvili said.

“We are inclined not only to criticize the authorities, but also to help them in finding ways to settle problems,” Patarkatsishvili said.

“I want to brief the President about problems persisting in the country and in particular in the business,” he added

Patarkatsishvili also said that he plans to push the issue of introducing Tax Arbitration Councils, which will deal with tax disputes between businessmen and the authorities.

Tax Arbitration Councils, which were set up for each individual case to solve the disputes between the tax-payers and the authorities, were seen by the business community as one of the most successful components of the new Tax Code, which was approved in December, 2004. But the Arbitration Councils were canceled in April, 2005, after the authorities lost several cases.