The Daily Beat: 30 July
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze flew to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new President of Iran Masoud Pezeskhian. According to the official press release, while in Tehran, PM Kobakhidze held a bilateral meeting with the newly elected Iranian President, congratulating him on his election. The government administration did not provide any details on the meeting topics. Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili accompanied the Georgian PM during his brief trip to Tehran.
On July 29, Justice Minister Rati Bregadze published a decree creating a special Department for Financial Reporting under the National Agency for Public Registry and granting the agency the right to act to implement the controversial Law on Foreign Agents passed in May of this year. At today’s briefing, the Minister also noted that NGOs will be able to register by the law as of August 1.
Another Georgian citizen, Bondo Gagnidze, was killed while fighting in Ukraine on July 30. He was killed during the mass storm of the Russian army in the Luhansk province of Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry confirmed the information to Civil.ge. This latest casualty brings to 54 the unofficial death toll of Georgian citizens who have died fighting in Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
In a letter responding to a question from independent Georgian MP Teona Akubardia and seen by Civil.ge, the Embassy of Denmark in Georgia says that Denmark is conducting a “full review” of bilateral aid and assistance to the Georgian authorities, and while the review is ongoing “Denmark will put some planned activities and new programming support to the Georgian authorities on hold.” The Embassy further clarifies that the move comes following the EU Council’s decision in June to review direct financial assistance to the Georgian authorities.
The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) denied Anaklia Development Consortium’s claim against the Government of Georgia. The plaintiff tried to “recover the value of the investment of ADC and its investors following the Georgian Government’s January 2020 termination of the investment agreement with ADC to develop the Anaklia Deep Water Port,” the Supervisory Board of the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) says in a statement on July 30. The compensation sum demanded by the plaintiff was USD 1.5 billion.
The Data of the Day
The Monetary Policy Committee of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) decided to keep the key refinancing rate unchanged at 8%. According to the NBG, inflation in Georgia remains low, further noting that in June, headline inflation rose by 2.2% annually, while core inflation was 1.4%. The Central Bank also notes the lowered inflation forecast, stating that, all things being equal, inflation will remain below the 1.9% target in early 2024 and stabilize around it in the medium term.