🇬🇪🚆🇦🇿 Investments in the expansion project of the Georgian part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will exceed $100 million.

"The need to expand the Georgian part of the BTK is due to the growing volumes of cargo transportation through Azerbaijan," President Ilham Aliyev said. The project is expected to be completed in 2023.
ℹ️ The Azerbaijani leader flew to Tbilisi in autumn and held many hours of talks with Prime Minister Garibavshili. As a result, serious economic statements have been made lately. In particular, in addition to the expansion of the railway, it was reported about the development of a project for the construction of a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its subsequent export to the EU countries.

🙈 One of the most recognizable landmarks of Tbilisi, the concert hall "Pitchers of Rike", will again be looking for owners.

Businessman David Khidasheli, who bought them in March of this year for 10 million lari ($3.5 million), said that he intended to sell all his family's property in Georgia:
"Because the legislation is weak and vulnerable, the winner of an open tender cannot protect himself from unreasonable attacks and fraud."
❗️According to the businessman, until December 31, everyone will be able to purchase 50% of his family's property at a 20% discount.
ℹ️ According to the terms of the auction, the future owner of the object was obliged to equip museums of wine, digital art and technology, as well as exhibition and conference spaces within 36 months. The construction of the complex began in 2011 at the initiative of former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. $25 million was allocated for the project. Inside there is a 566-seat concert hall and spaces for temporary exhibitions, but none of the rooms have ever been used until now.

🎄 New Year's fairs and festivals in Tbilisi.

December is upon us, which means Christmas, New Year and other holidays are coming soon! You don't have a festive winter mood? We tell you where in the first half of December, you will find both it and a variety of gifts and holiday attributes. Mark it in your diaries.

🎅 IWAG Winter Fair
The annual charity Winter Fair will be held at the prestigious Sheraton Hotel. At the fair, you will be able to meet a large selection of goods from all over the world, presented by embassies of different countries.
In addition, this will be accompanied by a large food court with cuisines of the world and a choir singing Christmas songs.
🗓 December 3, from 10:00 to 18:00

⛄️ New Year's Fair in Dedaena Park
A pre-New Year fair will be held in Dedaena Park, in which more than 100 entrepreneurs from all over the country will take part.
At the fair, you can have fun and buy local products as a gift or for the New Year's table.
🗓 December 4 from 13:00 to 19:00

🤶 New Year Chocolate Festival
At the festival in the Tbilisi Botanical Garden, you will meet New Year characters, DIY gift workshops and much more!
In addition, the festival will host a fair, which will present a variety of chocolate products, hot chocolate and drinks.
🗓 3 and 4 December from 13:00 to 20:00

🎁 New Year's Book Festival at Expo Georgia
The festival combines the New Year's Book Festival and the Children's Book Festival.
New Year's Book Festival includes a book fair and New Year's gifts, as well as children's events on the main stage of the festival!
🗓 December 16-18

🔽 Do you know about other similar events or festivals? Write in the comments.
❗️We will make a separate selection about Batumi.

📈🇬🇪💰Tourism revenue in 2022 is 183% more than the previous pandemic 2021 and exceeded the pre-Covid 2019.

By the end of this year, Georgia's tourism income will exceed $3 billion. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic. These figures were announced by the Deputy Minister of Economy of Georgia (and the former head of the national tourism agency) Mariam Kvrivishvili at a meeting of the executive committee of the UN World Tourism Organization. She noted that Georgia has managed to fully restore the profit margins in the tourism sector that existed before the pandemic. “This indicator directly affects the creation of new jobs and the improvement of the well-being of local residents,” stated Kvrivishvili.
ℹ️ Between January and October 2022, more than 4.3 million tourist trips were made to Georgia. Most often, foreign citizens come to Georgia from Russia, Turkey and Armenia, and the flow of tourists from the countries of the Persian Gulf has also noticeably increased.

💃🕺In the summer of 2023, Georgia will host world-class artists and musicians.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke about this at a government meeting. According to him, the performances will take place at Adjarian Black Sea Arena, Tbilisi and Batumi stadiums. The Prime Minister has not yet announced the names of those with whom negotiations are underway, but announced that 70 million lari ($25.6 million) have been allocated for this.

🇹🇷🛍➡️🇬🇪 Interest in Turkish online stores has grown in Georgia: they are closer than the US and China, the assortment is quite large, and the prices are competitive and often even lower.

According to the data of the Georgian Revenue Service, for 10 months of 2022, the number of parcels worth up to 300 GEL (this is the duty-free threshold for parcels, above 300 GEL you need to pay an 18% tax) issued from Turkey increased by almost 5 times than in the whole of 2021. Their total cost, at the same time, increased by 3.6 times. In terms of the number of duty-free orders in 2022, Turkey ranked first and significantly outperformed China and the United States in this category. According to Camex Business Development Director Gigi Seturidze, the Turkish route was offered to customers only in the spring of 2022, but in the first four months there was such an increase in volumes that, in the case of China, took two years.
🗣 Users interviewed by journalists compare a number of products:
📍 "baby wash gel, moisturizer, diaper cream and other hygiene products cost 180 GEL, while on Trendyol they are sold exactly two times cheaper, from 90 GEL"
📍 "one pack of tampons in Tbilisi costs 13.90 GEL, but three packs can be ordered from Turkey at the same price"
📍 “Large knitted jumpers on Turkish sites can be bought for 20-30 GEL. Whereas their average price in Georgian stores is 80 GEL”
📍 “In Turkey, 1 kilogram of pistachios cost 180 lira, so with delivery it turned out to be about 40 lari. And if you compare to the Carrefour network - one kilogram costs about 90 GEL”

ℹ️ For those who interested, I can recommend: Inex, Camex, Turketidan, Trendyol.

1️⃣5️⃣ - 🏦 The National Bank of Georgia has issued the 15th commercial bank license and the first digital bank license to Paysera Georgia.

According to the NBG, the first 4 months JSC CB "Paysera Georgia" will work in a test mode. The regulator emphasized that the new player will not have branches and service centers in Georgia and will work on the basis of a digital service model. Subsequently, two customer service centers will appear in Tbilisi, but most services will be provided remotely. The bank will support SEPA and SEPA Instant payments, which means that most transfers from Georgia to Europe will reach recipients in seconds. The bank will begin working in early 2023. Former Minister of Economy of Georgia Dmitry Kumsishvili became the General Director of JSC CB "Paysera Georgia".
ℹ️ The history of Paysera began in 2004 in Lithuania as a platform for collecting online payments. Over time, the portfolio of services has grown, and Paysera has grown into an international network of fintech companies, uniting companies in nine countries.

🇬🇧🇬🇪 British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on Russia to withdraw recognition of the independence of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as to ensure unhindered access to humanitarian aid there.

That's how he responded to a congratulatory letter from Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. Sunak emphasized that “the United Kingdom stands by Georgia in the face of ongoing Russian aggression. We firmly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within internationally recognized borders”.

🏳️‍🌈 An event that was hard to imagine happened in Georgia: one of the symbols of the country, the communication tower on Mtatsminda, lit up in rainbow colors.

The mayor's office of the capital explained this by participation in the project "Covenant of Mayors - Eastern Partnership", which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. This project implements the programs of ecology, energy efficiency and observance of human rights.

⛔️ Car traffic and public transport routes will be prohibited on Rustaveli Avenue in the center of Tbilisi from Tuesday evening 29.11 to 05.12.
During this period, renovation work will be carried out there.

🔌🚫💡The largest hydroelectric power plant in the Caucasus, Inguri, may soon generate only a minimal amount of electricity.

This was stated by the general director of the HPP Levan Mebonia. According to him, as soon as the water level in the reservoir drops below 413 m (which is very likely), “water will no longer enter the tunnel and production will be reduced by five times.” This means that "Abkhazia will be forced to introduce a strict schedule for the supply of electricity if it cannot agree with Moscow on the supply of electricity from Russia." Both the drought and the growing consumption of electricity in Abkhazia influences the lowering of the water level.
The HPP is of systemic importance for the Georgian energy sector and vital for the population of Abkhazia. “Of the volume of electricity currently being generated, 80% of the electricity is taken by the Abkhazian side, and the remaining 20% ​​by Georgia,” the plant's general director emphasized.
📵 Cryptominers are also one of the problems: over the past five years, they have generated about $ 1 billion from electricity taken from Georgia. At the same time, they did not pay anything for electricity in Abkhazia.