On August 1, Tbilisi City Court acquitted former Defense and then Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaia on charges that involved exceeding official powers, illegal confinement and torture in three separate cases. However, Akhalaia remains in custody, awaiting trial on separate, unrelated cases. The court’s verdict follows... MORE

Data just released by Georgia’s state agency for statistics (GeoStat) show a pronounced economic downturn. The robust growth that Georgia was experiencing until the October 2012 elections has petered out following the regime change. In June 2013, the economy contracted for the first time since... MORE

Interviewed by the Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas (July 20) and the Brussels-based EUobserver (July 29), Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has announced that he intends to resign from the government before the end of 2013, and instead become a civil society leader. In that case,... MORE

The Georgian Minister of Healthcare David Sergienko informed journalists about his final decision to establish full control over the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory named after United States Senator Richard Lugar. The laboratory, until recently, retained its independence and was considered to be a joint... MORE

The militaries of Turkey and Azerbaijan carried out joint exercises between July 12 and 28, in the latter country’s capital of Baku and its autonomous exclave of Nakhchivan (Hurriyet Daily News, July 15). In the midst of the exercises (July 16–17), Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet... MORE

On July 21, the United National Movement (UNM) held one more round of primaries, this time in the city of Batumi, to elect the party’s presidential candidate who will run in the upcoming October elections (www.gnh.ge, July 21). Although, Georgia’s new constitution transfers most executive... MORE

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili achieved an impregnable political standing and carried Georgian Dream on his coattails in the October 2012 parliamentary elections. He led many voters to believe that his multi-billion dollar wealth could translate into handouts on a comparable scale for the populace. But... MORE

Georgia’s presidential election campaign is moving toward a seemingly predetermined outcome. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s personal choice, Giorgi Margvelashvili, looks set to win the October 27 vote and replace the United National Movement’s (UNM) Mikheil Saakashvili as president. The governing Georgian Dream, the UNM parliamentary... MORE

Former speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burjanadze announced her decision to participate in the presidential elections that are scheduled for October and expressed her confidence in winning the race (https://en.trend.az/regions/scaucasus/georgia/2166923.html). Burjanadze is, indeed, widely considered to be the most dangerous rival to the ruling... MORE

Gas marketing options of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project consortium may look either flexible or vague at this point. Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) seems the only reassuring exception in this regard among the Shah Deniz gas producers. SOCAR had indicated all along that gas... MORE