The Daily Beat: 11 September
Today, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced the government’s decision to introduce a visa-free regime for Chinese citizens, arguing that the move will boost tourism and trade links between the countries. “We have decided that the visa-free regime for Chinese citizens will come into force today, encouraging even more tourists to come to Georgia,” said the prime minister at a government meeting.
Alongside introducing a visa-free regime with China, PM Garibashvili unveiled initiatives to increase scholarships for high-achieving students and grant amnesty to individuals who have illegally acquired state-owned land or property. He also praised the government’s predictable economic policy, citing a 30% increase in foreign direct investment in the second quarter. “In just the first six months, the country received an income of more than USD 1 billion, 10% more than the previous year and 88% more than in 2019,” the prime minister told his cabinet members, further bragging about the economic accomplishments of his leadership.
A scandal erupted over Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s alleged misuse of a state-owned aircraft for personal purposes. These allegations emerged following a recent journalistic investigation by TV Pirveli, revealing the Prime Minister’s use of a government-owned plane for a vacation in the United States. The government representatives have already rejected these allegations, asserting that the charter flight used by the PM was commercial and not funded from the state budget. Now, the CSOs are calling for an investigation into the allegations.
President Salome Zurabishvili unexpectedly started to hold consultations with opposition representatives on the EU integration process. So far, she has met with the MPs from “Lelo,” Giorgi Gakharia’s “For Georgia” parties, and the recently established Euro-optimists Parliamentary Group. According to opposition MPs, Georgia’s EU candidacy and related challenges were the main topics of the meetings at the Presidential palace. After the meetings, the politicians did not give details but revealed that President Zurabishvili was concerned about the ruling party’s destructive role in the country’s EU integration process.
Police arrested the secretary of the United National Movement’s (UNM) Youth faction, Igor Narmania, who, together with a group of young people, was protesting near the government building, trying to spray an inscription on the asphalt. Detention happened as young UNM activists started to protest against the prime minister’s alleged corruption, demanding his resignation.
On Friday evening, a fire broke out in one of the buildings of the National Archives of Georgia, storing the originals of Georgian cinematographic works and audio materials, some of which date back to the end of the 19th century. According to the press release from the National Archives of Georgia, only nitro-based films were stored in the building, adding that copies of all the movies are kept in the film archive. The fire was localized and did not spread to the Archive’s other facilities. So far, the National Archives and the Ministry of Culture have not provided any information about the damage.
