The ruling majority is developing amendments to the Parliament’s regulations envisaging the relocation of the Parliament building from Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city, back to Tbilisi in January 2019. The Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia cited excess budgetary funds spent on the maintenance of two buildings as well as complicated …

The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary, which unites around 40 Georgian civil society organizations and rights watchdogs, expressed concern over the suspension of the selection process of new Supreme Court chair, and called on the ruling party and the President “not to hinder the process artificially.” In a statement …

In her meetings with Georgian leaders in Tbilisi on September 21, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Rose Gottemoeller, reaffirmed the Alliance’s “strong commitment” to Georgia. “We are in excellent shape with regard to our NATO-Georgia relationship,” Gottemoeller said at her joint press conference with Deputy Foreign Minister David Dondua. “We will …

Tbilisi will host the first inter-parliamentary assembly meeting of Georgian, Moldovan and Ukrainian lawmakers in early October, according to Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze. Kobakhidze made the announcement on September 20 at the Foreign Relations Committee hearing, which approved the Georgian Parliament’s ten-member delegation to the assembly. Addressing the Foreign Relations …

A five-member delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited Georgia on September 19-20 to assess the pre-electoral environment ahead to the October 28 Presidential Elections. The delegation, led by German MP Andrej Hunko from the Unified European Left group (UEL), said “the general environment was appropriate …

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, who is on an official visit to the United States on September 16-27, met with the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in Washington DC on September 20, discussing the U.S.-Georgia relations. According to the Georgian government’s press office, the sides spoke on deepening defense and security cooperation, …

The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied the allegations of corruption voiced in the recent financial audit report of the State Audit Office. According to the State Audit Office, in August 2017, GEL 737,000 was allocated to the Foreign Ministry from the government’s reserve fund for conducting geological assessment …

Twelve electoral subjects registered for the October 28 presidential elections fundraised GEL 837,307 (USD 336,267) in monetary and non-monetary donations in the period from August 1 through September 11, according to the State Audit Office, an independent institution in charge of the political finance monitoring. According to the State Audit Office, 94% (GEL 791,157) of total donations was received by …

Georgian Patriarch Ilia II calls on the Orthodox clergy to refrain from voicing political statements ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. The statement follows a wave of criticism against Salome Zurabishvili, whose presidential candidacy has been endorsed by the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG). “Unfortunately, with elections approaching, some clergy …

Georgian Finance Minister Ivane Machavariani announced today that his decision to ban import of wheat by road, has been postponed till October 1, 2019. The announcement came after one of the protesters, Jano Amkoladze, threatened self-immolation, unless Minister Machavariani met him. In his comment following the meeting, Machavariani said the government took …