Many countries in the Caucuses and East-ern Europe have great deficiencies in
access to hot water and flushing toilets. Georgia has among the worst hot water penetration, and is also near the bottom of the list for toilets. This is ac-cording to a 2010 poll conduct-ed by Georgian Opinion Re-search Business International and partners.
prim
e a
ds
http://www.finchannel.com23 April, 2012 News Making MoneyGeorGian website http://www.financial.ge
New poLL reveALs CoNTINued deCreAse IN “greeN” ATTITudes ANd behAvIors sINCe 2009
see on p. 13
The bosToN CoNsuLTINg group FINds ThAT TIme To mArkeT vArIes greATLy wIThIN INdusTrIes
see on p. 5
3 ouT oF 5 peopLe IN deveLopINg CouNTrIes LACk sAFeTy NeTs see on p. 4
ArouNd 8.5 mILLIoN pArT-TIme workers IN The eu27 wIshed To work more hours see on p. 3
poTeNTIAL oF wINd eNergy IN georgIA AwAITINg use
see on p. 10
What is your Digital Personality?
the FinanCiaL
Four distinct new "digital personalities" are emerg-ing. This shift is compel-ling companies to adopt
more innovative business mod-els that deliver personalized ex-periences.The "Beyond Digital"
study by IBM, paints a portrait of a rapidly changing audience that is adopting a wide range of digital devices at a dizzying pace. And, contrary to popular belief, most are not college stu-dents.
Continued on p. 15
Developing World Lags on Global Targets Related to Food and Nutrition
the FinanCiaL
The developing world’s progress is seriously lag-ging on global targets related to food and nutri-
tion, with rates of child and ma-
ternal mortality still unacceptably high, says the Global Monitoring Report 2012, released today by the World Bank and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund.
Continued on p. 5
RBS biggest lender to renewables projects in the UK see on p. 13
see on p. 16
CAuCAsus regIoN FACINg CLImATe ChANge probLems
Golden sponsor:
sponsors:Oil Environment
Georgia Becoming Eco-Destination
the FinanCiaL
The Georgian National Tourism Agency (GNTA) will be starting inten-sive work to develop
eco-tourism in September 2012. This is one of the most profitable tourism directions in Georgia and at the same time the poten-
tial of the country in this regard is significant. In total Georgia is expecting 3.5 million tourists in 2012 and Maia Sidamonidze, Head of the GNTA, predicts that eco-tourists will make up quite a large share of the total number.
Continued on p. 8
Energy Efficiency is Common Ground for Business Survival see on p. 3
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS2 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
C M Y K
With successful business activities of Wissol Group, we want to contribute to the eco-nomic development of Georgia and social well-being of its population. Strong busi-
ness in its turn means employed people, technological and infrastructural development, highly professional human capital and sustainable development of the local economy. Besides, Wissol feels responsibility for envi-ronment protection and undertakes social investments, makes charity and implements community projects for social well-being of the society.
Therefore, accountability, transparency, respect for values, ethical business practices are what creates trust and what corporate social responsibility counts on. The slogan for our CSR strategy is `We Create Better Future` and we try to deliver our promise with all our business practices.
Dr. Samson PkhakadzeThe President of Wissol Group
green business
23 april, 2012
67 (294)
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KhachapuriIndex
KhachapurI Index Is exclusIvely provIded to The FINANCIAL by IseT
aprIl 2012
as a Measure oF product varIety and
MarKet InteGratIon
Kh-Index has been on a downward trend across the entire country since the very begin-
ning of 2012. At the same time, last month we started seeing an increase in the gap between the most and least expensive cities in our survey. This gap comprised 0.27 GEL in March 2012, com-pared to 0.21 GEL in February and only 0.12 GEL in January. Prices are higher in east Georgia (in Tbilisi and Telavi) and lower in the west (Kutaisi and Batumi).
Cities in our survey differ not only in the level of prices. They also differ in the kind of shopping experience they offer khachapuri lovers. In Tbilisi, we observe a relatively large variation in the prices demanded by vendors for seemingly similar staples. To cap-ture the extent of this phenom-enon across different locations, we calculated percentage differ-ences between the minimum and maximum prices of the standard khachapuri “basket” for the main Georgian cities. What we find is that in Tbilisi the cost of this basket can vary by as much as 25-35%, compared to “only” 10—25% in other cities. What can explain this systematic difference in arbi-trage opportunities across cities of different size?
This difference can be ex-plained in at least in two ways. First, due to larger market size and central location, many more types of homemade cheese can be found in Tbilisi compared to, say, Telavi. It would be therefore logical to expect Tbilisi to exhibit a higher variation in the price of cheese and the khachapuri bas-ket. Second, Tbilisi is a large and geographically segmented city with considerable arbitrage op-
portunities between its different markets (“bazari”). While product varieties and prices within each market can be more or less simi-lar, there could be systematic dif-ferences among markets, adding to the overall city-level variation in prices.
Having more choice may be a good thing for Tbilisi consumers. However, it also implies a longer and more complicated shopping process, involving (when pos-sible) more tasting and price com-parisons.
econoMIcs lesson oF the WeeK:
carreFour elephant
In the GeorGIan
retaIl MarKetWe have recently heard that
the French retail giant Carrefour is entering Georgia. This is good news for the Georgian consumer. Carrefour is the master or com-bining low prices with high (or at least decent) quality. Good quality price ratio and convenience are things the Georgian consumer is craving for.
But, as Zakaria Babutsidze writes in the ISET Economist
blog, there is much more to this event. “As the world’s second larg-est retailer, after Walmart, Car-refour commands a supply chain that circles the globe. For exam-ple, the milk on its shelves comes from Chile, rice from Thailand, salmon from Norway, bananas from Colombia, grapefruits from China, apples from France. The presence of Carrefour operations in Georgia gives our agricultural producers a great opportunity to get integrated into its global chain.
Getting Georgian products onto Carrefour shelves in other countries will not be easy. The company has two clear guidelines – quality and social responsibil-ity. Business schools teach Car-refour’s experience of incorporat-ing rural farmers in Ecuador into their supply chain as (partially) a social project. However, as any large business, Carrefour is also a very pragmatic company. It has to be assured of product quality and demand before committing its precious shelf space. That said, as the company seems to have chosen to enter the former Soviet Union space through the South Caucasus (Georgia will be the sec-ond country after Azerbaijan to host a Carrefour operation), and as “Georgia” is still a recognizable brand in the region, Carrefour’s arrival might hold an interesting opportunity for Georgia.
Carrefour’s entry may have two other positive side effects for Georgia. First, its entry may drive down markups in the retail busi-ness. Imported groceries can be
quite expensive in Georgia despite a lack of trade barriers. Com-manding a global supply chain, Carrefour will be less affected by Georgia’s small market size and thus will apply a lot of pressure on incumbent retail networks such as Goodwill, Populi and Gmart.
Another positive “externality” from Carrefour’s expected entry its impact on the decision of other multinational companies whether or not to set foot on the Georgian soil. The ability to learn from Car-refour’s experience may reduce the perception of risk and the cost of entry for others. Of course, re-tail, like any other industry, has its specificity. But businesses, large and small, have many similar con-cerns: quality of the labor force (e.g. discipline and loyalty), qual-ity of suppliers, ability to enforce contracts, ease of dealings with city government and national tax authorities, etc. All of these will be put to a serious test by Carre-four. The elephant in the Georgian china store.
the Iset KhachapurI
IndexThe ISET Policy Institute (IS-
ET-PI, www.iset-pi.ge) is an in-dependent think-tank associated with the International School of Economics at TSU (ISET). ISET-PI has designed a simple and robust way of tracking inflation and the differences in the cost of living across Georgia’s major cit-ies. Unlike traditional “consumer baskets” used for monitoring price inflation, our “basket” in-cludes only those ingredients that are needed to cook one Imeretian khachapuri (cheese, butter, flour, yeast, eggs, and milk) and energy inputs (gas and electricity). We conduct a monthly survey of the major markets in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Telavi to measure the differences in the cost of living across Georgia and to track the monthly fluctuations in the prices of all relevant ingredients.
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15%
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30%
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%
%
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%) betweenkhachapu
n the minuri “basket
nimum andt” for the
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ilisi
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HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 3FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
C M Y K
green business
the FinanCiaLby Madona Gasanova
Manufacturers will be-come the flagmen in Georgia in switching to energy efficiency
(EE) as it becomes a strict eco-nomic obligation. “The majority of products in Georgia are im-ported from foreign countries. So these countries are ahead when it comes to energy efficiency. Ener-gy capacity and product expenses are lower. Producing companies have to adapt and accept these conditions. Otherwise they will not survive,” Sophie Kemkhadze, Assistant Resident Representa-tive at UNDP Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“There are two things that hamper the development of en-ergy efficiency in Georgia. The first is awareness and the second: absence of regulation. There are no regulations or stimulating factors for energy efficiency. All who implement this system are motivated by financial reduction incentives, not environmental,” said Paata Janelidze, Project Manager at UNDP Georgia.
“Energy efficiency becomes more assimilated on a domestic level. More families are trying to insert windows that will save heat. I am sure that construc-tion companies will soon start building energy efficient houses,” Kemkhadze said.
“The energy saving potential for the companies could vary from 10 to 40% depending on the processes and technology used in the company. As for cost sav-ings it also varies and directly depends on the energy intensity
of the company or in other words on the ratio of energy consumed per 1 GEL product produced, the higher this ration is the higher the economical saving could be,” said George Abulashvili, Director at the Energy Efficiency Center (EEC).
The modern history of EE his-tory started in the 1970s and the main lead up to it was deter-mined by oil shock. When oil con-suming countries (or in another words developed countries, the economies of which were charac-terized by high energy intensity) started to solve energy security issues they realized that along with better management of the energy supply sector, huge poten-tial is concentrated in the energy consumption side. Meanwhile countries with underdeveloped economies were not suffering that much from increased energy prices.
“And those obviously devel-oped countries having histori-cal “knowledge”, early start up and capacities to develop and realize sustainable medium and long term economic planning are more successful in EE as well. But no underdeveloped country will be successful in their economic goals without EE hence it is an integral part of the economic de-velopment process,” Abulashvili noted.
Kemkhadze said that during recent years there has not been significant progress in EE in Georgia. “Even constructors are doing it according to their own initiative. “Small initiatives have always existed but made up the minimum share and do not per-mit us to make any comparisons.”
In 2011 there was an increase
of activities regarding EE in Georgia. “There were some standalone initiatives mostly at municipality level, in large deter-mined by joining the Tbilisi EU initiative “Covenant of Mayors” that aims to decrease co2 emis-sions from municipal areas which Energy Efficiency is considered a main instrument of. Later three other Georgian cities became part of the CoM process - Kutaisi, Batumi and Rustavi,” Abulashvili said.
UNDP Georgia implemented energy efficient programmes during the years 2006/7/8 for 200 families in Racha. “We have good experience of implementing solar panels. “We supplied cattle-breeding regions with bio energy. We are studying the potential of bio masses use. Nutshell brack-ets can be used as a heating re-source,” Kemkhadze said.
According to Janelidze, besides consumption savings, we should take into account other benefits of EE: environmental, health, pollution and others. “People fo-cused on EE should think com-plexly,” he said.
“Electricity or gas suppliers are interested in selling more prod-ucts. In all developed countries, the USA or EU member states, there are special benefits for util-ity service suppliers. On the other hand, these companies carry the responsibility to promote en-ergy efficiency. So, in developed countries this case is expanded to a governmental level,” Paata said.
A top tip that can make Geor-gia an energy efficient country is to be aware that in any energy transformation process there is energy efficiency potential and identify the biggest energy con-
suming process to attack them. “Considering that in Georgia the largest energy consumers are the buildings we live and work in, and in the buildings themselves above 45% of consumed energy is used for space heating, it would be worth starting from that seg-ment,” Abulashvili explained.
According to Abulashvili tips for EE in buildings are following:• Test your home for air tight-
ness. On a windy day, carefully hold a candle or a smoke pen next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fix-tures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and oth-er places where air may leak. If the flame or smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weather-stripping.
• Caulk and weather-strip doors and windows that leak air.
• Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducting, or elec-trical wiring comes through walls, floors, ceilings, and sof-fits over cabinets.
• Cover single-pane windows with storm windows or replace them with more efficient dou-ble-pane low-emissivity win-dows.
• Use foam sealant on larger gaps around windows, base-boards, and other places where air may leak out.
• Cover your kitchen exhaust fan to stop air leaks when not in use.
• Seal air leaks around fireplace chimneys, furnaces, and gas-fired water heater vents with fire-resistant materials such as sheet metal or sheetrock and furnace cement caulk.
Energy Efficiency is Common Ground for Business Survival
EU: At the age of 65, both women and men are expected to live a further 9 years in a healthy condition
the FinanCiaL
Healthy life years mea-sure the number of years that a person can expect to live in a
healthy condition1. When con-sidering the population aged 65 years, life expectancy is provi-sionally estimated at 21.0 years for women and 17.4 years for men in the EU27 in 2010. As re-gards healthy life years, women at the age of 65 in the EU27 in 2010 were expected to live a fur-ther 8.8 years in a healthy condi-tion, and men 8.7 years.
It is interesting to note that the Member States where the popu-lation has the highest life expec-tancy at the age of 65 are not nec-essarily the same as those with the most healthy life years at 65. Another interesting aspect of these indicators is the difference between women and men. In all Member States, women have a longer life expectancy at 65 than men, while for healthy life years at the age of 65, men have a high-er number of years than women in ten Member States.
Longest life expectancy at the age of 65 in France and Spain for both women and men
In 2010, the longest life ex-pectancy at 65 for women was observed in France (23.4 years), Spain (22.7 years) and Italy (22.1 years in 2009), and for men in France (18.9 years), Spain (18.6 years) and Greece (18.5 years). The shortest life expectancy at 65 for women was recorded in Bulgaria (17.0 years), Romania (17.2 years in 2009) and Slovakia (18.0 years), and for men in Lat-via (13.3 years), Lithuania (13.5 years) and Bulgaria (13.6 years).
Most healthy life years at the age of 65 in Sweden for both women and men
In 2010, the highest number of healthy life years at 65 for wom-en was recorded in Sweden (15.5 years), Denmark (12.8 years), Luxembourg (12.4 years), Malta (11.9 years) and the United King-dom (11.8 years), and for men in Sweden (14.1 years), Malta (12.0 years), Denmark (11.8 years), Ire-land (11.1 years) and the United Kingdom (10.8 years). The low-est number of healthy life years for both women and men was observed in Slovakia (2.8 years for women and 3.3 years for men), followed by Romania (5.0 years) and Estonia (5.5 years) for women, and Latvia (4.9 years) and Estonia (5.3 years) for men.
Around 8.5 million part-time workers in the EU27 wished to work more hours
the FinanCiaL
Among the 42 million part-time workers in the EU27 in 2011, 8.6 million wished to work more hours, were available to
do so1 and can therefore be considered to be underemployed. These accounted for 20.5% of part-time workers and 4.0% of total employment. In 2010, the corresponding figures were very similar: 41.3 million persons worked part time and 8.5 million were underemployed.
The largest proportions of people wishing to work more hours and avail-
able to do so among part-time workers were found in Greece (58%), Latvia (57%), Spain (49%) and Cyprus (42%), and these are Member States where the shares of employed persons work-ing part-time are relatively low. On the other hand, the smallest proportion was found in the Netherlands and Bel-gium (both 3%), where part-time work-ing is common, followed by the Czech Republic (10%) and Luxembourg (9%).
A potential additional labour force of almost 11 million persons in the EU27
Among the economically inactive population (those persons neither em-ployed nor unemployed), there were
8.6 million persons aged 15 to 74 avail-able to work, but not seeking2 and 2.4 million seeking work, but not available in the EU27 in 2011, compared with 8.2 million and 2.4 million respectively in 2010. While not part of the economi-cally active population, both groups have a certain attachment to the labour market. Together these two groups constitute a potential additional labour force4 of 10.9 million people. In the EU27 these two groups were equivalent to 4.6% of the current labour force, a percentage varying between Member States, from 1.4% in the Czech Republic to 12.1% in Italy.
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS4 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
According to the latest data of the Ecology and Greenery De-partment of Tbilisi
City Hall, there is in total 270.375 sq.m of green area in the capital. The number of growing trees and plants amounted to 60,000. About 30,000 plants were distrib-uted amongst the population.
“Lots of trees were planted in the surrounding areas of Tbilisi Sea, the former Gldani rubbish yard and Khudadovi forest,” said Giorgi Korkashvi-li, Director of the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbili-si City Hall. “Windbreak strips in Didi Digomi and Varketili have been transformed. This territory is under our patron-age. We have started to make the territories greener.
As well as this we are work-ing with some international organization like WWF. We are going to implement a three year project in the framework of our memorandum. The project envisages the restora-tion of 100 hectares of forest area around the city.
In regards to the aesthetic aspect of the city, we have a very important project on at the moment - reconstruc-tion of the Jansug Khakh-idze square and Baratashvili Bridge. The infrastructure of the rehabilitated squares, such as garden equipment and lighting, need to meet modern
international standards.The first stage of rehabili-
tation of the old Mziuri Park has already been completed. Outdoor lighting has been in-stalled over ten hectares of the park, sidewalks has been add-ed to the edges of the carriage-ways; new sidewalks added to old ones. About 400 different plants and decorative bushes have been planted. The park also has a modern drainage and irrigation system.
It is undoubtedly one of the most important projects of the city.
Q. How could you as-sess the ecological condi-tions of Tbilisi?
A. There is no exact informa-tion about the city’s ecological status, whether it is good or bad. That would require labo-ratory analyses, air stations, some technical equipment and finances as well. Unfortunately we cannot afford such a type of survey. We are working with some international organiza-tions like WWF and GTZ and trying to attract donor compa-nies to finance this project. The last survey about Tbilisi’s eco-logical conditions was conduct-ed in 1999. This data showed that the conditions were quite normal and satisfactory. But we need to take into account that at the time there were not so many cars, or enterprises, and since then there has been a lot of construction of roads and buildings.
I can safely say that the con-ditions near Mziuri Park were terrible before we started its
rehabilitation and construc-tion of the new road there. People were throwing rubbish in the area and the area was very polluted as a result. We cleared away the rubbish and cleaned the area. We carried out sanitary works. Accord-ing to analyses done since, the conditions at Mziuri Park are much better now.
I would consider the sur-roundings of Tbilisi such as Kodjori and Tskneti to be the
best green areas of Tbilisi. Q. How do you compen-
sate for the loss of trees cut down for the imple-mentation of various in-frastructural projects?
A. Sometimes we really need to cut down trees as we need to free up space for the imple-mentation of certain infra-structural projects. We only cut down trees if there is no way to avoid it. We replant these trees with special vehicles or plant
new ones in another place. The company which is implement-ing the infrastructural project and is cutting down the trees as a result, is the one that has to pay the restoration cost which is regulated by law.
Q. Are the citizens in-volved in urban ‘green-ing’ projects?
A. Lots of people call or come here every day and share their ideas with us. If their idea is realistic and is an important project, we usu-ally take the decision to accept the idea. For example, some extreme sports artists and free-runners asked the Ecol-ogy and Greenery Department to allocate a place for them where they would be able to practice. We made the deci-sion to create a place for them to train at Mziuri Park.
Citizens often ask us if they can participate in planting trees. In such cases we choose the place for the trees to be planted and then citizens are able to plant them under the control of specialists. First of all we examine the place where we plan to plant the trees or flowers and then choose what type of tree to plant.
As well as citizens some companies and schools are involved in making Tbilisi greener as well.
Q. What is the budget of the Ecology and Green-ery Department of Tbilisi City Hall?
A. Our entire budget for this year is about 12 million GEL, which includes all activities
implemented by our depart-ment. This is not only the pur-chase of saplings and planting of greenery, but also processes of upkeep like watering, the laying down of manure etc.
Q. How many private partner companies do you have at the moment?
A. We have nearly 70 part-ner companies, including green service and green house, where more than 1,000 indi-viduals are employed. Today these companies are in charge of making all the squares within the city greener.
Q. What are the current projects and future plans of the department?
A. There are plans to com-plete the second stage of the rehabilitation of Mziuri Park. A pedestrian bridge will be built which will connect Mzi-uri Park to the Zoo. Sport sta-diums will be built where kids will be able to play as well. The park will have skateboard pitches, racecourses, bike paths, training grounds, halls, and places to enjoy picnics. There will be a swimming complex Aqua which will in-clude open and closed swim-ming pools, modern fitness club, sports stores etc.
As well as the reconstruc-tion of big parks the resto-ration of small squares is also a target activity of our department. We have built and reconstructed plenty of squares around the city. The rehabilitation of Bukia Square and Vake Park are already planned.
gIorgI korkAshvILI, director of the ecology and greenery department of tbilisi city Hall
3 ouT oF 5 peopLe IN deveLopINg CouNTrIes LACk sAFeTy NeTs
the FinanCiaL
New data released by the World Bank showing that at least 60 percent of people in developing countries – and nearly 80 per-
cent in the world’s poorest countries – lack effective safety net coverage as countries struggle to protect their most vulner-able citizens from the negative impacts of global financial volatility and food and fuel price hikes.
According to the World Bank , sixty six million children around the world go to school hungry and struggle to concentrate and learn, a deficit that can be addressed with school feeding programs for the poor-est. More than 2.8 million newborns die in the first week of their lives. Many of these deaths can be prevented by providing more pre- and post-natal care for mothers and their children. Food insecurity leads to greater family conflict and divorce rates.
Expanding cost-effective safety nets – including cash transfers, food assistance, public works programs, and fee waiv-ers – to help countries respond to crises and address persistent poverty will be a main item for discussion by finance and development ministers at the World Bank -IMF Development Committee meeting on April 21.
“Safety nets can transform people’s lives and provide a foundation for inclu-sive growth without busting budgets,” says Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group. “Effective safety net coverage overcomes poverty and promotes economic opportunity and gender equality by helping people find jobs, cope with eco-nomic shocks, and improve the health, ed-ucation, and well-being of their children.”
russIA’s smArTphoNe peNeTrATIoN LAgs resT oF brIC
the FinanCiaL
Smartphones and tablets are becoming widespread worldwide, including in the BRIC countries, according
to a December 2011 survey by UM.Interestingly though, the survey
found smartphone penetration among internet users to be high-er in the larger markets of China (59%), India (37%) and Brazil (35%) than in Russia (28%).
UM’s survey included only in-ternet users who go online at least every other day; in less-developed markets these tend to represent some of the highest earners in their respective countries, as studies in Mexico and China have shown.
According to eMarketer, smart-phone users represent a relatively small percentage of mobile phone users in Russia, 11.8% in July 2011, according to GfK Group. As forecast elsewhere in the world, expect smartphone penetration in Russia to increase as prices for both devices and data services drop in the future.
eMarketer forecasts that in-ternet users in Russia will reach 67.9 million in 2012, comprising nearly 50% of the country’s total population, compared to 42.4% in China, 42% in Brazil and 8.9% in India.
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 5FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
C M Y K
green business
Nestlé joins research effort to further improve products’ environmental performance
the FinanCiaL
N estlé is joining a new re-search partnership be-tween industry and aca-demia that aims to improve
the environmental performance of consumer products and services.
The company is the only global food and beverage manufacturer to join the ‘International Chair in Life Cycle Assessment’ unit at the Inter-university Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services in Montreal, Canada.
According to Nestlé, life cycle assess-ment is the most widely used scientific methodology for assessing products’ overall environmental impact.
CIRAIG is one of the largest re-
search centres of its kind in the world. It generates new life cycle as-sessment knowledge, methods and tools, and shares these with its in-dustry partners.
Nestlé is supporting its work with an investment of 500,000 Canadian dollars (almost CHF 460,000).
What is a life cycle assessment? -- Life cycle assessments measure a product’s environmental impacts across the entire value chain: from ingredient sourcing to processing and manufacturing, its use by con-sumers and how its packaging is dis-posed of or reused.
Nestlé’s approach to using life cycle assessments in all its product categories has enabled it to system-atically improve the environmental performance of many of its popular
products and systems.“This partnership will help us ex-
pand our knowledge of life cycle as-sessments,” said Nestlé scientist Urs Schenker.
“We use them when developing products to measure areas of environ-mental impacts, for example water use in agriculture, CO2 emissions in manufacture, and the amount of en-ergy used in distribution.”Consumer communication
“The partnership will also help us to provide consumers with improved information about our products’ envi-ronmental performance, helping them make more informed decisions about what they buy,” added Mr Schenker.
“Online graphics such as the ones created by our Nescafé brand can help people understand the life cycle
concept in an interesting and acces-sible way.”
Eco-design tools -- As part of its product development process, Nestlé also conducts quicker versions of life cycle assessments using a selection of simple ‘eco-design’ tools.
One of these is the Packaging Im-pact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET), which can evaluate the environmen-tal impact of packaging over its en-tire life cycle.
Such tools allow Nestlé to evalu-ate life cycle data early in the design stage, allowing the company to make modifications to improve products’ future environmental performance while they are still being developed.
Nestlé is currently developing a new eco-design tool which it plans to roll out later this year.
Developing World Lags on Global Targets Related to Food and Nutrition
the FinanCiaL
The developing world’s prog-ress is seriously lagging on global targets related to food and nutrition, with rates of
child and maternal mortality still unacceptably high, says the Global Monitoring Report 2012, released today by the World Bank and the In-ternational Monetary Fund.
Recent spikes in international food prices have stalled progress across several of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs), the report says.
GMR 2012: Food Prices, Nutri-tion and the Millennium Develop-ment Goals reports good progress across some MDGs, with targets related to reducing extreme poverty and providing access to safe drinking water already achieved, several years ahead of the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs. Also, targets on education and ratio of girls to boys in schools are within reach.
According to the World Bank , in contrast, the world is significantly
off-track on the MDGs to reduce mor-tality rates of children under five and mothers. As a result, these goals will not be met in any developing region by 2015. Progress is slowest on mater-nal mortality, with only one-third of the targeted reduction achieved thus far. Progress on reducing infant and child mortality is similarly dismal, with only 50 per cent of the targeted decline achieved.
“High and volatile food prices do not bode well for attainment of many MDGs, as they erode consumer pur-chasing power and prevent millions of people from escaping poverty and hunger, besides having long-term adverse impacts on health and education,” said Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank ’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Develop-ment Economics. “Dealing with food price volatility must be a high priority, especially as nutrition has been one of the forgotten MDGs,” he added.
GMR 2012 details solutions for making countries and communities more resilient in the face of food price
spikes. Countries should deploy agri-cultural policies to encourage farmers to increase production; use social safe-ty nets to improve resilience; strength-en nutritional policies to improve early childhood development; and design trade policies that enhance access to food markets, reduce food price vola-tility and induce productivity gains. However, the challenges countries face in responding to high food prices have been made more difficult as a result of the global recession.
“The fragile global economy could very well slow developing countries’ progress on human development goals, since the fiscal, debt, and cur-rent account positions, particularly of low income countries, have been weakened by the global financial cri-sis,” said Hugh Bredenkamp, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy and Review Department.
Regional progress towards the MDGs is uneven. While upper mid-dle income countries are on track to achieve most targets, low-income or fragile countries are lagging, with only two goals achieved or on-track.
While food prices have declined from their 2011 peaks, commodity prices remain volatile.
“To help deal with volatility, more developing countries are comple-menting their fiscal and monetary pol-icy responses with insurance or hedg-ing operations, such as selling crops in forward markets. This can be part of a broader strategy for managing risks like natural disasters and swings in commodity prices,” said Lynge Nielsen, Senior Economist at the IMF.
Jos Verbeek, Lead Economist at the World Bank and lead author of GMR 2012, cautioned that declin-ing development assistance, popula-tion growth and high food prices will make the need to focus on nutrition programs for the poor even more challenging.
“According to our projections, an estimated 1.02 billion people will still be living in extreme poverty in 2015. Clearly, assistance must be leveraged in new ways if we are to improve food security and nutrition, particularly for the poor and vulnerable,” said Verbeek.
The bosToN CoNsuLTINg group FINds ThAT TIme To mArkeT vArIes greATLy wIThIN INdusTrIes
the FinanCiaL
Fast-moving branded consumer-goods companies have been compet-ing with private labels for more than two decades. Technical superiority,
creative marketing, and, more recently, efforts to differentiate at the point of sale have failed to hold off the competition from private labels. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group points to one remaining sustainable advantage: rapid time to mar-ket. The report, Speed to Win: How Fast-Moving Consumer-Goods Companies Use Speed as a Competitive Weapon, is being released today.
“Private labels have learned to match branded products in every important way,” said Ivan Bascle, a partner in the firm’s Munich office and a coauthor of the report. “But their business model limits their ability to bring out real innovations fast. That’s where the branded compa-nies can thrive—if they move faster.” That speed can also give them the flexibility to thrive under the spotlight of social media, enabling them to respond quickly to con-sumer demands.
Bascle and his colleagues have seen a recent uptick in consumer brand projects around speeding up product development. The team found a dozen “speed cham-pions” representing each major product sector. These champions typically got new products to the marketplace—from the cre-ative idea to the shelf—about 30 percent faster than the average company in their sector: in fewer than 15 months versus 22 (and 30 for laggards). This capability not only gave them an edge over private labels but also helped them compete against rival brands.
The differences were sizable whether the industry as a whole was quick in getting products to market, such as fashion (Zara, for example, requires only three weeks), or slower, such as alcoholic beverages and to-bacco. “Companies in every kind of industry can become speed champions for their con-text,” said Bascle.
Time Is MoneyHow did they do it? “The biggest step was
simply making the organization aware that time is a major cost,” said Andreas Rainer, a consultant in BCG’s Vienna office and a coauthor of the report. Avon, for example, found that close to one-third of its devel-opment time went to simply waiting, while another third went to reworking previous efforts. To reduce those numbers, project teams established strict “change windows,” after which developers had limited ability to push for alterations.
Many speed champions base their suc-cess on the BCG methodology standardize, prioritize, mechanize. Procter & Gamble set up a rigorous stage-gate schedule that includes return-on-investment numbers showing the likely gains from speed. The company piloted this speed process in less capital-intensive categories such as de-tergent in the U.S. and started launching speed improvements in capital-intensive businesses such as its Pampers line of dia-pers, adding the ability to innovate up to twice a twice a year—a frequency that en-abled it to reverse recent losses to private-label rivals.
Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Promoting CSR in Georgia
the FinanCiaLby tako kheLaia
The Multi-Stakeholder Forum for The Role of Government and Public Policies in Pro-moting Corporate Social Re-
sponsibility will be held on 27 April. The Forum is going to be organized at The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia with the support of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. The aim of the Forum is to create a platform for dialogue on CSR issues.
“Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an issue of global relevance in the modern day world. CSR is business’s willingness to assume more responsibility than obliged by the law, deliberately go beyond its primary function of profit making, voluntarily take care of the public welfare, and make a positive con-tribution to solving social and en-vironmental problems,” noted Lela Khoperia, Corporate Social Respon-sibility Programme Coordinator.
“Accordingly the strength of this concept, apart from its moral value, is the diverse and long-term ben-efit that the introduction of social responsibility brings to all stake-holders. In this regard development of corporate social responsibility in Georgia will be highly beneficial for the country’s sustainable develop-ment. It will assist the improvement of foreign relations, and contribute to the accomplishment of strategic objectives of national policy,” Kho-peria said.
“It will increase the country’s economic competitiveness, promo-tion of trade and attracting foreign investments, addressing socio-economic and environmental chal-lenges, improving living and working conditions. The concept and practic-ing of corporate social responsibility are being gradually introduced and established in our country,” Khope-ria stated.
The Forum will be dedicated to several issues about CSR; Its impor-tance for the country’s development; Possible positive impacts of CSR de-velopment; Drivers and obstacles for CSR development in Georgia - busi-ness perspective; Roles of govern-ment in promoting CSR; Possible directions of CSR enabling public policy in Georgia.
“CSR is a bit of a new subject for Georgia. But as time passes it finds its niche in society, in different sec-tors and business practices. In 2007 our organization held a social survey which proved that most of the leading Georgian companies are implement-ing a variety of interesting initiatives and programmes in the direction of CSR. Five years have passed since then and the CSR mentality has sig-nificantly increased,” Khoperia said.
“The number of socially responsi-ble programmes has also increased. Those companies which aim to have relations with Western companies, export products to foreign markets and gain leading positions on the lo-cal market pay more attention to CSR standards. Business associations, non-governmental and internation-
al organizations are implementing more initiatives for supporting CSR,” Khoperia said.
“A vastly important factor is the activities of civil society and the Gov-ernment. In Western countries, CSR is actively promoted by the Govern-ment. In order to develop CSR ac-tivities further, the Government of Georgia should definitely be involved in the case. Special policy and activi-ties should be created towards the is-sue,” Khoperia added.
According to Khoperia the Forum will move forward CSR mentality and education which is very impor-tant for the country.
“It’s a well known fact that coun-tries’ governments should support and promote CSR. Many developed countries’ governments are imple-menting active policy towards this direction. Participating in the Forum is substantial as the main theme of the Forum is importance of civil so-ciety and government involvement in CSR activities. We are happy that members of the Georgian Govern-ment are interested in our forum and are taking part in it,” Khoperia said.
“We will continue arranging dif-ferent forums, conferences and round table meetings for the future. Such activities have a key role in im-proving the knowledge and mentality about CSR in different sectors. Such events support the dialogue between different sides. Arranging conferenc-es and forums are the best support-ers of CSR in the European Union as well as in many other developed countries. It’s widespread practice in
many countries,” Khoperia said.“Our organization has worked in
this sphere for seven years already. Development and support of CSR in Georgia is one of our organization’s top priorities. We have arranged many forums, conferences, meetings and trainings on CSR and we will keep working actively in this regard. It’s a bit hard to speak about the re-sult beforehand but we hope that this forum will have quite a good result,” Khoperia said.
“The target groups of this forum aren’t only business companies. The Forum will reach representatives of various sectors: the Government of Georgia, civil society organizations, international organizations, experts from the relevant fields. This forum is the first initiative in Georgia con-nected with the role of government and public sector in the development of CSR. We do hope that the Forum will be successful,” Khoperia stated.
The Forum will include book pre-sentation: The Role of Government and Public Policies in Promoting Cor-porate Social Responsibility (analyti-cal overview and recommendations to the Georgian Government) pre-pared by The Center for Strategic Re-search and Development of Georgia in collaboration with invited experts will also take place at the Forum.
Prof. em. Dr. Hans-Georg Peters-en, (Chair of Public Economics, Uni-versity of Potsdam and Policy Fellow, IZA Bonn) will make a presentation concerning the EU experience in promoting CSR and relevant public policies.
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS6 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
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green business
Wissol to Expand CNG Stations in 2012
the FinanCiaLby tako kheLaia
As one of the main directions of CSR at the Wissol Group is caring for the envi-
ronment and preventing en-vironment pollution as much as possible, Wissol Petroleum Georgia, one of the lead-ing petroleum companies in Georgia, plans to expand CNG stations in different regions of Georgia this year. According to Dr. Samson Pkhakadze, President of Wissol Group, CNG is safer, not corrosive, has no additives and is more economical than traditional fuels like gasoline or diesel. Wissol provides CNG custom-ers with the gas supply sys-tem of world known company ASPRO.
Wissol Petroleum Georgia is one of the first companies to provide the top quality Com-pressed Natural Gas (CNG) products. CNG is an envi-ronmentally clean alternative to fuels. It reduces harmful pollutants and exhaust emis-sions.
“The sharp rise of oil pric-es in Georgia has increased demand for CNG. The num-ber of CNG customers has increased by 50% at our sta-tions in recent times. When oil prices on the international market increase, the cost of all fuel products rise. We have to adapt our prices corre-sponding to international de-mands. We are providing six products at Wissol stations,” Pkhakadze stated.
“We offer our customers mostly Italian products. We
also have products which aren’t imported from Europe, specially for those customers with lower incomes. Unfor-tunately prices on all of the products have increased re-cently, but we have managed to improve the cost of fuel a bit by decreasing it by 0.05 GEL,” Pkhakadze said.
“We care greatly about environment protection and within the frames of CSR strategy we are involved in different activities to support a cleaner environment. We are an oil company, so there is a certain risk of harming the environment. But despite this fact we have special fil-ters for oil evaporation in our system. Our gas stations are equipped with ultra modern technologies which reduce the level of environment pol-lution therefore,” Pkhakadze stated.
“Although we represent an oil company, we are doing our best to reduce bad effects on the environment as much we are able to. If we are pollut-ing the environment in any way, we invest expenses in a different direction in order to reduce the level of harm to the environment. We support ac-tivities which are making our country ecologically cleaner,” Pkhakadze said.
According to Pkhakadze the company has special LED lights which reduce expenses and have less of an effect on environment pollution. “We are trying to implement the newest technologies at the company according to which we will consume less electric-ity. At the moment we are holding negotiations at the
company about a new project which will make us reduce energy consumption signifi-cantly over the next three to five years,” he added.
“Wissol has a Gas Distri-bution company which has been supplying Telavi Re-gion with natural gas since March 2008. Consequently, up to 15,000 subscribers are already supplied with natural gas in the Telavi region. Gas supply of the area contributes to local industry develop-ment and is very important in an ecological respect. Wis-sol Gas Distribution is quite a successful and profitable company and we will support its further development with great pleasure,” Pkhakadze said.
Wissol Group started the year 2012 quite actively. One of the biggest challenges for the company this year was bringing the world famous brand Wendy’s to the Geor-gian market.
“This year we have many novelties. From the begin-ning of the year we have been working intensively on those new directions. In April 2012
we reported on our new busi-ness direction. We presented new company Wendy’s Geor-gia to society. In two weeks our partners from Wendy’s will arrive in Georgia and we will be taking some concrete steps in this business. We are actively working on the issue as it is one of the most impor-tant directions for our com-pany,” Pkhakadze said.
“Wendy’s will be success-fully placed among its com-petitors in Georgia. As the time passes demand for Wen-dy’s products will increase. People will definitely visit Wendy’s often as this restau-rant offers the highest qual-ity products to customers. The company appeared on the market in 1969. Everyone recognises the significance of Wendy’s entrance to Georgia. Wendy’s will satisfy the needs of every segment and people of all ages in Georgia. Prod-ucts at Wendy’s will not be expensive. Prices will be flex-ible and therefore affordable for middle and lower-income segments as well,” Pkhakadze said.
“We are also spending
much time and energy on the further development of the Smart supermarket chain. This year we are planning to open several new supermar-kets. This work demands a lot of resources, effective work, energy and time. We are do-ing our best to create an effec-tive network of Smart super-markets,” Pkhakadze said.
At the moment Wissol Group employs about 4,000 people and is one of the larg-est employers on the Georgian market. Wissol pays much at-tention to the development of Sport in Georgia and has owned the legendary football club FC Torpedo Kutaisi since 2010.
“Supporting football is a very special, and one of the most favourite, directions for our company. The aim of Tor-pedo Kutaisi at the moment is to be included in the top three national teams and receive a ticket to the European league. It will be the biggest success for us. We are trying to de-velop this direction with all of our might, but in the end it’s football and everything de-pends on luck,” Pkhakadze said.
“We love Torpedo Kutaisi. This football club doesn’t just belong to Wissol Group, it be-longs to the whole of Georgia. We are feeling huge respect and love towards Torpedo Kutaisi from Georgian fans. This fact is an additional stim-ulating factor for us in devel-oping this legendary football club,” Pkhakadze said.
Wissol developed Auto-Express stations on the local market which is the only chain of the auto service centres in
Georgia. The company has the exclusive right to distrib-ute French TOTAL oils and lubricants in the country. In addition Wissol AutoExpress offers tires, the conversion of vehicles to gas and vulcaniza-tion services.
“We are the representatives and official distributors of one of the widest French oil companies - Total. We offer people Total products which are aimed at the upper middle class segment. Now we have started importing FINA brand products from Total Group, which is focused at the mid-dle classes. We are going to import Italian oils and lubri-cants to our chain in the near-est future. We will add several Auto Express service centres in different regions of Georgia this year,” Pkhakadze said.
According to Pkhakadze, there is healthy competition among leading oil companies on the local market. He be-lieves that competition makes companies stronger and more active.
“Under the frames of healthy competition, all of the oil companies have found their own niches on the mar-ket. The existence of com-petitors on the market makes our business better and more trustful. Customers always gain profit from existing com-petition as infrastructure, service and product quality improves greatly as a result. Although it is really expen-sive, we will keep importing the highest quality Italian products to the market. There is big demand for Italian products among our custom-ers,” Pkhakadze said.
dr. sAmsoN pkhAkAdze, president of wissol group
ALThough we represeNT AN oIL CompANy, we Are doINg our besT To reduCe bAd eFFeCTs oN The eNvIroNmeNT As muCh we
Are AbLe To
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 7FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
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Advertiser: Wissol Group. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]
WISSOL GROUPBEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BETTER FUTURE
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS8 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
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green businessCorruption - Bottom of List of Problems
Businesses in Georgia Face, IFC Survey 2012the FinanCiaL
by nana MGhebrishviLi
The majority of Georgian busi-nessmen consider the busi-ness environment as more or less attractive, as measured
by their perception of recent legisla-tive reforms, according to the latest Georgia Business Perception Survey conducted by IFC in 2012. The sur-vey shows that the main problems of businesses are access to finance, tax burden and utility costs. Corruption is in last place out of the problems firms face.
“This is a very interesting survey and describes the real situation quite well. This data could be generalized for the whole country,” said Giorgi Pertaia, Business Ombudsmen. “But I don’t agree that taxes are high. This survey shows the feelings of business-men. They may really pay high taxes, but not because the burden is high, because the taxable base is big and they have to pay a lot.”
“I consider the main problem that only large businesses plan to expand. Only a minority of small and medium businesses think about expanding. But this isn’t new for our country,” he added.
42 percent of businesses suggest reducing taxes to improve the busi-ness environment.
“Better communication with busi-nesses in the regions is vital now. Awareness of new reforms isn’t so high in the regions and this needs to be improved quickly,” Pertaia ex-plained.
The survey shows that larger firms had better growth results in 2011 compared to smaller firms, which were more likely to decline. 52 per-cent of large businesses grew in 2011, while 43 percent of small businesses declined. 62 percent of large firms plan to expand in the future, while only 29 percent of small ones do it.
Firms name the low purchasing power of the population as the main reason for the decline of business. On the other hand, businesses name in-creased demand for growth.
The survey is mainly dedicated to the Georgian Tax Simplification Project. The share of inspected en-terprises was 35 in 2011 and 33 in
2010. Smaller firms are inspected more frequently. Trade firms are inspected more than businesses en-gaged in other activities. However, the inspection duration is shorter in trade firms than in construction and manufacturing. Inspections are less frequent in Tbilisi than in the rest of the country. One third of inspected firms are penalized, which is 16 per-cent among all firms. The majority of penalties and fines are for the misuse of cash registers.
The majority think that informa-tion on legislative changes is acces-sible, and only 10% complain that it is not. TV and government websites represent the major information
sources for legislative changes. The option of alternative tax audit and elimination of chronometry penalties are the most appreciated reforms, as opposed to legislative changes associ-ated with cash registers.
“The reforms in the tax system are really great,” said Fady Asly, Chair-man of the International Chamber of Commerce. “The revenue service is building confidence between busi-nesses and itself. I suppose that this confidence will grow and become the same confidence which now exists be-tween the population and the police.”
“In general we have huge GDP growth. This is unprecedented growth compared to our neighbour
countries. This is more than in some OPD countries even. Georgia is at-tracting more and more international investors,” he claims.
Giorgi Isakadze, Head of Georgian Small & Medium Enterprises Associ-ation (GSMEA), predicts that results in the 2013 survey will be better.
“The reforms in the tax system implemented by the Revenue Service are still new and lots of businesses don’t know about them,” Isakadze explained. “So the results of these changes aren’t seen in this survey. As for some claims made by small busi-nesses, this is objective because they really lack finances. We have to work intensively to solve these problems as well.”
“This survey sheds light on Geor-gia’s outstanding progress in com-bining corruption and improving the environment for business,” said Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Man-ager for the South Caucasus. “It also highlights areas for improvement in the implementation of regulations. We are committed to working with the Georgian Government to contin-uously improve the environment for private business and help entrepre-neurs benefit from recent reforms.”
This survey was conducted in January-February 2012. Owners and managers of 1,029 active firms were surveyed by face-to-face interview. 365 were small entrepreneurs with annual revenue of less than 100,000 GEL out of the whole amount. 398 were medium ones with revenue be-tween 100,000 and 1,500,000 and 267 large ones with revenue greater than 1.5 million. Firms were stratified by size, sector and region.
Georgia Becoming Eco-Destinationthe FinanCiaL
by nana MGhebrishviLi
The Georgian Nation-al Tourism Agency (GNTA) will be start-ing intensive work to
develop eco-tourism in Sep-tember 2012. This is one of the most profitable tourism directions in Georgia and at the same time the potential of the country in this regard is significant. In total Georgia is expecting 3.5 million tourists in 2012 and Maia Sidamonid-ze, Head of the GNTA, predicts that eco-tourists will make up quite a large share of the total number.
Eco-tourism is responsible travel, close proximity to na-ture, an alternative way to travel that respects the envi-ronment and improves the conditions of local commu-nities. It’s a broad term that comprises various activities - from sports like rafting to culture like studying the tradi-tions of Svaneti’s towers.
Ranked 12th country in the world for its biodiversity, the sector has great opportuni-ties in Georgia. Almost half a million hectares are Protected Areas in Georgia, about 7 per-cent of the country’s territory. About 75 percent of these are covered by forests. There are 14 Strict Nature Reserves, 8 National Parks, 12 Managed Nature Reserves, 14 Natural Monuments and 2 Protected Landscapes in Georgia.
“Currently Georgia holds a niche of cultural and ad-venture destination,” Sidam-onidze told The FINANCIAL. “But we are developing other directions as well including eco-tourism. For example in 2010 3 percent of all tourists came for MICE but in 2011 the number totalled 10 percent. The number of visitors for eco-tourism is predicted to grow as
rapidly as this as well.”“Currently we are working
to promote health-tourism in Georgia and in September we will be starting intensive work on eco-tourism development,” she added.
Q. How would you as-sess the potential of eco-tourism in Georgia?
A. Georgia is very strong in this direction. Eco-tourism is one of the directions which is in the process of development. Lots of tourists will come here for the green treasures which the country possesses. There are plenty of protected areas and natural reserves in all the regions of Georgia. Eco-tour-ism is very important because of its concept as well. This au-tomatically means that these sorts of tourists are preserving the environment and commu-nity where they travel to. Lots of travellers love the inherent nature of Georgia. This direc-tion of tourism is developed in many countries and I think that it will soon be booming in Georgia.
Q. Which region is the most attractive in terms of eco-tourism? Which one receives the most eco-tourists?
A. Each region of Georgia has big potential for tourism development and especially for eco-tourism. Western as well as Eastern Georgia is rich in terms of natural trea-sure. While Kakheti has three protected areas, Samegrelo is well-known for its canyons. But still lots of visitors travel to the protected areas and es-pecially in Kakheti as there are several of them there. Borjom-Kharagauli Park plays a vital role in the development of eco-tourism. Racha is very impor-tant as well.
Q. What projects are be-ing implemented current-ly in terms of eco-tourism development?
A. The fact that Georgia has such big potential in this sphere must be advertised. We are working to increase access to this information across the world. We bring travel agen-
cies and journalists specifically to info-tours. Later these jour-nalists write about Georgia as an eco-destination. Meanwhile we also participate in many exhibitions and fairs in many
countries. All these support eco-tourism development in the country. We are making special tourist lines and these give the possibility to foreign-ers to plan their tours them-selves.
Q. Is eco-tourism a prof-itable direction of tour-ism in general?
A. Certainly! The latest glob-al tendencies show that more and more people are travelling to countries where the eco-logical situation is good and they have access to ecological products. This trend is fast-growing. Practice shows that wealthier people prefer such tours and therefore they spend more. So development of eco-tourism is quite profitable for Georgia.
Q. Which are the main countries where there is demand for eco-tourism? In which countries do you promote Georgia as an eco-destination?
A. The biggest demand comes from Western Europe, America and Asia. Therefore we promote Georgia in these regions. Tourists from Geor-gia’s neighbouring and other post-soviet countries come mostly for sea and winter resorts as well as for MICE tourism. We have diversi-fied products for a diversi-fied market and this is great. This gives us more possibility to develop more products on higher levels.
Q. Which position does eco-tourism hold among tourism directions in terms of the number of tourists in Georgia?
A. Eco-tourism is in the first three directions. Cultural tour-ism holds first place as more and more people are interested in the culture of Georgia. Then comes MICE tourism, recre-ation and adventure tourism combined with eco-tourism. This is quite a good indica-
tor but the potential is much higher. Awareness has to be increased. On the other hand, routes have to be established and marked.
Q. What are the main problems impeding the development of eco-tour-ism?
A. We are in the process of developing this direction. So first of all the development of products is very important. Joining international organi-zations working for the devel-opment of eco-tourism is very important as well. We have to study the demand and offer new products accordingly. We have to package our products so that lots of tourists come for them.
The lack of purity and clean-ness in some places is a prob-lem as well. Cleanness is the most important thing for eco-tourism. We are working on this and hope to find a solution to the problem soon.
Q. What about service quality, isn’t it a problem for eco-tourism develop-ment?
A. Everything depends on the level of development. When there is increased de-mand, quality of service will grow as well. Quality of ser-vice is already developed up to a certain extent in Georgia and this process continues to develop. Protected areas and natural preserves have their own guides and rangers. This is already good. Quality will form on a par with demand.
Q. Is internal tourism developed in Georgia? What effect can it have on attracting more foreign visitors?
A. Protected areas and natu-ral preserves are full of Geor-gian visitors. This trend is growing and is important for attracting foreigners. Internal tourism has to be developed first.
ACCordINg To The oFFICIAL progNosIs georgIA Is expeCTINg
3.5 mILLIoN ForeIgN vIsITors IN 2012. we hAve reCeIved 700,000
TourIsTs Thus FAr IN The FIrsT quArTer oF 2012, whICh Is 40
perCeNT more CompAred To The sAme perIod oF 2011. sTILL The
mAjorITy oF TourIsTs Are ComINg For CuLTurAL Tours.
mAIA sIdAmoNIdze, Head of the gnta
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 9FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
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Environment Protection a Core Element of HeidelbergCement’s
Sustainability Policythe FinanCiaL
by MariaM PaPidze
HeidelbergCement’s entire investment in Georgia amounts to more than 200 mil-
lion EUR, out of which more than 12 million EUR has been allocated for environment protection alone. Installa-tion of new fabric filters, the Quarry Life Award and Public Private Partnership projects are the main projects of Hei-delbergCement within the framework of environment protection.
“We have a big responsibil-ity not just for our production but for the environment as well,” Akaki Chkhaidze, Sales and Marketing Director at HeidelbergCement Caucasus, told The FINANCIAL. “In accordance with the Group’s standards and sustainability policy, HeidelbergCement has been focusing on environ-ment protection in Georgia since 2006,” he added.
Q. What responsibili-ties do you feel in re-gards to your product and the way you make it having an impact on the environment?
A. The installation of new fabric filters at the Rustavi and Kaspi plants is a signifi-cant contribution to environ-ment protection. More than 12 million EUR was invested for the purpose of de-dusting with the installation of new fabric filters. Both plants op-erate six kilns in total, so the six new fabric filters had to be installed without significantly disrupting the production process.
The problem of pollution is of great concern to the popu-lation of Georgia. The com-pany takes on an enormous responsibility for the welfare of the people, especially for
those who live in the area of the plants. By installing modern filter technologies, cement dust reduced by 99 percent. Thus, in addition to climate protection, replacing the old filters with new ones will optimize cement produc-tion.
Local authorities strongly support HeidelbergCement in Georgia which is proved by the memorandum on cooper-ation with the Georgian Min-istry of Environment Protec-tion and Natural Resources.
In discussing this issue it is important to pay attention to the standards of the company itself. If the company does not meet the standards, then any type of production may have a negative impact on the environment. As for Hei-delbergCement, its policy is relevant to international stan-dards. That means that the factory in Georgia and other factories, i.e. in Germany, have the same filter technolo-gies. Using these filters means that the risk of pollution is minimal.
Q. Asides from filters, what other projects are being implemented by HeidelbergCement in the framework of environ-ment protection?
A. We started implement-ing a very important project in December last year. This is an international project about international scientific and educational competi-tion - The Quarry Life Award, conducted simultaneously in more than fifteen countries, including Georgia. Students and researchers and NGO partnerships were invited to participate in the Quarry Life Award individually or as teams.
The idea of this competition is the protection and promo-tion of biodiversity in quar-ries during and after extrac-
tion. This competition gives us the opportunity to show that quarrying operations are completely in line with envi-ronment protection.
In addition, following our biodiversity management guideline (which was inci-dentally the first ever issued biodiversity guideline by a building materials producer) is essential for having proper communication with local so-ciety to prepare for optimal use of the land after raw ma-terial extraction has ended. Consequently the competition offers this tool for the involve-ment of communities in bio-diversity management.
Three quarries are open for the national, Georgian com-petition: Kavtiskhevi Lime-stone Quarry (Shida Kar-tli), Gardabani Clay Quarry (Kvemo Kartli), and Dedo-plistskaro Limestone Quarry
(Kakheti). The first edition of the
Quarry Life Award launched by HeidelbergCement elicited strong interest from students and researchers. Over 300 project proposals are com-peting in eighteen countries on four continents. Accord-ing to international statistics, Georgia reached the highest number of project proposals of all eighteen countries par-ticipating.
As for Georgia, 19,304 hits on the website show the read-iness of the public to be active participants in biodiversity development. 215 persons were registered on the Quarry Life Award site and 53 inter-esting proposals have been submitted for the Quarry Life Award.
The competition had two stages, submission of an idea and project submission. The
result of the first stage is that the five best proposals were displayed this year. They have till September to write out their projects and the jury in Brussels will name the win-ner. The competition will have winners on a national level and winners selected by the global jury. Three winners on the national level, selected by the national jury, can re-ceive financial support from HeidelbergCement to cover the project costs and will be awarded with 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 EUR respectively. Global winners selected by the global jury will be awarded 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 EUR respectively.
The Georgian Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources was in-volved in this project and its Minister was one of the jury members.
Q. What about the Pub-lic-Private-Partnership project running in Geor-gia?
A. After extracting raw materials, i.e. limestone, it is important to restore the quar-ries - the land should be made useful again.
The goal of the PPP (public - Private - Partnership) proj-ect in cooperation with the German GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenar-beit), is to promote biodiver-sity through the development and implementation of dif-ferent recultivation models in all mining sites of Heidel-bergCement in Georgia. In addition, this project aims to promote the share of experi-ence on modern recultivation / renaturation practice with a variety of stakeholders (local community, authorities, uni-versities, etc.).
In the frames of the above-mentioned project Hei-delbergCement Georgia is supported in developing a
modern recultivation / rena-turation technique which ful-ly corresponds to the already implemented environmental management systems.
With this new approach, local habitats adapted to the natural environment are de-veloped, as opposed to the re-cultivation practice currently used in Georgia.
Q. Please could you briefly summarize Hei-delbergCement’s activi-ties in Georgia?
A. HeidelbergCement’s ac-tivity in the Georgian cement market began in 2006, since 2008 HeidelbergCement has expanded in the ready-mixed concrete business line. Nowa-days, the company runs three cement plants with total ce-ment production capacity of around 2 million tons per year and three ready mixed concrete plants in Georgia.
The whole investment of HeidelbergCement in Geor-gia is more than 200 mil-lion EUR. Over the period of the past three years Heidel-bergCement has opened five operational units in Georgia: June 2008 - Opening of a dry process cement plant in Rustavi; April 2009 - Start up of a concrete batching plant in Tbilisi; April, 2010 - Opening of the second concrete batch-ing plant in Tbilisi; April, 2011 - Opening of Sufsa (Black Sea coast) cement terminal; Sep-tember, 2011 - Mobile ready-mixed concrete plant started operation.
HeidelbergCement is the global market leader in aggre-gates and a prominent player in the fields of cement, con-crete and other downstream activities, making it one of the world’s largest manufac-turers of building materials. The company employs some 53,000 people at 2,500 loca-tions in more than 40 coun-tries.
AkAkI ChkhAIdze, sales and marketing director at Heidelbergcement caucasus
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS10 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
C M Y K
green business
Potential of Wind Energy in Georgia Awaiting Use
the FinanCiaLby nana MGhebrishviLi
Georgia has a potential of 5 billion KWh of wind en-ergy, which is almost half of the energy used annually
by the Georgian population, experts say. This energy could be used local-ly as well as being exported, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
“Georgia is quite rich in terms of renewable energies including hydro and wind energies,” Archil Zedginid-ze, Director of Karenegro, told The FINANCIAL. “We conducted a feasi-bility study of the whole of Georgia and found out that the richest re-gions in term of wind energy are: the gorge of the river Chorokhi, Para-vani lake, Likhi mountain range, Mukhrani field, outskirts of Kutaisi and West-Eastern part of Tbilisi, also the outskirts of Rustavi and ar-eas between Khashuri and Gori. We have all the materials needed to start building wind turbines there but in-terest in it isn’t high enough.”
“We had several business negotia-tions with American and Japanese investors, but in the end they were rejected. In my opinion the legisla-tion has to be changed and suited to the needs of potential investors in this field. At least they need a guar-antee that wind energy would be purchased and the price also has to be defined beforehand. So attractive legislation and tariffs are essential,” Zedginidze explained.
The Ministry of Energy of Georgia has some negotiations with Turkish and Norwegian investors to imple-ment projects at Paravani Lake and Skra. But they still consider hydro energy more of a priority than wind energy because of the price differ-ence and experience which has built up in the hydro energy sector in Georgia.
“We can’t subsidy wind energy as we have a lot more important prob-lems,” said Mariam Valishvili, First Deputy of the Minister of Energy. “The cost of building one megawatt wind firm is 1 million EUR, which is quite costly. This will increase
the net price of energy and accord-ing to our calculations the net price of one KWh of energy is 16 cents. At the same time the areas with good wind energy potential are places where infrastructure isn’t developed at all. Constructing roads and trans-mission lines would take up almost half of the budget. For those reasons it isn’t worth starting and therefore we prefer to build hydro energy sta-tions.”
Currently the net price of energy made by old hydropower stations is 5 tetri. The price of new stations is 7 cents, which is 2-3 times more than the old stations. But the building of new hydro energy stations is sched-
uled so that it won’t affect the price that the Georgian population pay for energy. According to international practice, money invested in wind electric power could be seen back af-ter ten years. Only after this would wind energy become cheaper.
“There is currently only one wind turbine in the village Skra. The proj-ect was funded by USAID. The prime cost of the turbine is about 25,000 USD. It produces only 22,000 KWh energy per year, which is enough for two families,” Valishvili said.
“This was a pilot project and we are always open to such projects. But I think that Georgia is still far from the day when it will have plenty of
wind firm,” Valishvili said.One Georgian businessman asked
Karenergo to conduct a feasibil-ity study near Mtskheta. He wanted to build a restaurant running on wind energy. The price of a feasibil-ity study is up to one percent of the price of a wind firm however.
“They wanted to build a 20 mega-watt wind firm,” Zedginidze said. “Its price is about 22 million EUR. The feasibility study costs about 300,000-400,000 EUR. But in the end they didn’t build the station be-cause of the high cost. On the other hand wind energy isn’t stable and it needs to be balanced with other en-ergy sources.”
In spite of the problems, Zedginid-ze thinks that it would be reasonable to start the building of at least one wind firm. This won’t affect the price.
IMportance oF reneWable
enerGIesIncreasing consumption of re-
newable energies is considered one of the best ways to solve problems caused by climate change. Climate change was detected in the second half of the 18th century and has been growing since then.
“Global warming is a global prob-lem and can’t be solved locally,” said Grigol Lazrievi, Head of the Hydro-geology and Climate Change Divi-sion at the Ministry of Environment Protection. “About 90 percent of en-ergy consumed in Georgia is renew-able, but this is only 12-15 percent of the overall potential of Georgia. The country has to start intensive works to get more renewable energy and export abroad. We don’t currently appreciate the real danger of global warming. But if we don’t reduce emissions in the atmosphere, the situation will become dramatic. Re-newable energies including wind en-ergy can play a crucial role in this.”
Georgia is responsible for only 0.03 percent of the whole emissions in the atmosphere. If we reduce emissions locally, it will have an ideal effect on air pollution locally. The country will benefit from this significantly. But it can’t change the general situation of climate change if the entire world doesn’t start reduc-ing emissions too.
“The affect of global warming in Georgia is evident in the country’s seaside regions, as the level of water is risen,” Lazrievi explained. “The sit-uation is worse in Batumi and Anak-lia. At the same time natural disasters have increased so significantly in strength and frequency. High, moun-tainous regions have the most diffi-culty, as rivers are too fast because of the relief and have devastating pow-er. For that reason the development of renewable energies is vital.”
Frank kLobuCarGorbi
oN CAuCAsIAN pLumbers
Many countries in the Cau-cuses and Eastern Eu-rope have great deficien-cies in access to hot water
and flushing toilets. Georgia has among the worst hot water penetra-tion, and is also near the bottom of the list for toilets. This is according to a 2010 poll conducted by Geor-gian Opinion Research Business In-ternational and partners.
Countries transitioning from a so-viet system to national sovereignty
face many challenges in creating a healthy economy and improving their quality of life. It is often the case that these countries and inter-national investors heavily invest in tourism or elaborate construction projects meant to impress their citi-zens or cure economic woes with one magic trick. Without first securing the foundations of an economy, sta-ble infrastructure and the like, these investments might well have mini-mal or sometimes negative effects. One of these too-often ignored areas is an inclusive water and sanitation network.
The 2200 Georgian households polled for this survey were asked about various facilities that were accessible, including tap water, hot water, and flushable toilets. 90% of those polled had tap water, whether inside or outside the house, but only 35% had heated water, the lowest number of any country included in the poll. The only two countries with a significantly smaller percentage of
flushable toilet access were Kazakh-stan and Moldova. Not surprisingly, those living in villages had less ac-cess to all facilities than city dwell-ers, and the difference is the largest in toilets. 98% of Tbiliseli, for ex-ample, have flushing toilets and only 31% of villagers do. Azerbaijan had similar toilet availability to Georgia, and more hot water taps, around 62%.
The ArmeNIAN ouTLIer
The truly remarkable case in this study is Armenia, with virtually ev-ery household polled claiming to be equipped with cold and hot water and flushable toilets. Even with 10% of water taps and 14% of toilets situ-ated outside of the house, this is still extraordinary when compared to its Caucasian neighbors. This may be explained by the abundance of natural water reserves in the Arme-nian countryside, were it not for the inconsistency in its geography and seasonal fluctuations. A large infra-structure would still be required to move water from wet to dry regions, and be dependent on the seasonal water levels in reservoirs.
At GORBI we oblige ourselves to
present data in an honest manner. With this in mind, a less appealing possible explanation is one of survey bias. It may be that well equipped regions were overrepresented, or that there was a strong social incen-tive for the Armenians to mislead interviewers; perhaps they feel it’s shameful to be without all facilities. The first explanation is fairly well discounted by looking at the survey data itself; the data does not include the actual villages surveyed, but there is an appropriate distribution of respondents by settlement type. The chance that respondents were guided by social shame is harder to explain away, but Armenians answered other possibly shameful questions freely, such as income and education levels, without any shock-ing data outcomes. Finally, there is the possibility that this is one of the flukes that are an unavoidable risk in statistical analysis. In a sample sizes like this, there is a 1% chance that the reality falls outside the 3.5% margin of error.
However, when hunting for a less dismissive explanation for Arme-nia’s supposed first world plumb-ing and water systems, we find that the Armenian government began a system of major reforms and priva-tization for their water distribution systems in 2005. While alternative information on these reforms’ re-sults is not readily available, it could be that Armenia has completely
and quietly modernized their water networks. More data should be col-lected on this issue before simply accepting it as fact, but as pure an-ecdote: on a recent trip to Yerevan and nearby villages, this columnist saw village streets lined with evenly spaced water spouts and cleaning bins, greenhouses with thick sheets of condensation, and minor irriga-tion systems watering small person-al gardens and larger tomato farms.
Whatever the reality of the Arme-nian case, a more extensive water and sanitation network in Georgia would be a very good thing. Water penetration has great implications for an agricultural economy and, coupled with flushing toilets, even connotations on personal and pub-lic health; it would undoubtedly be a wise area for investment in a still developing country.
The margin of error for Armenia and other countries in this study is 3.5% with a 99% confidence interval, and 3% in Georgia. Visit our website at gorbi.com.
This report is exclusively provided to The FINANCIAL. Crediting The FINANCIAL is obligatory.Visit GORBI website at gorbi.com
Retail (end-user) energy prices for households.Two consumption levels are identified. Research methodology.Price data mentioned may not reflect the latest insights found in the commercial editions.
Sweden € 0.0887 Sweden € 0.0770United Kingdom € 0.1149 United Kingdom € 0.1019Notes:- Amount is in euro (€) per kiloWatthour (kWh).- End-user price. Includes all duties, except recoverable taxes (e.g. VAT)- Price data for non-eurozone countries are in euro. The average exchange rate valid for the referenced month is applied.
The price components that make up the retail price for one liter of fuel.
Crude - Purchase price of one li ter of crude.Margin - Refining, transportation, insurance, stockpil ing, distribution and sale to consumers.Excise duties and VAT - Taxes levied by local governments. May include environment related taxes.
April 21, 2012 Unleaded (Superbleifrei, Euro sans plomb,Euro95)
The price components that make up the retail price for one liter of fuel.
Crude - Purchase price of one li ter of crude. LPG estimated.Margin - Refining, transportation, insurance, stockpil ing, distribution and sale to consumers.Excise duties and VAT - Taxes levied by local governments. May include environment related taxes.
April 21, 2012 LPG (GPL, Autogas) HOME HEATING OIL (Heizöl)Country Crude Margin Excise duties VAT Retail price Crude Margin Excise duties VAT Retail priceAustria No data No data No data No data No data € 0.558 € 0.192 € 0.098 € 0.170 € 1.018Belgium € 0.258 € 0.365 € 0.000 € 0.131 € 0.754 € 0.558 € 0.185 € 0.017 € 0.160 € 0.920Bulgaria € 0.258 € 0.205 € 0.093 € 0.111 € 0.667 € 0.558 € 0.214 € 0.026 € 0.159 € 0.957Cyprus No data No data No data No data No data € 0.558 € 0.253 € 0.125 € 0.159 € 1.095Czech Republic € 0.258 € 0.275 € 0.086 € 0.124 € 0.743 € 0.558 € 0.239 € 0.027 € 0.165 € 0.988Denmark € 0.258 € 0.481 € 0.272 € 0.253 € 1.263 € 0.558 € 0.316 € 0.342 € 0.304 € 1.520Estonia € 0.258 € 0.334 € 0.067 € 0.132 € 0.790 € 0.558 € 0.219 € 0.111 € 0.178 € 1.065Finland No data No data No data No data No data € 0.558 € 0.226 € 0.161 € 0.217 € 1.161France € 0.258 € 0.495 € 0.058 € 0.159 € 0.970 € 0.558 € 0.222 € 0.057 € 0.164 € 1.000Germany € 0.258 € 0.335 € 0.097 € 0.131 € 0.820 € 0.558 € 0.170 € 0.061 € 0.150 € 0.939Greece No data No data No data No data No data € 0.558 € 0.238 € 0.060 € 0.197 € 1.053Hungary € 0.258 € 0.313 € 0.087 € 0.178 € 0.836 € 0.558 € 0.240 € 0.386 € 0.320 € 1.503Ireland € 0.258 No data No data No data No data € 0.558 € 0.331 € 0.089 € 0.132 € 1.109Italy € 0.258 € 0.337 € 0.149 € 0.156 € 0.900 € 0.558 € 0.268 € 0.403 € 0.258 € 1.487Latvia € 0.258 € 0.180 € 0.068 € 0.111 € 0.617 € 0.558 € 0.270 € 0.021 € 0.187 € 1.036
FueL TAxes
Estonia € 0.0425 Estonia € 0.0419Finland No data Finland No dataFrance € 0.0622 France € 0.0524Germany € 0.0615 Germany € 0.0604Greece No data Greece No dataHungary € 0.0590 Hungary € 0.0565Ireland € 0.0573 Ireland € 0.0525Italy € 0.0831 Italy € 0.0720Latvia € 0.0421 Latvia € 0.0417Lithuania € 0.0483 Lithuania € 0.0428Luxembourg € 0.0515 Luxembourg € 0.0526Malta No data Malta No dataNetherlands € 0.0772 Netherlands € 0.0730Poland € 0.0552 Poland € 0.0491Portugal € 0.0684 Portugal € 0.0596Romania € 0.0301 Romania € 0.0291Slovakia € 0.0469 Slovakia € 0.0465Slovenia € 0.0735 Slovenia € 0.0692Spain € 0.0590 Spain € 0.0555Sweden € 0.1134 Sweden € 0.1040United Kingdom € 0.0465 United Kingdom € 0.0399
Notes:- End-user price, includes all taxes.- Amount is in euro (€) per kiloWatthour (kWh).- EU Average Gross Calorific Value 38.48 (MJ/m3)- There is no gas price data available for Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Finland.- Price data for non-eurozone countries are in euro. The average exchange rate valid for the referenced month is applied.
Retail (end-user) energy prices for households.Two consumption levels are identified. Research methodology.Price data mentioned may not reflect the latest insights found in the commercial editions.
Reference month: Nov ember, 2011.Historical price data going back to the year 2000, visit EU Energy History
Notes:- End-user price, includes all taxes.- Amount is in euro (€) per kiloWatthour (kWh).- Price data for non-eurozone countries are in euro. The average exchange rate valid for the referenced month is applied.
eLeCTrICITy househoLds
Estonia € 0.0425 Estonia € 0.0419Finland No data Finland No dataFrance € 0.0622 France € 0.0524Germany € 0.0615 Germany € 0.0604Greece No data Greece No dataHungary € 0.0590 Hungary € 0.0565Ireland € 0.0573 Ireland € 0.0525Italy € 0.0831 Italy € 0.0720Latvia € 0.0421 Latvia € 0.0417Lithuania € 0.0483 Lithuania € 0.0428Luxembourg € 0.0515 Luxembourg € 0.0526Malta No data Malta No dataNetherlands € 0.0772 Netherlands € 0.0730Poland € 0.0552 Poland € 0.0491Portugal € 0.0684 Portugal € 0.0596Romania € 0.0301 Romania € 0.0291Slovakia € 0.0469 Slovakia € 0.0465Slovenia € 0.0735 Slovenia € 0.0692Spain € 0.0590 Spain € 0.0555Sweden € 0.1134 Sweden € 0.1040United Kingdom € 0.0465 United Kingdom € 0.0399
Notes:- End-user price, includes all taxes.- Amount is in euro (€) per kiloWatthour (kWh).- EU Average Gross Calorific Value 38.48 (MJ/m3)- There is no gas price data available for Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Finland.- Price data for non-eurozone countries are in euro. The average exchange rate valid for the referenced month is applied.
Retail (end-user) energy prices for households.Two consumption levels are identified. Research methodology.Price data mentioned may not reflect the latest insights found in the commercial editions.
Reference month: Nov ember, 2011.Historical price data going back to the year 2000, visit EU Energy History
Notes:- End-user price, includes all taxes.- Amount is in euro (€) per kiloWatthour (kWh).- Price data for non-eurozone countries are in euro. The average exchange rate valid for the referenced month is applied.
the lonG road
Guy de Fontgalland
Afghanistan in 2020: Projections for
a Torn Land
On a beautiful sunny, but somber morn-ing in September 2009, I packed
my suitcase full of books on Afghanistan, some clothes, hugged my Afghan friends and left my somewhat di-lapidated “rest house” in the United Nations compound in Kabul for the airport. I had finished my assignment with the UNDP as senior advisor, policy and development – a title which weighed heavy on my mind and soul in a coun-try which was torn apart by several years of conflict, war, insurgencies, tribal warlords, the poppy mafia and the myr-iad of other revolutionaries, freedom fighters, liberators, and without doubt, the total oppression of women by the Taliban.
I have travelled and worked in several countries across all continents, but Afghanistan left an indelible mark in my psyche. It’s history of defiance against invaders, its tortu-ous history of war lords and raped villages, its traditional and oppressive adherence to keeping women ignorant, obedient to men and out of all forms of public life, the invasions starting from the Alexander the Great to the deployment of International Security Assistant Force to rout the Talibans out of power in Afghanistan, has made Af-ghanistan a unique hot spot in the world of pressure politics.
But like all wars down the centuries, the people in Af-ghanistan, the simple farmer, the nomad, the trader, the school teacher and the artisan have been given no breathing space to rebuild their lives.
Wedged uncomfortably at the cross roads of uncer-tainty between freedom and slavery, the ordinary Afghan lives in an eternal hope of someday finding peace, of drinking clean water from the wells, walking their children to school, reaping a bounti-ful harvest of corn and maize, tendering their sheep and celebrating the little joys of birth, marriage and success in little ventures.
In Afghanistan, I had a broad assignment which looked at various support systems and assistance for the implementation of the Afghanistan National Devel-opment Strategy, painfully crafted by some of the best strategists and adopted by the Afghanistan government,
although the riding premise that development in a war-torn country should be driven by private sector investments was fatally flawed. ANDS was the main platform for much of the plans, activities and projects in which thousands of men and women form multilateral, bilateral agen-cies worked in addition to hundreds of non-government agencies and other donors.
There was almost an un-questioned belief among those who worked in Afghani-stan that “winning the hearts and minds of Afghan people” was very much on track, that the peace and security would be in place and that the sta-tistics churned out by much-funded agencies would dic-tate the return of the nation to democracy, civil liberties, private sector investment and growth. Projects for “gender mainstreaming”, again heav-ily funded from all directions, were said to bring Afghan women into the mainstream of public life.
Although there was a blan-ket ban on UN officials not traveling on their own and unescorted in Kabul, I did find the space and time to walk the Chicken street and other lanes to feel the pulse of a cramped and dusty city where thousands walked and filled the streets with little shops, vendors and money changers. Kabul, I felt, like the people of Afghanistan, has entered a time warp and a plateau of ex-istence where life was no more a thing of joy, but a minefield filled with obstacles at every corner, physical, bureaucratic, religious and political. Navi-gating this minefield was per-haps the only focus of life. For many people, mainly in the rural areas of Afghanistan, ek-ing out an existence of an av-erage ten dollars a month was even more difficult.
Afghans, through the years, have been hardened through wars, conflicts and destabi-lization. Traditionally, they are both warriors and no-mads. They are a very proud people with very long years of culture and tradition. They are, mentally and physically a very strong race, able to en-dure extreme hardships of a rugged mountain life and the dry plains. The last several generations carry the wounds of war and conflict, and of poverty, although, while vis-iting a University campus in Kabul, I noticed that they are
like all youth anywhere in the world, wanting to go up in life and have a better future. One does not see a sense of dejec-tion and despair. The will to survive the terrible ordeal of wars and displacement and take life as it comes seems a proven strength among most.
The Australian Govern-ment has decided to pull out of the theatre of war in Af-ghanistan one year ahead of schedule. Julie Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister is of the view that the mission is accomplished and that Aus-tralian troops are no more required in Afghanistan. This is the beginning. The ISAF contingent is scheduled to pull out by mid 2014, almost 11 years after the invasion of Afghanistan. The Afghan Security forces are expected to defend the regime and its people from any and all at-tacks. The recent coordinated offensive either by the Tali-bans or the Haqqani group on several key targets in Ka-bul and elsewhere have been reportedly repulsed by the Afghan Security forces. There is confidence that the secu-rity forces, once on their own with some continuing support from NATO and its allies, will mature and grow into a formi-dable defense force.
The future of Afghani-stan, its return to democracy and civil liberty, to a status where women will enjoy some semblance of freedom, where illiteracy will be vastly diminished or eliminated, where poppy cultivation will be replaced by equally profit-able farms and agro industry, where hunger and malnutri-tion will be a thing of the past, will be shaped and deter-mined by only one critical and decisive factor: the Afghans themselves. There will be no tyrant, no dominant political philosophy or religious group which can keep the Afghans down for too long. If the cur-rent trend toward greater freedom and democracy in the Middle East takes root, and if freedom and democra-cy becomes an accepted norm among much of the Middle East, the domino theory will work with Afghanistan. Year 2020 may not be too far way.
When I left Kabul, I brought with me pictures of some of the most magnificent roses which grow in that land. Someday, I hope the land will be full of roses and not guns, bombs and suicide bombers.
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS12 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
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HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 13FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
C M Y K
green business
RBS biggest lender to renewables projects in the UK
the FinanCiaL
RBS was by far the biggest lender to renewable energy projects in the UK last year, lending more than double
the amount of their nearest com-petitor, according to independent re-search.
Figures from Infrastructure Journal show RBS loaned more than $366m to UK renewable projects last year. The journal also calculates that across the sector, lending increased by nearly 200% on the previous year. In 2010 deals worth $464m were completed, which increased to $1.372bn in 2011.
One driver behind the increase in activity in the sector is the surge in biomass developments after the U.K reviewed its Renewables Obligation banding in October 2011. This was en-couraging for onshore wind and pro-posed greater subsidies for enhanced biomass generators while leaving in-centives for other forms of biomass power mostly unchanged, easing un-certainty across the industry for con-tinued future development. Biomass plants generate power from organic materials such as woodchips, munici-pal waste and straw.
Case study -- RBS provided £23m of debt facilities to support Falck Renew-ables extend the Kilbraur windfarm
in Scotland in 2011. The additional 8 turbines are now constructed and fully operational.
The wind farm is located in Strath Brora, Sutherland and consists of 27 x 2.5Mw turbines. When the wind farm is operating fully it generates enough clean, green electricity to sup-ply around 37,400 average homes and help reduce reliance on existing less environmentally-friendly energy re-sources
Case study -- Helius CoRDe biomass plant, UK secured £42.4 million of financing in 2011 to finance the con-struction, commissioning and opera-tion of a 7.2MW Biomass project in Rothes, Morayshire, Scotland. The
project will help Scotland's whisky in-dustry meet a commitment to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, whilst gen-erating enough electricity to power 9,000 homes. The plant saves 46,000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to equivalent coal fired power stations
2011 Sustainability Report -- Energy financing is just one topic that features in RBS's 2011 Sustainability Report, 'Building a Sustainable RBS'. This year's publication continues to demon-strate the Bank's commitment to being transparent on social, ethical and en-vironmental issues. RBS's approach to disclosure has earned AA1000 Assur-ance, a leading indicator of reporting good-practice.
New poLL reveALs CoNTINued deCreAse IN “greeN” ATTITudes ANd behAvIors sINCe 2009
the FinanCiaL
Since the summer of 2009, the Harris Poll has been tracking Americans’ at-titudes toward the en-
vironment as well as their engagement in various environ-mentally-friendly, or “green,” behaviors. The latest install-ment finds that many green behaviors, including those capable of saving consumers money, continue to decline. And perhaps more alarming, considerably fewer U.S. adults now express concern for, and awareness of, environmental issues.
Since these questions were first asked in 2009 there has been a decline in some green behaviors. In 2012, U.S. adults are now less likely to do each of the following in their daily life:
Reuse things they have instead of throwing them away or buy-ing new items (65% 2009 vs. 61% 2012);
Make an effort to use less wa-ter (60% 2009 vs. 57% 2010 and 2012);
Buy food in bulk (33% 2009 vs. 30% 2012);
Purchase all-natural products (18% 2009 vs. 16% 2012); and,
Purchase organic products (17% 2009 vs. 15% 2010 and 2012).
They are also less likely to es-pouse certain green attitudes - few-er Americans describe themselves as “environmentally-conscious” (27% 2012 vs. 30% 2009), or say they personally care a great deal about the current state, and future, of the environment (31% 2012 vs. 36% 2009 and 34% 2010).
Most significantly, in 2012, only about 1 in 3 U.S. adults (34%) say they are concerned about the planet we are leaving behind for future generations - an almost 10 percentage point decrease since 2009 (43%).
At the same time, however, a minority of Americans - more so than in 2009 - continue to describe themselves as:
Conservationist (20% 2012 and 2010 vs. 17% 2009);
“Green” (17% 2012 and 18% 2010 vs. 13% 2009); and,
Environmentalist (16% 2012 and 2010 vs. 13% 2009).
Over the past few years, more pressing issues such as health care reform, economic recovery, and the upcoming presidential election have eclipsed discussions about the environment, so perhaps it is not very surprising that these lat-est Harris Poll results continue to show a decline in “green” attitudes and behaviors. Unfortunately for consumers, some of the “green” behaviors they fail to adopt - such as buying food in bulk - could be saving them money, while others - such as recycling - could help us leave behind a cleaner, more sus-tainable future for our grandchil-dren. There may be a silver lining though, if the group of Americans who express the strongest commit-ment to the environment is a vocal and highly engaged minority.
Rising Chinese Wages, Logistics, and Other Factors Are Prompting Companies
to Rethink Where They Manufacturethe FinanCiaL
More than a third of U.S.-based manufacturing executives at companies with sales greater than $1 billion are planning
to bring back production to the United States from China or are considering it, according to a new survey by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Decision makers at 106 companies across a broad range of industries re-sponded to the survey, which BCG con-ducted in late February. Thirty-seven percent said they plan to reshore man-ufacturing operations or are “actively considering” it. That response rate rose to 48 percent among executives at com-panies with $10 billion or more in reve-nues—a third of the sample.
The top factors cited as driving future decisions on production locations: labor costs (57 percent), product quality (41 percent), ease of doing business (29 per-cent), and proximity to customers (28 percent). In addition, 92 percent said they believe that labor costs in China “will continue to escalate,” and 70 per-cent agreed that “sourcing in China is more costly than it looks on paper.”
The results are consistent with ear-lier BCG findings on the changing eco-nomics that are starting to favor the manufacturing of certain goods in the U.S. In a report released last month,
U.S. Manufacturing Nears the Tipping Point: Which Industries, Why, and How Much?, BCG predicted that improved U.S. competitiveness and rising costs in China will put the U.S. in a strong posi-tion to add 2 million to 3 million jobs in a range of industries and an estimated $100 billion in annual output by the end of the decade.
“These survey findings confirm our own analysis and what we are hearing from major companies,” said Harold
L. Sirkin, a BCG senior partner and co-author of the firm’s “Made in America, Again” series, which began last year. “Companies are realizing that the eco-nomics of manufacturing are swinging in favor of the U.S., for goods to be sold both at home and to major export mar-kets. This trend is likely to accelerate starting around 2015.”
Interest in shifting manufacturing to the U.S. is particularly strong among companies in several sectors identified in
BCG’s March report as nearing a “tipping point.” In these industry groups, China’s cost advantage is likely to shrink within the next few years to the point where companies should rethink where they produce certain goods, mainly those for sale in North America. These tipping-point sectors are transportation goods, appliances and electrical equipment, fur-niture, plastic and rubber products, ma-chinery, fabricated metal products, and computers and electronics. BCG predicts that production of 10 to 30 percent of U.S. imports from China in these indus-tries, which account for approximately 70 percent of goods that the U.S. imports from that nation, could shift to the U.S. before the end of the decade.
In the new survey, 67 percent of re-spondents in rubber and plastic prod-ucts, 42 percent in machinery, 41 percent in electronics, 40 percent in computers, and 35 percent in fabricated metal products said they expect that their companies will reshore production from China to the U.S.
“Not long ago, many companies re-garded China as the low-cost default op-tion for manufacturing,” observed Mi-chael Zinser, a BCG partner who leads the firm’s manufacturing work in the Americas. “This survey shows that com-panies are coming to the conclusion sur-prisingly fast that the U.S. is becoming more competitive when the total costs of manufacturing are accounted for.”
Georgia Getting Closer to Clean Production
the FinanCiaLby Madona Gasanova
“Support from the Government will significantly help the popularization of ‘clean production’ (CP),” Mariam Sikharulidze, Information Officer at REC Caucasus, told The FINANCIAL.
Sikharulidze said that the targets and challenges for CP are different in each country of the Caucasus, depending on their actual situation. “Georgia and Armenia are mainly focusing on ener-gy savings, as there is a lack of energy sources and therefore it is expensive. In Azerbaijan the main focus is on water quality and water savings, as access to water is pretty difficult and therefore this resource is expensive.”
“There is very limited support in the South Caucasus for helping enterprises with the implementation of CP tech-niques,” Sikharulidze said.
“People’s general mentality is improv-
ing and green business is on the agenda. Green business is not a new product in Georgia,” said Giorgi Nanobashvili, UNDP Economic Development Team Leader.
According to Nanobashvili, under-standing of CSR is becoming more wide-spread and popular in Georgia.
“The environment is one of CSR’s main directions. Its protection first of all means its safekeeping through utilising alternative resources of energy. Green business cannot always be developed by efforts of individual companies. It in-volves complex work of various players. Most important will be pre-feasibility research. Our research will be the basis for further investigation of feasibility of investing into these types of business-es,” he said.
“Green business is not only environ-ment protection; it is a way of saving energy and other resources. The Geor-gian climate and nature gives the coun-try huge potential in different spheres,”
Nanobashvili believes.Recently UNDP made a research of
Green Business in Georgia funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC).
“If we ask any person which product they prefer, they will no doubt say that which is ecologically clean. So while finding out how ecologically clean and harmless a products is, we get sufficient information about the issue,” he said.
Nanobashvili noted that there are lots of companies in Georgia who pay huge attention to CSR. Social responsibility has become a part of their image.
Sikharulidze, REC Caucasus, said that lack of access to funds is a barrier to implementation of CP in enterprises. “The demonstration projects carried out under several internationally funded projects have shown that considerable improvements are possible with small investments that have rapid payback. The loan facility for small-scale CP in-vestment can be established on gov-
ernmental or special funds through a revolving fund, as in many other coun-tries. It should be a condition of loans that means enterprises receive technical assistance (on a paid basis) from one of the CP advisory centres or organiza-tions.
“In general the environmental legis-lation in the region is similar from the perspective of promotion of environ-mental technology support. The main supportive instrument for technologies should be a system for environmental protection. A bad situation is one with existing facilities, ones already operat-ing for several years: machinery that is old fashioned, when the operations’ management as well as environmental management is at a poor level. For this type of sector, implementation of CP is very important, because the CP method-ology can be the first step towards im-proved management, therefore quality assurance and environmental manage-ment systems,” Sikharulidze said.
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS14 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 15FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
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green businessNew Database Shows Three Quarters
of World’s Poor Are “Unbanked”the FinanCiaL
Three quarters of the world’s poor do not have a bank ac-count, not only because of poverty, but also because of
the cost, travel distance, and amount of paper work involved in opening one, says the World Bank .
Those without access to formal bank-ing often have to rely on money lend-ers who often charge high fees. The “unbanked” are also less likely to start their own business or insure themselves against unexpected events.Financial in-clusion, or being “banked” can be trans-formative, as it allows poor people to build a more secure future. The ability to save and borrow allows them to build their assets, start a business, invest in education, establish a credit rating, and eventually own a home.
"Providing financial services to the 2.5 billion people who are ‘unbanked’ could boost economic growth and op-portunity for the world's poor,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. “Harnessing the power of fi-nancial services can really help people to pay for schooling, save for a home, or start a small business that can provide jobs for others. This new report on the world's 'unbanked' makes the case: the more poor people are banking today, the more they are banking on their future."
According to The World Bank , women are particularly disadvantaged when it comes to access to financial ser-vices. Only 37% of women in develop-ing countries have an account, whereas 46% of men do. That gap is even bigger among those in poverty: Women living below $2 a day are 28% less likely than men to have a bank account.
Worldwide, 22% of adults report hav-ing saved at a formal financial institu-tion in the past 12 months, according to the World Bank ’s Global Financial Inclusion Database, or Global Findex. Findex provides the most comprehen-sive picture yet of how people around
the world save, borrow, make payments and manage risks.
Even among those who do have a for-mal bank account, only 43% of adults use their account to save. Yet 61% of account holders worldwide use their ac-count to receive payments from an em-ployer, the government or family mem-bers living elsewhere.
The data was collected by Gallup, Inc. using the Gallup World Poll Sur-vey. The Bank’s Development Research Group is building the database with a 10-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Few adults in developing countries use
formal financial products to manage risk. More than 11% of adults in developing countries have an outstanding loan for emergencies or health-care needs, but more than 80% of these adults use only informal sources of credit. Of adults in developing countries working in farming, forestry or fishing, only 6% of them have crop, rainfall or livestock insurance.
“Good, comparable national data is so important for the development of effec-tive policies. I hope policy makers will use this research to help make sure ev-eryone, everywhere, has access to finan-cial services,” said Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands and
the UN Secretary General’s Special Ad-vocate for Inclusive Finance for Devel-opment.
Money transfers through mobile phones is a form of increasingly popu-lar nontraditional banking that often doesn’t require users to travel or set up an account at a brick-and-mortar bank. Such mobile banking, which allows ac-count holders to pay bills, make depos-its or conduct other transactions via text messaging, has expanded to16% of the market in Sub-Saharan Africa, where traditional banking has been hampered by transportation and other infrastruc-ture problems. Kenya, where 68% of adults report using a mobile phone for money transactions, has seen particu-larly impressive growth in this market.
“Nearly two-thirds of the unbanked cite poverty as the obstacle to financial ac-cess, but about a third also blame the cost of opening and maintaining an account or the banks being too far away, which means long bus rides for many,” said Asli Demirguc-Kunt, the Bank’s director of de-velopment policy and chief economist of the Finance and Private Sector Network.
The Bank’s financial inclusion port-folio totals over $3 billion, with proj-ects in over 60 countries. It supports country action plans for financial in-clusion as well as increasing access to financial products and services such as credit, savings, payments, and insurance through low cost delivery mechanisms .
What is your Digital Personality?
the FinanCiaL
Four distinct new "digital per-sonalities" are emerging. This shift is compelling companies to adopt more innovative busi-
ness models that deliver personal-ized experiences.The "Beyond Digi-tal" study by IBM, paints a portrait of a rapidly changing audience that is adopting a wide range of digital devices at a dizzying pace. And, con-trary to popular belief, most are not college students.
For example, sixty-five percent of respondents aged 55 to 64 report surfing the Web and texting with friends while watching TV. Of those over age 65 watching TV, 49 percent surf the Web and 30 percent are tex-ting. Eighty-two percent of surveyed global consumers aged 18 to 64 are embracing connected digital devices.
Moreover, consumers in China and the U.S. are moving away from traditional forms of media, with more than 50 percent using online sources for breaking news.
The New Personalities -- Today's connected consumers demand in-stant access to personalized content on their own terms. With the growth of digital devices, one-way commu-nication and distribution of content is no longer feasible.
According to the IBM study, most users fall into one of four emerging personality categories: Efficiency Experts: With 41 percent in this cat-egory, these respondents use digital devices and services to simplify day-to-day activities. Efficiency experts send emails rather than letters, use Facebook to communicate with oth-ers, access the Internet via mobile phones, and shop online.
Content Kings: Are generally male consumers, who frequently play on-line games, download movies and music, and watch TV online. This audience represents 9 percent of the global sample.
Social Butterflies: Place emphasis on social interaction – they require instant access to friends, regardless of time or place. Fifteen percent of consumers surveyed reported they frequently maintain and update so-cial networking sites, add labels or tags to online photos, and view vid-eos from other users.
Connected Maestros: 35 percent of those surveyed take a more ad-vanced approach to media consump-tion by using mobile devices and Smartphone applications to access games, music, and video or to check news, weather, sports, etc.
"Media companies need to engage with consumers based on their digi-tal personalities, if they are going to maintain a sustainable and connect-ed relationship, said Saul Berman, Global Strategy Consulting Leader,
IBM Global Business Services, and co-author of the study. "With the mass infiltration of digital devices, organizations can now enhance, extend or redefine the customer ex-perience within minutes due to a steady stream of real-time data via social media. Future success is de-pendent upon successfully execut-ing on insights based on this data, to reach the right consumer, at the right time and place, using the right tools."
According to the IBM study, me-dia and entertainment companies' payment infrastructures need to be flexible and scalable to allow a variety of innovative pricing ap-proaches to attract consumers with different preferences to their con-tent. The need for payment option flexibility, even for the same set of
consumers, is apparent by looking at those most active in adopting new devices. This group's preferred mode of payment to watch a movie on a website is by viewing advertis-ing that is included with the movie (39 percent of this segment chose this option), while they prefer to see movies on a tablet by purchas-ing a subscription (chosen by 36 percent). But to watch movies on a smart phone, they prefer to pay per use (the payment choice of 36 percent).
IBM surveyed 3,800 consumers in six countries – China, France, Ger-many, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States for this study, and also met with global representa-tives in broadcasting, publishing, as well as media service agencies, and telecommunication providers, to evaluate digital consumption behav-iors.
How Analytics Can Help -- Us-ing analytics, media companies can now take advantage of existing con-sumer data to understand audience sentiment, online personalities and behavior. This new intelligence can be used to develop targeted adver-tising campaigns and personalized offers, as well as to boost customer service.
The 2010 IBM Global Chief Ex-ecutive Officer Study reiterated that CEOs understand that in order to stand out in a competitive market, that they must effectively and con-sistently connect with the consumer. Some are making strides and tap-ping into the new opportunities that are becoming available with this digital transformation.
By taking into account digital personalities and behaviors, media and entertainment organizations can add a layer of intelligence to customer interactions and develop innovative business models that can help respond and keep ahead of an increasingly complex market-place.
mobILe powers uk INTerNeT usAge growTh
the FinanCiaL
The United Kingdom is West-ern Europe’s leading digital nation in terms of the per-centage of its population that
accesses the internet regularly and the amount of time spent online by those internet users.
According to eMarketer, a near-ubiquitous, multilayered web infra-structure is keeping those percent-ages high, and usage is expanding to a larger swath of the UK’s demo-graphic segments and being accessed via a wider variety of devices.
“For the three-quarters of the UK population who are web users, the internet is everywhere,” said Karin von Abrams, eMarketer senior ana-lyst and author of the new report “UK Internet Usage: Top Trends in Europe’s Leading Digital Nation.” “Consumers are accustomed to man-aging several web-enabled devices at once and experiencing simultaneous exposure to TV, mobile phones and the web.”
According to eMarketer estimates, 74.2 percent of the UK’s population—nearly 47 million people—will go online at least once per month this year, pri-marily from home, but they will be us-ing an expanded range of devices while there, most notably smartphones and tablets.Mobile research company mo-bileSQUARED estimated there were more than 32 million smartphones in the UK in 2011 and expects that figure to double by 2015.
eMarketer estimates more than 17 million in people in the UK will go online via mobile in 2012, and that number will rise to more than 20 million by 2015. Tablet usage is simi-larly on the upswing.
For marketers, increased mobile internet access in the UK will neces-sitate “creating strategies that make the best use of multiple platforms, but avoid irritating consumers with too many marketing messages,” said von Abrams.
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS16 FINANCIAL23 April, 2012 | finchAnnel.com
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Tbilisi Striving to Decrease Air Pollution
the FinanCiaLby nana MGhebrishviLi
A new tramway will be open to Tbilisi residents in three years’ time. The length of the new tramline will be 14
Kilometres and it will link the 10th Building of Tbilisi State University to Ortachala crossing Vake. It will serve 100,000 passengers daily. Travel time will be 34 minutes per direction.
Trams are one of the most eco-logically clean forms of transport and should alter the high rate of air pollution in Tbilisi. A tramway uses road area eight times more economi-cal than auto transport. Meanwhile it has a special line on the road and
is therefore faster.“The cost of the new project to-
tals approximately 150,000,000 EUR,” said Akaki Jokhadze, Head of the Transport Service at Tbilisi City Hall. “We have ongoing negotiations with several organizations to get funds for this project. After finishing this we will start working on the sec-ond tramway line.”
“The tramway has several advan-tages including being ecologically clean,” he added.
Tbilisi has a responsibility to re-duce emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 percent by 2020. The tramway will play a significant role in this, ex-perts say.
Tbilisi City Hall has signed a memorandum with French company
Systra. According to the memoran-dum Systra has prepared the project of a new tramway line. This project was presented a few days ago and the building process will begin in the near future.
Experts consider the tramway to be a very positive development as it will reduce air pollution in Tbilisi significantly. The local result will be reduced emissions in the air. And at the same time it will have an influ-ence on minimizing the effects of climate change. The more that world emissions decrease, the less of a neg-ative effect global warming will have.
Making Tbilisi greener is one of the main strategies of Tbilisi Hall. More and more parks are being built in the capital. But still the share of
green areas and parks per resident in Tbilisi is very low.
“According to international stan-dards the share of green area per resident should be 25 square me-ters,” said Giorgi Korkashvili, Direc-tor of the Ecology and Greenery De-partment of Tbilisi City Hall. “This rate was 8 square meters in Tbilisi in 2009. But since then the situation has been improving significantly.”
“Tbilisi residents planted about 30,000 seeds of different trees last year under this project,” Korkash-vili said. “This is not enough, but we have long-term projects of greening the city and making it ecologically cleaner. All of this combined should make Tbilisi’s air that much less pol-luted.”
green business
Caucasus Region Facing Climate Change Problems
the FinanCiaLby tako kheLaia
The Caucasus region is facing a climate change problem according to the Regional Environmental Center of the
Caucasus (REC Caucasus). Because of the impact of climate change, a se-rious decrease of agro-biodiversity in arid and semi-arid ecosystems is ex-pected, the vulnerability of
which is confirmed by a number of studies in all three South Caucasus countries. “The Caucasus Region is exceptional for its agricultural spe-cies and a large variety of its wild rel-atives. Preservation of existing agro-biodiversity has great importance for agricultural sustainability and the welfare of the local community. This has become especially noticeable since climate change,” REC Caucasus notes.
“”With regard to climate change, the Southern Caucasus region already shows climate induced changes with increasing temperatures, sea level rise, reduction and redistribution of river flows, decreasing snowfall and an upward shift of the snowline. More extreme weather events have also characterized the last ten years with flooding, landslides, forest fires and coastal erosion with significant economic losses and human casual-ties as a result. This has also caused big losses of livelihood assets of rural communities, particularly of the poor and marginalized. It is evident that low income households are more vul-nerable to such negative impact” said Sophiko Akhobadze, Executive Direc-tor of REC Caucasus.
“Our organization is working in-tensively hard on this issue. First of all we have to implement measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to cli-mate change in the region Agriculture is a highly climate-sensitive sector A
more marginal and risky agricul-tural production environment, as in-creases in temperatures and reduced precipitation during critical crop and pasture growth periods cause a large moisture deficit and land degrada-tion” Akhobadze said.
Currently available studies and projections indicate that Georgia will be exposed to:
• Average temperature increases of 1.4 0C by the 2030s and 2.10 C by the 2040s;
• precipitation decrease of 3%BY THE 2030s and 2040s;
• Reductions in stream flow of 26 to 35% in the Alazani (Ganikh) Basin, and reductions in stream flow of 9-11% in the Khrami-Debed Basin by 2100.;
• Increased degradation of steppe ecosystems in the lowlands, upward shift of forests, expan-sion of invasive species, and increased frequency of extreme natural phenomena;
• An increased exposure to new pests and diseases for agricul-tural crops, forests and livestock due to temperature increases.
“Farmers are having to change spe-cies corresponding to the change in climate. People need to be informed and trained in order to choose the ex-act and correct species to adapt to the changed climate. We are arranging some pilot projects in the affected re-gion, we are working together with the European Union, World Bank, GIZ and many other huge organizations on this. We want to be more productive and make Georgian farmers receive information about the new species of crop they should use instead of the old ones,” Akhobadze stated.
REC Caucasus has organized the project Identification and Imple-mentation of Adaptation Response to Climate Change Impact for Conser-vation and Sustainable Use of Agro-Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Ecosystems of the South Caucasus.
According to organization officials, the objective of the project is to build adaptive capacities in South Cauca-sus countries to ensure resilience of agro-biodiversity of especially vul-nerable arid and semi-arid ecosys-tems and local livelihoods to climate change. The project is being imple-mented in all three South Caucasus Countries with the financial support of the European Union. The project is co-financed by German Interna-tional Cooperation Society (GIZ). The project started in March 2011 and will continue until 2014.
“In Georgia, Armenia and Azerbai-jan environment protection issues are on the same level. Unfortunately, environment protection isn’t a high priority issue for any of these coun-tries. Azerbaijan is an oil manufac-turer country; correspondingly they have more resources and demand for environment protection. That’s why Azerbaijan spends more money on ecology than either Georgia or Arme-nia,” Akhobadze said.
“The most common problems in the region are loss of biodiversity, land degradation, waste manage-ment and unsustainable water use, connected with quality and quan-tity management issues. Non of the country in our region have a long term policy on integrated water re-source management. In most cases there aren’t any disaster risk reduc-tion and prevention strategy and ac-tion plan,” Akhobadze said.
According to Akhobadze Georgia doesn’t really have any wide scale pol-lution problems; the country is facing local effects of pollution though.
“The Government of Georgia is interested in solving the problem and they have concrete contingency plans to prevent large scale pollu-tion. However most shores and riv-ers are polluted in Georgia. We lack of nature damage restoration services and mechanisms therefore. We also face waste management and sanitary
landfill problems in the country,” Ak-hobadze said.
“To sum up, the number one prob-lem for Georgia is connected with landfills, which still hasn’t been solved. Another problem is loss of biodiversity. Georgia is one from those 25 eco region hotspots in terms of biodiversity. Some of the most valuable forest eco systems and many other valuable species and habitats have some serious problems. The oth-er problem is the issue of land degra-dation, land erosion needs years to be solved. Another problem is connected with absent of integrated water man-agement, which causes a high risk of disasters,” Akhobadze stated.
“The problem of air pollution is connected with the fact that Georgia is a transit country. Our government has quite liberal politics towards bringing used cars to Georgia. The condition of the air isn’t very good in Georgia’s big cities like Tbilisi, Batu-mi or Kutaisi. Many large and famous companies existing on the Georgian market are trying to implement filters and eco-frendly technologies. But there are many small companies who have no opportunity and are not aim-ing to install such expensive mecha-nisms in their plants,” Akhobadze said.
“All of the companies should be equal in their stance toward environ-ment protection, no matter whether they are large or small. All companies should feel responsible for the envi-ronment,” she added.
According to Akhobadze, one of the biggest problems in Georgia is that civil society don’t have enough information about environmental problems and solutions. The country should introduce decision making mechanism allowing all the stake-holders to be engaged in this process as well as first of all evaluate the ben-efit and the damage, that we might face and handle a policy for success-fully fighting against those problems.
mobILe shoppINg TAkINg rooT IN emergINg mArkeTs
the FinanCiaL
The gap in online shopping between established and growth markets is narrowing in Asia/Pacific largely due
to increased enthusiasm for mobile shopping in South East Asia mar-kets, according to the latest Master-Card Worldwide Online Shopping Survey.
The survey, which serves as a benchmark that measures consum-ers’ propensity to shop online, was conducted across 25 markets be-tween 5 December 2011 and 6 Feb-ruary 2012. The report for the Asia/ Pacific region included interviews with 7,373 respondents from 14 markets who were asked questions about their online shopping habits. The survey and its accompanying re-ports do not represent MasterCard’s financial performance.
In terms of online shopping and purchase intent, the results show that once again, the gap is closing for online shopping in Asia/ Pa-cific markets between the “mature” and “emerging” markets. Thailand leads the pack both in terms of on-line shopping (80%) and likelihood to make an online purchase in the next six months (93%), alongside China. Korea (84%) and Malaysia (79%) also show high intent to pur-chase over the next six months, with Vietnam also showing similarly high intent to purchase (87%) despite a low percentage of people using the internet for online shopping (61%).
Overall, big increases occurred in Thailand (+13%), Australia (+10%), Indonesia (+15%), New Zealand (+9) and the Philippines (+15) in terms of online shopping, with declines re-corded in India (-14%), Singapore (-10%), and Korea (-17%); although the latter still had high intent to pur-chase (84%).
In keeping with the Southeast Asian theme of growth in this space, Vietnam, which was introduced into the study this year, boasts an index score comparable to Malaysia and Indonesia.
rIse oF MobIle shoppInG
Although a majority (71%) of re-spondents said they would rather use their laptop for shopping, the mobile phone is rising rapidly as the device of choice for Asian shop-pers in emerging markets, with re-spondents in Thailand (59%), China (37%), Vietnam (32%) and India (32%) all leading more established markets.
Among the reasons given for using the mobile for shopping, most said it was more convenient (57%) and also cited the growing availability of apps that make it easier to do (46%). Mu-sic (24%) and apps (31%) topped the list among those who have made pur-chases through their mobile phones, followed by coupon deal sites (17%), retailers for clothing and accessories (17%), and cinema (16%).
“This survey shows that the mar-kets once considered to be emerg-ing in South East Asia are now in fact challenging—and in some cases overtaking—traditional and mature online markets in the region,” said Philip Yen, Group Head, Emerging Payments, Asia Pacific Middle East Africa at MasterCard Worldwide.
“On top of this, smart phones are gradually becoming the trusted de-vice of choice for shoppers in our re-gion and MasterCard is continually innovating to ensure convenience and security for consumers when they purchase online.”
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 17FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 23 April, 2012
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aPriL 23, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…21:00 - Band “Wheels”, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 20:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4019:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performanceRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:30 - maidan jazz BandRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00 - Rezo Kiknadze - saxophonistCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “goblins” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
theatre20:00 - “Strip-Tease” premiere - (Ticket price - 7, 10 Gel)Royal District Theatre 10 Abesadze Str. Tel: 299-61-71 15:00 - “mdzletamdzle and Nine Bandits” (big stage)15:00 - “goldhair” (small stage) - (Ticket price - 5 Gel)Tbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27
Gallerygallery “Vernissage” is pleased to invite you to Tornike matitaishvili’s personal exhibition. painting - (everyday 12:00-19:00)gallery “Vernissage” 7, Brothers Zubalashvili Str. Tel: 299-88-08modern georgian painters’ group exhibition “Spring”. In group exhibition are participating modern painters: gia Khutsishvili, lela Tabliashvili, Davit gagoshidze, Eka Kakabadze, Nino Chitaishvili, giorgi gagoshidze... - (Tuesday - Thursday: 11:00-19:00; friday - Sunday: 11:00-22:00)Tumanishvili Film actors Theatre 164 Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 234-28-99 12:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
aPriL 24, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…20:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4021:00 - Band “Wheels”, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 20:00-23:00 - “Kalakuri’s Quartet” - with live performance of city songs, and also universal songs Restaurant “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 19:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performanceRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:30 - georgian folk ensemble “Urmuli”, georgian dancesRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00-24:00 - jazz BandRestaurant “Chardin 12” 12 chardin Str. Tel: 293-15-56; mob: 577 480-460 21:00 - maia KankavaCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “goblins” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
19:00 - “I love You, I love You, I love You” - (Ticket price - 5, 10, 15 Gel)liberty Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 298-58-21 20:00 - “Strip-Tease” premiere - (Ticket price - 7, 10 Gel)Royal District Theatre 10 Abesadze Str. Tel: 299-61-71 12:00, 15:00 - “goldhair” (small stage)13:00 - “mdzletamdzle and Nine Bandits” (big stage) - (Ticket price - 5 Gel)Tbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27
Gallerymodern georgian painters’ group exhibition “Spring”. In group exhibition are participating modern painters: gia Khutsishvili, lela Tabliashvili, Davit gagoshidze, Eka Kakabadze, Nino Chitaishvili, giorgi gagoshidze... - (Tuesday - Thursday: 11:00-19:00; friday - Sunday: 11:00-22:00)Tumanishvili Film actors Theatre 164 Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 234-28-99 12:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
aPriL 25, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…21:00 - Band “Wheels”, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 20:00-23:00 - “Kalakuri’s Quartet” - with live performance of city songs, and also universal songs Restaurant “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4019:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00-23:00 - georgian DancesRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 22:00-01:00 - group “Comic Condition”Tavern “Scarlet Sails” 25, leselidze Str. Tel: 293-10-28 20:30 - maidan jazz BandRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00 - live BandCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “zarebi” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
theatre19:00 - “I’m craving for the straight wind” - (Ticket price - 6, 8 Gel)Rustaveli Theatre (Experimental Stage) 17, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 272-68-68 20:00 - “Woman with Dog” - (Ticket price - 11 Gel)marjanishvili Theatre (Theatre in attic) 8 marjanishvili Str. Tel: 2 955-966 20:00 - “Women” - (Ticket price - 4 - 11 Gel)marjanishvili Theatre 8 marjanishvili Str. Tel: 2 955-966 20:00 - “jeans generation” - (Ticket price - 5, 10, 12 Gel)liberty Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 298-58-21 19:00 - “The country not known to us” - (Ticket price - 7 Gel)Tumanishvili Film actors Theatre 164 Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 234-28-99 18:00 - “marriage” - (Ticket price - 5 Gel)griboedov Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 293-11-06 12:00 - “goldhair” (small stage)12:00 - “mdzletamdzle and Nine Bandits” (big stage) - (Ticket price - 5 Gel)Tbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27
Gallery19:00 - mindia midelashvili is inviting you to the exhibition of photos printed by sun rays.TBC gallery 7, marjanishvili Str. Tel: 227-27-27 19:00 - gala gallery presents leila Shelia’s personal exhibition “White april”. Exhibition combines important paintworks of recent years - monument series of torsos, abstract works and still life. gala gallery 27 Atoneli Str. Tel: 293-14-18; mob: 599 42-54-14 12:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
aPriL 26, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…21:00 - Band “Band’a’roll”, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 22:00 - Resident Dj Takolounge Bar “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 19:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4020:00-23:00 - “Kalakuri’s Quartet” - with live performance of city songs, and also universal songs Restaurant “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 22:00 - maia Kvirkvelia & Dj DachiClub “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performanceRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli”
3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:30 - georgian folk ensemble “Urmuli”, georgian dancesRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00-24:00 - jazz BandRestaurant “Chardin 12” 12 chardin Str. Tel: 293-15-56; mob: 577 480-460 21:00 - guliko ChanturiaCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “zarebi” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
Gallerymindia midelashvili is inviting you to the exhibition of photos printed by sun rays.TBC gallery 7, marjanishvili Str. Tel: 227-27-27 11:00-19:00 - gala gallery presents leila Shelia’s personal exhibition “White april”. Exhibition combines important paintworks of recent years - monument series of torsos, abstract works and still life. gala gallery 27 Atoneli Str. Tel: 293-14-18; mob: 599 42-54-1412:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
aPriL 27, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…21:00 - agora live Band, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 22:00 - Resident Dj Takolounge Bar “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 19:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4020:00-23:00 - “Kalakuri’s Quartet” - with live performance of city songs, and also universal songs Restaurant “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 22:00 - gio Khutsishvili & Dj DachiClub “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian DancesRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 22:00-01:00 - group “Comic Condition”Tavern “Scarlet Sails” 25, leselidze Str. Tel: 293-10-28 20:30 - maidan jazz BandRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00-24:00 - jazz BandRestaurant “Chardin 12” 12 chardin Str. Tel: 293-15-56; mob: 577 480-460 21:00 - maia BaratashviliCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “zarebi” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
Gallerymindia midelashvili is inviting you to the exhibition of photos printed by sun rays.TBC gallery 7, marjanishvili Str. Tel: 227-27-27 11:00-19:00 - gala gallery presents leila Shelia’s personal exhibition “White april”. Exhibition combines important paintworks of recent years - monument series of torsos, abstract works and still life. gala gallery 27 Atoneli Str. Tel: 293-14-18; mob: 599 42-54-1412:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
aPriL 28, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…21:00 - Veriko Turashvili & live Band, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 22:00 - live Band “Kereoni”art Café “Caravan” 10 purtseladze Str. Tel: 299-66-9122:00 - Resident Dj Takolounge Bar “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4019:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, Boris Bedia, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00-23:00 - “Kalakuri’s Quartet” - with live performance of city songs, and also universal songs Restaurant “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 22:00 - merab Sephashvili & Dj DachiClub “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian DancesRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 22:00-01:00 - group “Comic Condition”Tavern “Scarlet Sails” 25, leselidze Str. Tel: 293-10-28 20:30 - maidan jazz BandRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00-24:00 - jazz BandRestaurant “Chardin 12” 12 chardin Str. Tel: 293-15-56; mob: 577 480-460 21:00 - Keti paresashviliCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “Rustavi 2” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
19:00 - “There where my home is” - (Ticket price - 7, 10 Gel)akhmeteli Theatre 8 Vekua Str. Tel: 262-54-37, 262-59-73, 262-61-97 19:00 - “Dreams of Regret” - (Ticket price - 10 Gel)Ilia University Theatre 32, i. chavchavadze Ave. Tel: 229-47-15
Gallerymindia midelashvili is inviting you to the exhibition of photos printed by sun rays.TBC gallery 7, marjanishvili Str. Tel: 227-27-27 11:00-19:00 - gala gallery presents leila Shelia’s personal exhibition “White april”. Exhibition combines important paintworks of recent years - monument series of torsos, abstract works and still life. gala gallery 27 Atoneli Str. Tel: 293-14-18; mob: 599 42-54-14 18:00 - The group exhibition “Creative path Studio”, which features the paintings and video art by the talented young georgian artists - Salome Rigvava, Tamar maglaperidze, Emzar Bazerashvili and giorgi RukhadzeTiflis Avenue @ National Bank of Georgia National Bank Of Georgia, 3/5 G. Leonidze Str. Tel: 240-64-06, 298-20-1412:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
aPriL 29, 2012
Clubs, Pubs…21:00 - agora live Band, Dj DatunaSkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 19:00 - Show-program and many surprises. Singers: giorgi Tsereteli, giorgi Tsiklauri, mzeona makharadzeRestaurant “Bermukha”Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 6920:00-23:00 - “Kalakuri’s Quartet” - with live performance of city songs, and also universal songs Restaurant “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00 - gia Suramelashvili, Ensemble “prime”Restaurant “prime”Temqa, iii micro.distr. 5th. Tel: 235 95 4022:00 - Karaoke party! host - Salome gogiashvili & Dj DachiClub “Kalakuri” 3 Shavteli Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performanceRestaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:30 - georgian folk ensemble “Urmuli”, georgian dancesRestaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 21:00-24:00 - jazz BandRestaurant “Chardin 12” 12 chardin Str. Tel: 293-15-56; mob: 577 480-460 21:00 - live BandCafé “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00-24:00 - Band “Rustavi 2” (Covers)pub “Dublin” 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67
Gallery11:00-19:00 - gala gallery presents leila Shelia’s personal exhibition “White april”. Exhibition combines important paintworks of recent years - monument series of torsos, abstract works and still life. gala gallery 27 Atoneli Str. Tel: 293-14-18; mob: 599 42-54-14 The group exhibition “Creative path Studio”, which features the paintings and video art by the talented young georgian artists - Salome Rigvava, Tamar maglaperidze, Emzar Bazerashvili and giorgi RukhadzeTiflis Avenue @ National Bank of Georgia National Bank Of Georgia, 3/5 G. Leonidze Str. Tel: 240-64-06, 298-20-1412:00-22:00 - mixed Exhibition of georgian artists - (paintings, graphics, porcelain, enamel, woodcraft...)gallery “Cameo”11, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 272-48-72; mob: 593 31-92-6612:00-19:00 - Cloisonne art ExhibitionEnamel gallery “ornament”7 erekle ii Str. Tel: 298-90-1310:00-18:00 - modern Fine and applied art Exhibition“manana art Saloon”12, Baratashvili Str. Tel: 293-25-90
for more information, please,visit the following website:www.info-tbilisi.com
