Green Business 2013

C M Y K

Apr. 27 Apr. 20

1 USD 1.6497 1.65671 EUR 2.1448 2.1676100 RUB 5.2842 5.26601 TRY 0.9157 0.9217

CURRENCIES

© 2012 The FINANCIAL. INTeLLIgeNCe busINess pubLICATIoN written expressly for opinion leaders and top business decision-makers

Continued on p. 10

frank klobucar

oN CAuCAsIAN pLumbers

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.

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ds

http://www.finchannel.comNews 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

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

29 April, 2013

Golden SponSor: Silver SponSor:

HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS2 FINANCIAL29 April, 2013 | finchAnnel.com

C M Y K

green business

29 april, 2013

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Prices in GEL

Regular 2.25Euro Regular 2.05Premium 2.15Super 2.20Diesel 2.05Euro Diesel 2.19

Prices in GEL

API Super 2.22API Premium 2.17API Diesel 2.18Euro Regular 2.05Regular Energy 2.02Diesel Energy 2.07

Prices in GEL

Eurosuper 2.20Premium Avangard 2.15EuroPremium 0.00Euroregular 2.00Eurodeasel 2.15

Prices in GEL

Super Unleaded 98 2.20Premium Unleaded 96 2.15Euro Regular 2.05Regular Unleaded 93 2.00Euro Diesel 5 10 PPM 2.17Diesel L-62 2.05

Prices in GEL

Euro Super 2.25Efix Euro Premium 2.16Euro Regular 93 2.09Efix Euro Diesel 2.22Euro Diesel 2.12

current prices on gasoline and diesel 29 April, 2013, GeorGiA

Gasoline prices presented by BusinessTravelComHotel and airticket bookinG: 2 999 662 | sky.Ge

KhachapuriIndex

KhachapurI Index Is exclusIvely provIded to The FINANCIAL by IseT

aprIl 2013

by GiorGi MaChavariani and FLorian bierMann

khAChApurI INdeX

Easter is coming on Sunday, the lent will be over, and the fami-lies will be celebrating together by breaking

the red-painted eggs and enjoy-ing traditional Georgian dishes – of course including khachapuri. Therefore it is time to go to the ba-zaar and start buying all necessary ingredients. Which prices will await us there?

Bad news for those living in Telavi: the average price for a standard khachapuri at the end of April stands at 3.31 GEL, which is 4.0% higher than in March. The increase is due to the rise of the butter prices (1.1%), yeast prices (4.4%) and, most of all, cheese prices (9.6%).

The geography of cheese prices in Georgia is a mystery. Our vari-ous economics professors, hold-ing doctoral degrees from the leading universities in the world, are puzzled! While cheese prices were soaring in Telavi, they fell significantly in three other cities from our survey: Tbilisi (-16.4%), Kutaisi (-15.2%) and Batumi (-14.3%). And from the point of view of a khachapuri producer, this is by no means an irrelevant side aspect. These cheese prices were main factor of driving the av-erage prices for khachapuri down-ward in these cities! Making one standard khachapuri in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi will cost you only 2.96 GEL (-9.2% compared to previous month), 2.83 GEL (-8.5%), and 2.79 GEL (-7.7%), re-spectively, but 3.31 GEL in Telavi!

But what about eggs? Since eggs are one of the most impor-tant ingredients during the Easter holidays, we are glad that average prices for eggs have slightly de-creased compared to March 2013 in all four cities: Tbilisi (-0.2%), Kutaisi (-2.7%), Batumi (-1.5%) and Telavi (-0.7%). We expect khachapuris all over Georgia to become cheaper, except for Telavi (see the Chart), where in future they will arguably contain more

eggs and less cheese. Will this trig-ger a new tradition of khachapuri production? Will there from now on not only be Imeretian Khacha-puri and Migrelian Khachapuri, but also “Telavi Egg Khachapuri”? Bon appetite and a great Easter feast to everybody!

eCoNomIC LessoN oF The week:

FIsCAL TrANspAreNCy

Would you like to buy in a su-permarket where the supermarket owner decides what you will get for your money after you made the payment? Such a supermarket would arguably not attract many customers. Yet although this is an odd allegory, a good deal of our consumption we all make in exactly this way – and we are even forced to buy! We pay taxes to the govern-ment, and afterwards politicians decide what we get for this money.

Sellers serving private custom-ers have to deliver value for mon-ey. You won’t buy a second time in a grocery store if the food was spoiled or the package you bought turned out to be empty. Public services, however, you cannot to retrieve from another govern-ment, at least as long as you do not emigrate to another country. Okay, we do not have the freedom of choice -- but shouldn’t we nev-ertheless demand value for tax money from the government in the same way as we demand good services from private suppliers?

For evaluating whether or not the government has spent its mon-ey reasonably, political decisions – and in particular budgeting de-cisions – must be made transpar-ently. How transparent is the gov-ernment budgeting of Georgia?

The International Budget Partnership (IBP) is a non-gov-ernment-organization funded by several major US donors, like the Open Society Institute and the Ford Foundation. They IBP col-lects information on budget trans-parency in 100 countries and sum-marize their findings in a country ranking. In 2012, the top five countries in this ranking, scoring

81 or more points on a scale from 0 to 100, were New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Swe-den, Norway, and France. Then there are 17 countries with a score between 80 and 61. In this group are, among others, the United States, Russia, India, and Spain. Georgia is closely below this group with a score of 55 points. With this performance, Georgia ranks 33 among the 100 countries and it does better than Ukraine (53 points) and much better than Argentina and Turkey (both 50 points). The bottom 52 countries score on average just 24 points, showing that Georgia is pretty transparent in its budgeting.

The AdvANTAges oF TrANspAreNCy Citizens have some degree of

discretion when it comes to paying taxes. In many cases, taxes can be avoided without substantial risk of detection. For example, it is es-sentially up to taxi drivers in Tbilisi whether or not they report their income correctly, as nobody but themselves records their earnings. Likewise, it is difficult for the gov-ernment to keep track of the reve-nues of small vegetable sellers that can be found everywhere in Tbilisi. Of course, there are more sophisti-cated ways to avoid tax payments than just not handing out receipts, and the bigger the taxable income is, the higher are the incentives to become creative about this.

However, as it turned out, peo-ple do not cheat on the govern-ment as much as they can. Indeed, the level of tax avoidance is far be-low what we would expect under the paradigm of homo oeconomic-us. In 2010, it was shown by the UK economist Sanjit Dhami (who was frequently teaching at ISET in Tbilisi) and his coauthor Ali Al-Nowaihi that a model of bounded rationality can explain the ob-served levels of tax evasion much better than classical economics. A similar argument is made by the Swiss economists Bruno S. Frey and Benno Torgler in a 2003 pa-per. They provide empirical evi-dence for their hypothesis that tax morale is very much a function of the tax payers’ perceptions of the

legitimacy of the government and its budgeting decisions. In other words, a citizen of New Zealand, who can see clearly how his tax money is used, is voluntarily pay-ing more taxes than somebody in a country where the budgeting process is rather a “black box”. If this is true, then increasing bud-get transparency can actually raise the government’s tax revenues.

Another important advantage of transparency is that it makes corruption more difficult. The level of detail on which the bud-get is reported plays a significant role. A corrupt politician who in-tends to divert public funds into his own pocket has to hide these funds by ballooning budgetary items, and the more fine-grained the composition of the budget is, the more difficult it is to balloon anything without attracting atten-tion. Similarly, the supervision of the budget by citizens and the me-dia increases the truthfulness of the reported numbers -- decision makers want to avoid the sus-picion that something might be fishy, and they will therefore try to avoid grey areas and expenditures for unclear purposes.

Then there are also purely eco-nomic advantages resulting from budget transparency. For example, it may mitigate the negative effects of an economic crisis by reducing the uncertainty of the public about government responses. If it be-comes clear that the government will increase its expenditures in order to counter the economic slowdown (the so-called “deficit spending” of Keynes), consumer confidence and business confi-dence may be reestablished faster than if people are ignorant about the government’s willingness and potential to act.

More generally, budget trans-parency allows the citizens of a country to monitor and assess government decisions, creating incentives for the government to make use of its resources responsi-bly. Therefore fiscal transparency can promote the general quality of expenditures and it can make the resource allocation more effi-cient, leading to more growth and economic development.

Part of the development of Georgia into a mature civil society is that citizens take responsibility not only for their families, friends, and colleagues, but also for the society as a whole. No Georgian should be indifferent about how tax money is spent, as Georgian tax money belongs to the Georgian people. If money is spent ineffi-ciently, this should be a concern to everybody. If, even worse, public money is diverted to private pock-ets, the whole population should feel victimized. This requires identification with the society as a whole, as otherwise an individual citizen may not simply not feel that he/she fell victim to theft, as the damage is shared by so many.

For increasing the level of bud-get transparency and utilizing on its various advantages, the start-ing point is the attitude of every single citizen of this country.

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Khachapuri Prices, May-2011 - Apr-2013Tbilisi Batumi Kutaisi Telavi

HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 3FINANCIALfinchAnnel.com | 29 April, 2013

C M Y K

green business

the FinanCiaLby Madona Gasanova

Gathering manure from local villages and devel-oping compost from it, to be used as valuable fertiliser in agriculture,

the landfill business and Clean De-velopment Mechanism (CDM) - are a short list of profitable businesses which so far remain underdeveloped in Georgia, a country with a high rate of unemployment.

“We should try to increase the business community’s interest in environmental issues, in line with achieving the country’s develop-ment,” Khatuna Gogaladze, Minister of Environment Protection of Geor-gia, told The FINANCIAL.

The effects of environmental degradation on the economy are massive. Because its air and water is polluted, China is losing between 8 and 15 percent of its gross domestic product. And that doesn’t include related health costs. Gogaladze said that responsibility for environ-mentally friendly behaviour is not adequately acknowledged by the private sector, although she remains optimistic that companies will soon realise its effects and benefits.

In her interview with The FINAN-CIAL, the Minister underlined the alarming impact global warming is having on our environment and the measures needed for adapting to this.

Q. Georgia is characterized by a large number of eco-mi-grants. Which regions are the most affected by this and how are you combating it?

A. Georgia belongs to one of the most difficult regions in terms of spreading natural geological and hydro-meteorological processes and the damage caused by them. Ex-treme appearance of the processes is then followed by the displacement of local populations. The regions of Adjara, Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti are the most affected in this regard. Over 60,000 families have relocated from the above-mentioned regions during the past 50 years. Govern-ment structures are responsible for checking the houses in certain zones and making the decision if necessary to relocate the inhabitants to more sustainable territories.

The National Environmental Agency of the Ministry of Environ-ment carries out an annual monitor-ing survey, which is compiled on the

basis of a newsletter. It is then sent to relevant government agencies. In addition, in a force majeure situa-tion, problems are quickly assessed and appropriate recommendations for preventive measures are issued.

Q. What is the budget of the Ministry of Environment Pro-tection of Georgia for 2013?

A. The amount that has been allocated for our Ministry from the government budget is GEL 21,240. Non-budget income is approximate-ly GEL 15 million. Moreover, several millions are allocated within various grants. We are currently cooperat-ing with international and donor organizations to attract additional funding.

Q. What are your main pri-orities regarding environment protection?

A. We have problems in various directions. Environment protection became a minor industry during the previous administration. Accord-ingly underlying concrete priorities is difficult. Implementing a forest management system via long-term licenses is far from the standards established in Europe. Our main objective is to introduce a European model, considering the existing realities and national interests.

There is an urgent need to improve the legislation base. This process has already begun. In the past few months we have presented a legislative package with about 50 legal acts. Still a number of changes needed. Creating an effective envi-ronmental surveillance system is also very important.

The institutional strengthening of the Ministry is among the most important tasks to be carried out. In this respect we are reorganizing the Ministry in order to extend our func-tions. The Ministry will start func-tioning with updated and enhanced functions in the nearest future.

Q. How do you plan to con-trol ecological problems?

A. A unified system of state control service will start operating from 15 May, 2013. The Environ-mental Supervision Department, with 330 staff members, will include representatives of seven territorial authorities and the Black Sea Con-vention protection service.

The territorial offices of the Envi-ronmental Supervision Service will mostly work in three directions: a) Inspecting enterprises on their ful-filling obligations regarding effects on the environment; b) Checking the terms and conditions of licenses to use natural resources; and c) Preventing the illegal use of natural

resources.Our main goal is to prevent as

much as possible avoid negative im-pacts on the environment, through preventive measures.

Q. Many new and existing city parks and squares have been opened and renovated in Georgia recently, however, there is still a lack of green spaces in Tbilisi. What is the number of trees that you plan to plant this year?

A. Green cover needs constant upkeep and care. It is impossible to define a specific number of trees or other plants after which new vegeta-tion will not need to be planted.

In order to teach the next genera-tion about the importance of plant-ing trees, the Ministry of Environ-ment initiated the campaign “Plant Your Future”. As a result of this campaign 22,000 trees have been planted throughout the country. The project involved governmental and non-governmental organizations, schools and universities, private companies and citizens. It is very important that every citizen should realise his/her role in their respec-tive town, village, school, or own yard’s planting processes. Our citi-zens should appreciate and protect the environment the same as they would their own property.

Q. Why is Georgian business not more actively involved in environmental protection?

A. Environmental protection is a part of corporate social responsibil-ity. Social responsibility is an area of ethical rather than legislative or other regulations.

We are all well aware that increas-ing profit is the main interest of the private sector. Accordingly, busi-nesses should be made to see the benefits from voluntary engagement in environmental activities. Such benefits do indeed exist for both direct (e.g. use of energy efficient equipment) and indirect (e.g. growth of prestige, competitiveness of their products) forms. This requires the enhancement of businesses’ aware-ness of the fact that the so-called ‘green approach’ can be profitable for them in the long run.

There are many possibilities for the incidence of environmentally-beneficial activities in the private sector, for example, setting up a manure-processing facility in rural areas. By gathering manure from nearby villages one can extract methane and make compost from it. This is valuable fertiliser for agriculture due to the large amount of nitrogen it contains. On the other

hand, methane can be used as fuel for the operation of an enterprise, or for sale. In Japan, there are manure-processing plants, where the capturing - supplying processes are working perfectly from small-holders to factories.

Landfills are another example of profitable business. They allow for the extraction of methane from municipal waste (the methane can be used as fuel), at the same time, paper, glass and even plastic bags can be recycled from the waste. The waste business is a very profitable business in developed countries.

There are many similar examples, so we should try to increase the business community’s interest in environmental issues at the same time as achieving the country’s development.

Q. Climate change is becom-ing an alarming problem globally. What risks is Georgia facing in this regard?

A. Due to Georgia’s widely varied nature and landscapes, the effect of climate change is evident in many ways. Floods and droughts have become more common and intense in recent decades.

Land degradation has increased in semiarid (semi-dry) areas due to rises in temperature. The threat of desertification has emerged. Significant changes are expected in the distribution of water resources as a result of melting glaciers. The temperature increase may cause problems for agriculture. Climate change affects human health as well. High temperatures lasting for long periods of time, so called ‘heat waves’ are especially dangerous to people with cardiovascular diseases.

The most vulnerable areas of Georgia include the Black Sea coastal zone. A rise in sea-level is increasing flooding which is in turn endangering infrastructure. We are already witnessing the erosion of riverbanks. Avalanches, landslides and mudflows will become worse in mountainous areas as a result of pouring rain.

Q. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s words on the environmental and financial crises were based on the same thing. To what extent do you agree with her?

A. The unscrupulous use of cash resources and ignoring demands for financial transparency have been named the main causes of the financial crisis. Not uncommonly, similar problems can be found in companies’ activities in regard to ignoring environmental standards. In order to obtain more profit from investment environmental risk is often not completely evaluated or is not taken into consideration at all. The environmental damage caused by a company might be a serious blow to the company itself, as well as the country’s economy.

The link between environmental and financial risks and the con-nections between them have been evaluated in the U.S. most objec-tively. As a result the U.S. has been the least affected during all the financial problems. The Government not only tightened control of busi-ness. In 2009 the National Associa-tion of Insurance Commissioners obliged companies to account for risks of climate change. Additional liabilities have been amalgamated in to insurance packages. Today, the U.S. is considered a leader in the development and implementation of this strategy.

I think that a healthy ecosystem, wise use of natural resources and sustainable development are some of the most necessary conditions for long-term economic prosperity.

Q. What are your main goals that you plan to accomplish while holding the position of Minister?

A. Developing a strong environ-mental sector and ensuring human’s constitutional rights to live in a healthy environment.

Ministry of Environment to Start Inspecting Enterprises from May 2013

khatuna gogaladze, minister of environment protection of georgia

the FinanCiaLby MariaM PaPidze

A total amount of GEL 16 million will be spent on renovating parks and squares, planting trees and

greening Tbilisi this year by the Ecology and Greenery Depart-ment of Tbilisi City Hall. This year’s budget is slightly increased compared to last year’s when GEL 12 million was spent on projects implemented for the purpose of greening Tbilisi.

The renovation and creation of more than 150 square metres of green space, forest cultivation in the area surrounding the capital city and online mapping of Tbilisi are the activities the budget’s mon-ey was spent on in 2012, according to the Ecology and Greenery De-partment of Tbilisi City Hall.

“In addition, we cooperated with WWF (World Wildlife Fund), signed a three year contract and took on the responsibility of restor-ing 100 hectares of forest with the sponsorship of WWF,” Giorgi Kor-kashvili, Director of the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbili-si City Hall, told The FINANCIAL. “We completed the rehabilitation of Mziuri in 2012. It was the most expensive project as the park cov-ers a very large area, 40 hectares in total. The rehabilitation of Mzi-uri Park took GEL 3 million from the budget. The remaining work in Mziuri Park is the responsibility of a private investor, which will soon complete the works. According to the project proposal there will be a swimming pool and fitness centre in Mziuri Park. Another signifi-cant project was the renovation of the Botanical Gardens. There were elementary problems to be solved like building benches and provid-ing the park with public conve-niences. Cafés will be opened to give visitors the opportunity to enjoy spending more time in the area,” Korkashvili added.

“The rehabilitation of Vake Park

GEL 16 Million Allocated for Greening Tbilisi in 2013

Continued on p. 11


C M Y K

green business

the FinanCiaLby tako kheLaia

With the largest chain of petrol and CNG sta-tions and with avia-tion fuel deliveries, Wissol Group is one of

the leading players in the country’s en-ergy sector and other industries too. In 2009 the Ministry of Environment Pro-tection and Natural Resources granted Wissol status of a ‘Green Company’.

“Being an oil company makes us care about the environment all the more, as our responsibility is higher than that of other types of companies. Caring for the environment means knowing the importance of having an ecologically clean environment in the country. Staying environmentally-friendly is vitally important for all of us, our children’s futures as well as for the successful development of the country,” Pkhakadze said.

A polluted environment causes dif-ferent problems in terms of people’s health. It is our duty to protect health in the country. In sight of this we have plenty of events and activities that we hold on a regular basis. We have planted a large amount of trees in Tbilisi, Ba-tumi and other regions. It has become a kind of tradition for us already and one which we organise with great enjoy-ment. We will continue doing this in the future as well. Our employees are active-ly involved in planting the trees, which is very important,” Pkhakadze said.

Wissol is an exclusive importer of the latest European standard, Euro 5 Italian fuel from API. With ultra low sulphur content, API fuel practically eliminates emissions of sulphur com-pounds into the air. API fuel is there-fore an ecologically clean product.

“Euro 5 is of European quality and is therefore a standard which we imple-ment in Georgia. According to the law of the country, we are not prohibited from importing Euro 3 fuel, but we want our customers to receive ecologi-cally clean and high quality products. In addition our clients appreciate Eu-ropean standard fuel,” Pkhakadze said.

“Wissol Group has always been ex-ceptional in terms of the high sense of social responsibility it demonstrates. We have always been a dynamically ac-tive company in this direction and will remain so in the future. We have spe-cial rules at our company, which is, in

my view, a kind of self-discipline. We import ecologically clean products. We have many projects which support the fight against environmental pollution,” Pkhakadze said.

“In terms of the very infrastructure of our gas stations, they are techno-logically constructed to harm the en-vironment and the ecosystem as little as possible. We install special filtration systems which cause a reduction in emissions. These filters are replaced periodically. They give us the oppor-tunity to keep our gas stations ecologi-cally clean, and despite the fact that they are places that sell oil products, they are actually protecting the envi-ronment,” Pkhakadze said.

From 2007 Wissol has been offer-ing the environmentally-friendly Com-pressed Natural Gas (CNG) at its inte-grated service stations Georgia-wide.

“Natural gas is the cheapest fuel and is ecologically clean. Natural gas is lighter than oil products and its emis-sions do not enter the soil or ecosys-tem. It dissipates in the air and is eco-friendly. Demand for it at gas stations

has increased significantly in recent times and we are planning to develop our CNG station network further still. We are therefore protecting nature and at the same time supporting those families who do not have the means to purchase oil,” Pkhakadze said.

“The storage tanks at Wissol ser-vice stations are equipped with filters against oil evaporation and spills. Oil products are transported by a special fleet equipped with separate pipes for each six products available at Wis-sol and filters against oil evaporation. Also, the pump attendants at Wissol service stations are dressed in non-flammable clothing.”

“We have environmentally-friendly lighting systems at our stations. We are now starting a special project in the Smart supermarket chains as well as in Wissol where we will use LED lighting. We are already starting to import LED-type technologies from abroad to two of our stores.”

At all Smart supermarkets custom-ers can find a bio corner and enjoy healthy products by the German brand

Bio Greno.“We have a very modern fitness cen-

tre in Kutaisi where we have a special solar energy system installed. We also try to save water and have a recircu-lation system. We are in contact with several large companies who work on energy saving systems and in regard to reducing our use of electricity we re-ceive a sizeable grant from EBRD. We received EUR 90,000 from EBRD for this. As a result we are implementing several projects in the direction of en-ergy efficiency.”

According to Pkhakadze the com-pany tries to keep as many documents as possible in electronic form which re-duces paper consumption as well.

Wissol traditionally celebrates 5 June, World Environment Day, en-couraging the healthy lifestyle concept. Sports events are organized in coop-eration with the United Nations De-velopment Programme (UNDP) repre-sentation in Georgia and the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natu-ral Resources.

“It is vitally important for all com-

panies to care for the environment. We are a big company which carries out lots of projects and searches for invest-ments. We are financed by such huge companies as EBRD and many leading financial institutions or commercial banks. We are partners of such famous companies as Total, Shevron, API and Wendy’s. When you are working with such companies you are responsible for abiding by the law and standards stat-ed by them. Their contracts directly re-quire us to care about the environment and being environmentally-friendly, so we have to do it,” Pkhakadze said.

“Our company ethos is intertwined with social responsibilities. It’s the practice and culture of the company. All of our employees know that Wissol is a company which cares about its employ-ees. CSR is not just charity. It is how you treat your staff, what kind of working conditions they have, how safe they are. We pay a great deal of attention to our relations with society. This is our cul-ture. Everyone at our company knows that we should be a successful company in many directions and they share that philosophy with us,” Pkhakadze said.

`With the successful business activi-ties of Wissol Group, we want to con-tribute to the economic development of Georgia and social wellbeing of its population. Strong business in turn means employed people, technologi-cal and infrastructural development, highly professional human capital and sustainable development of the local economy. Besides, Wissol feels a re-sponsibility for environmental protec-tion and accordingly undertakes social investments, does charity and imple-ments community projects for the well-being of society at large.”

Since 2007 Wissol Group has been represented in the market by its daughter brands: Wissol Petroleum Georgia, Wissol Gas, Air Wissol, Wis-sol Gas Distribution Company, Car and tyre service chain Vianor Georgia, Construction Company Delta Holding, Real Estate Company Vellagio, Super-market Chain Smart, Fast food restau-rant chain Wendy’s Georgia, Football Club Torpedo Kutaisi, Fitness Centre Laguna Kutaisi, and Hotel Lomsia.

Wissol is the only Georgian brand to be listed in the Top Ten European brands at the European Business Awards in Paris; Wissol was awarded an ISO Quality Management Certifi-cate in 2006. Nowadays the company holds an ISO 9001:2008 certificate.

Wissol Developing Green Management

CompANy To mArkeT TeXACo

brANd LubrICANT produCTs IN

georgIA

Chevron Belgium nv/SA has reached an agreement with Georgia-based Wis-sol Group to market its Texaco-brand lubricant

products to consumers in Georgia. The Chevron®, Texaco® and Cal-tex® brands are recognized world-wide for their quality, performance and technology and are used daily in passenger vehicles, trucks, buses and industrial machinery.

“We are thrilled to announce this new agreement with Wissol Group,” said Chris Dyer, UK & Ire-land/Export Sales Manager at Chev-ron Products UK Limited. “ Wissol Group’s network of service stations

and other sales channels will mean Texaco branded products will have a trusted and wide route to market, ensuring our customers are well served in the region.”

The Wissol Group owns one of the largest chains of petrol and compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in the country, and will distribute Havoline passenger car engine oils and Techron fuel treat-ments to the consumer market, along with Ursa heavy duty com-mercial and off-road engine lubri-cants, and a full range of Texaco industrial products.

“Reaching an agreement with the world’s leading energy company Chevron is one more very impor-tant achievement for Wissol Group”, - said Dr. Samson Pkhakadze, President of Wissol Group. “Fur-thermore, we are proud that with Chevron we share the same values for quality of our products and ser-vices and quest for success. Wissol is the leading player in the Georgian

oil sector and with Chevron premi-um class products in the portfolio we will lead the market for lubricants in the country as well”.

Chevron is one of the world’s lead-ing integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct busi-ness worldwide. The company is in-volved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; gener-ates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels.

Wissol Group is one of the largest business groups in Georgia. With the widest chain of petrol and CNG stations and with aviation fuel de-liveries, Wissol Group is the leading player in the country’s energy sec-tor.

Wissol Group ex-pressed the soli-darity towards the victims of Boston explosion orga-

nizing Run for Boston marathon on 20th of April at Turtle Late. The U.S. ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland joined the marathon and thanked participants for showing support to the victims of the tragedy.

AmCham CSR Committee, Pali-tra Media, Aversi, Mineral Water company Sno, Tbilisi Marathon, Fi-nancial, PR Club and others joined the marathon with their teams in corporate T-shirts and condemned the violence with the 5-km distance running. Despite a rain tens of vol-unteers participated in the mara-thon

On 15th of April terrorist act was carried out at Boston marathon fin-ish line killing 3 and injuring 176.

Chevron Lubricants joins forces with Wissol Group

Wissol Group Expressed the solidarity towards the victims of Boston Explosion with Marathon

dr. samson pkhakadze, president of wissol group


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green business

Advertiser: Wissol Group. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]

WISSOL GROUPBEING RESPONSIBLE

FOR THE BETTER FUTURE

NATURAL GASTHINK GREEN


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green business


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green business

Advertiser: ProCredit Bank. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]


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green business


BP, one of the world’s largest energy compa-nies operating in Georgia, is start-

ing a new initiative of pro-moting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the country.

For almost a decade BP has been implementing vast corporate social responsibil-ity programmes in Georgia in two main directions. One, which is referred to as Com-munity Development Initia-tive (CDI), supporting sus-tainable developmentin the communities living adjacent to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil , South Caucasus gas and Baku-Supsa oil pipe-line routes, and the other programme,called Sustain-able Development Initiative (SDI), supportsnationwide programmes. The SDI basi-cally works in three main areas: enterprise develop-ment, energy efficiency and education targetingprimar-ily professional and voca-tional education.

“There is no legal require-ment in the country that wouldencourage companies to think and develop cor-porate social responsibility strategies. We are going to launch abaseline studyfor CSR activities in Georgia, which means that major-ity of large companies need to be interviewed. We very much want the top manag-ers to be reached out, be-cause they are the ones who decide whether they would like to continue invest-ing in one-off, charitable eventsand sponsorships, or to start thinking in a sus-tainable way. The problem sometimes lies in human re-sources, because the compa-nies may think - why should they invest in developing something more sophisti-cated, when there is an op-portunity to give a one-off-

support? When a company comes into a person’s life, the company needs to build trust, and it is mucheasier to gaintrust by being socially responsible,” said Giorgi Gongliashvili, Sustainable Development Initiative pro-gram coordinator for BP in Georgia.

“In order to achieve tangi-ble results, we are thinking about a long-term project, something between five to eight years, and hopefully we will raise the aware-ness about CSR issuesand promote Georgian compa-nies to consider supporting sustainable initiatives.We arecurrentlyin the process of selecting a consultant, that would carry out the baseline assessment and prepare some concrete rec-ommendations for us, based on which we will launch the CSR project. We hope that in about a month’s time from now, the consultant will start itswork with the idea that towardsthe end of this year we will have the final project proposal, which we will be tendering out. The private sector has quite a lot of responsibility, as well opportunity to devel-op responsible Business in the country,” Gongliashvili added.

Q. Out of the projects that BP has implement-ed in CSR and Green Business activities, which have been the most significant ones?

From our perspective CSR projects are of more or less equal significance as they target long-term sustainable development.

Our partners in various projects have been such international institutions asthe European Bank for Re-construction and Develop-ment (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), GIZ (German International Cooperation Agency), US-AID, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), etc.

Q. Could you please

discuss the ongoing projects?

A. Out of the current on-going projects I would focus on the Project Management College (PMC) and the Re-newable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project for Com-munities.

We have started The Project Management Col-lege (PMC) at the Free Uni-versity of Tbilisi with a gap analysis, interviewing more than 50 large Georgian com-panies, to determine where was the biggest gap that the companies felt during their day-to-day operations.

The biggest majority of in-terviewed businesses named one particular area - project management,which was de-scribed as one of the weakest links. We then carried out a desktop research and found out that there is a company - ESI International Ltd., which isthe world’s leading

project management solu-tions’ company, which has been providing trainings for BP all over the world for a number of years. We invited this company and also identified a local part-ner - the Free University of Tbilisi - which is supporting this project through host-ing the Project Management College at its premises, as well as through co-funding certain components of the project. As of today, more than 200 students have graduated from PMC during initial three years, receiving Master’sCertificates in proj-ect managementfrom The George Washington Uni-versity School of Business. This is a highly popular project in Georgia. Another stream of students are cur-rently studying there. The graduates have also the op-portunity to undertake an exam to become Project

Management Professionals (PMP®), accredited by the world’s largest professional association of project man-agers - the Project Manage-ment Institute (PMI®).

The second projectas I said is related to the renew-able energy and energy ef-ficiency sphere.It all started back in 2008 with the so-called “Energy Bus” Project. The idea wasthat there wasa big truck, which hadinside it a mobile exhibition of en-ergy efficient devices, and this truck hadbeen travel-ling across Georgia. It made two full rounds,wherever it could physically reach due to itsvery large dimensions. As a result of this project, some 63 thousand people have visited the bus and become aware ofthe energy efficiency issues. We went further, and together with the EBRD, we have made a loan programme,consisting of a 6.6 million USD con-cessional credit line from EBRD fortwo commercial banks, TBC and Bank of Georgia, and of USD 1 mil-lion grant from BP and its Oil and Gas Partners, which was used tosubsidize the in-terest ratesforthe borrower. Wherever the Energy Bus was travelling, it was adver-tising this loan programme and the grant mechanism, which was in the range of 15 percent of the face value of any of the energy efficient device that a residential cus-tomer would install at his or her house.

The Energy Bus project finished last year, however, we decided to continue our engagement in the energy efficiency sphere, and we initiated a new project - Re-newable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project for Com-munities, under which we plan to implement about 20 demo projects across Geor-gia. We select community type of buildings, like kin-dergartens, schools, shelters for disabled persons, na-tional protected areas, etc.,

and implement small-scale energy efficient measures, e.g. we change old windows with double-glazed ones, we insulate the space, replace ordinary old stoves with modern and energy efficient ones, replace old ordinary bulbs with fluorescent ones, etc. These measures sig-nificantly improve the living conditions of the mentioned community buildings, pro-viding substantial savings on energy-related bills, and also reducing CO2 emis-sions for the benefit of our environment. So far, we have implementedeight projects in the eastern part of Georgia. In the nearest future, we will select the community buildings for the western Georgia as well. These are tangible demo projects that could be eas-ily replicated in any other communities, should there be enough resources. Maybe a food for thought for the possible CSR activities for Georgian companies?

Q. What are the fun-daments to BP’s sus-tainability as a busi-ness in Georgia?

A. People and their ca-pabilities are fundamental to BP’s sustainability as a business. To build an en-during business in Georgia, the company recognizes the need to develop the skills and experience of local people, creating an environ-ment, which provides op-portunity for all staff.

We aim to ensure that our presence in Georgia, and wherever we operate, cre-ates mutual advantages for us and for those with whom we come into interaction. In Georgia, our focus will be to help protect our part-ners’ asset base and overall investment by retaining the goodwill and supporting the work of key stakehold-ers - communities adjacent to ourfacilities, government and NGO sectors,as well asthe local business com-munity.

Frank kLobuCarGorbi

There are a lot of people in and around Europe who say that their countries’ economies are not doing so well. Some of these people are sure their bad luck will continue, while others, like Georgians, think that next year will be a year of recovery.

All the data in this column come from Georgian Opinion Research Business International’s most recent wave of the EU Neighborhood Barometer poll. It was carried out in conjunc-tion with TNS Opinion and aimed to discern the attitudes of the peoples that live in Europe’s “neighborhood.” Specifically, we asked respondents in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus about their attitudes and predictions for their country’s current and future economy.

The tables that are included in this article represent not the most pessimistic and optimistic countries in general, but rather these two groupings from those least satisfied with their cur-rent situation. I’ll first talk about the most pessimistic five, and then on to the most optimistic.

Current Economic Situation

Economic Situation in the Next 12 Months

Good Bad DK Better Same Worse DK

Top 5 Pessimistic Countries

Lebanon 9% 91% 0% Lebanon 15% 16% 67% 2%Moldova 19% 79% 2% Moldova 26% 30% 34% 10%Ukraine 16% 78% 6% ukraine 17% 37% 35% 11%Armenia 27% 72% 1% armenia 21% 38% 31% 10%Belarus 39% 50% 11% belarus 24% 41% 22% 13%

Top 5 Optimistic CountriesGeorgia 21% 75% 4% Georgia 64% 17% 5% 14%Tunisia 20% 79% 1% tunisia 46% 31% 21% 3%Egypt 29% 61% 11% egypt 46% 10% 40% 5%Jordan 36% 62% 2% Jordan 41% 19% 32% 8%Palestine 37% 61% 1% Palestine 35% 28% 34% 3%

Among the countries that are the least happy with their current situation, Lebanon is by far the least. A full 91% say the current state of affairs is bad. The closest runners-up in this category are Moldova and Ukraine, where 79% and 78% express discontent, respectively. Where the Lebanese’s nega-tivity truly stands out, though, is in their predictions for the future. Two thirds of the country believe that the next twelve months will only be worse. This means that at minimum, more than half the country thinks that the economy is bad

going to worse. The remaining countries in this category are not so much

pessimistic as they are lacking in optimism: none of them can boast that even a third of their citizens are hopeful for the fu-ture, but the plurality of each country thinks things will stay the same, which is to say bad.

Looking at the five most dissatisfied-yet-hopeful countries, Georgia is by far the leading optimist, where 64% foresee a brighter future and only 5% disagree. This is a good thing, con-sidering a full three quarters said the current situation was not so great. The only optimistic country with a worse case of the economy blues is Tunisia; 79% of Tunisians gave a “stuffs-not-so-great” response, but 46% had a “it’ll-get-better” prediction.

All the data in this article have margins of error of around 3.5% with 95% confidence. Visit our website at gorbi.com for more articles.

Optimistic Pessimists

BP HadSpent Over100 million USD On Its Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda in Georgia

giorgi gongliashvili, sustainable development initiative program coordinator for bp in georgia.


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green business

Advertiser: The Financial. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]


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green business

rsm capto group:“TANgIbLe progress sooN To be FeLT IN georgIA”


Five Georgian companies al-ready applied for the Euro-pean Business Awards, which since 2007, has been shining a light on the most innovative

businesses on the continent by promot-ing success, innovation and ethics in the European business community. For last year programme, over 15,000 busi-nesses were involved from 28 countries across Europe although Georgia was not among these countries.

RSM Capto Group became a lead-ing sponsor of the European Business Awards (EBA) which is partnering The FINANCIAL since 2010. Zviad Pochkhua, Editor-in-Chief of The FI-NANCIAL is also one of the judges of the EBA.

In his exclusive interview with The FINANCIAL Kvinikadze, Manag-ing Partner at RSM Capto Group, the ninth largest firm of financial and tax audit, tax consulting, accounting out-sourcing services and evaluation in Georgia, underlined the advantages that the EBA can bring to businesses and gave his outlook on the current situation in Georgia and its prospects.

“Right now Georgia is in a period of transition and the new government needs time for its changes to be felt by businesses. To some people it may appear that the fast train that was the Georgian economy has slowed down, but I am confident that this train will be showing increased speed and efficiency soon,” Kvinikadze, told The FINAN-CIAL.

Kvinikadze is optimistic that Georgia will soon impress the rest of the world with its fast and effective development.

“We believe that Georgia’s attractive-ness as a place to invest is increasing every year and this progress will be tan-gible soon. Georgia significantly differs from its neighbouring countries in the way that it strives towards Europe and a European model of society. I would advise every foreign investor to start business in Georgia. Capto Group’s ini-tiative to conduct an Eastern European conference for RSM member countries is ample evidence of our interest in showing how transparent and attrac-tive the Georgian business environ-ment truly is,” said Kvinikadze.

Q. How many companies have already applied for the European Business Awards?

A. Through its membership in RSM, the leading sponsor of EBA for 2013/2014, Capto Group is delighted to be involved in the EBA awards pro-gramme and is encouraging Georgian businesses and individuals to take part in the 2013/2014 Awards.

On 19 April, Capto Group and RSM

hosted leading Georgian businesses at Raddisson Blu Iveria where we an-nounced that Capto Group will be a supporter of Georgian businesses applying for the European Business Awards (EBA). Since then a lot of busi-nesses have contacted us to assist them in the process of applying for the EBA from Georgia.

For the 2012/2013 programme, over 15,000 businesses were involved from 28 countries across Europe but, un-fortunately, Georgia was not among these countries. We believe that this year there will be several companies representing Georgia. Entries for the 2013/14 Awards programme are open until 21 June, 2013.

Q. How can the EBA change a company’s future?

A. We believe that the European Busi-ness Awards is a very good stimulus for the Georgian business sector - for small, medium as well as large-size compa-nies to constantly strive to improve their results and become a part of Eu-rope’s business elite. The EBA is open to all businesses. Entering the Awards enables the companies to associate and align with Europe’s commercial elite and benefit from extensive media and industry coverage for your company.

Q. Almost all audit companies as well as members of the ‘Big Four’ are present in Georgia. How do you compete with them and what are the main advan-tages of RSM Capto Group?

A. Capto Group has the widest chain of offices across Georgia, offering finan-cially-focused services from four main offices in Tbilisi and branch offices in Batumi, Telavi, Kutaisi, Poti and Ozur-geti with their number increasing every year.

Wherever in the world your busi-ness is going, you need constant access to rapid, relevant answers and a fast-moving team on your side. RSM is one of the world’s most successful audit, tax and advisory networks of independent-ly-owned and managed professional services firms. With global reach and local perspective, RSM member firms deliver innovative solutions, helping you see further, adapt faster and grow stronger.

RSM is the founding member of Forum of Firms (FOF) that is an as-sociation of international networks of accounting firms that perform trans-national audits. Members of the Fo-rum have committed to adhere to and promote the consistent application of

high-quality audit practices worldwide, as detailed in the FOF Constitution. In 1993 RSM was the first company which introduced the unified auditing standard across the member firms. Our head office ensures RSM global stan-dard is kept within its member firms.

The Big Four are present in almost every country but RSM is a global brand with global ambitions. Once you have connected with us, we tend to make you stay with us for the long haul. Our clients always receive ap-propriate and relevant answers to their questions. We react to new challenges in a timely manner and in fact, we be-lieve that for a business, every problem is also an opportunity. Our clients ap-preciate our understanding of their business and our dedication to making things happen.

Q. In which sectors do you have the most clients?

A. Capto Group has extensive expe-rience with all sizes of clients and all types of assignments, ranging from large publicly-listed and public sector clients through to owner-managed, director-controlled businesses. Capto Group serves clients across a wide range of industry sectors, including: banking, energy, insurance, trading and distribution, construction, manu-facturing, retail, food and drinks manu-facturing and services sectors.

At present the share of foreign com-panies is more than 50%.

Q. How affordable is your ser-vice for small and medium size businesses?

A. Capto Group is one of the lead-ing audit and consulting companies in Georgia, specializing in: audit & as-surance, tax, IFRS, accounting and fi-nancial services, transaction services, corporate recovery & insolvency, ad-visory, legal service. The demands for our services are quite high from small and medium size business companies and we always make sure our services are affordable for them. I want to restate here that our company is proud to have deep knowledge and extensive experience of local legal and tax environment that is of decisive importance for local and foreign businesses.

Georgian Businesses Competing on the European Business Awards

In 2011 Capto Group became the members of RSM. RSM has over 700 offices in 100 countries around the world, with more than 32,500 people on hand to serve businesses both large and small through its integrated global network of member firms.

In 2012, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia included Capto Group- member of RSM into the list of audit companies officially approved to conduct mandatory audits in particular audits of investments made by companies within the state investment programs.

In 2012 in the framework of Revenue Service “alternative audit” project Capto Group was selected as “A” category independent audit company which is authorized to conduct audit examination of taxpayers of any category.

kvinikadze, managing partner at rsm capto group

will be the project of the year, the most important one of 2013. It will likely cost GEL 5 million, but we are trying to halve this. We need to insert a drainage system in Vake Park. We want to cultivate English type gardens with green meadows where visitors can gather and en-joy spending time.

The Ecology and Greenery De-partment will very soon start the renovation of Bukia Gardens. This garden is in deplorable conditions nowadays and really needs our attention. Georgian architects de-signed a very nice project for Bukia Gardens and it will be renovated according to this project. The amount that is to be spent on the Bukia Gardens renovations is GEL 1 million.

Finally, the third most impor-tant project is completing the re-habilitation of Rike Park, which will be finished by the end of 2013. It is a very attractive park for visi-tors because of its location. In gen-eral, Mziuri is the park most visit-ed by Tbilisians as well as tourists. Together with Rike Park, the reno-vation of European Square will be completed as well.

Q. How would you assess the ecological condition of Tbilisi?

A. There is no exact information about the city’s ecological status, good or bad. That would require laboratory analyses, air stations, technical equipment and finances as well. And there are only three air stations, which is not enough to determine the ecological con-ditions in Tbilisi; during Soviet times there were seventeen.

The centre of Tbilisi is of course very polluted due to traffic. This is directly linked to the economic condition of the country in gen-eral. As Tbilisi is the economic and financial centre of Georgia and as it is here that there is the biggest number of job places, the capital city is automatically becoming overcrowded with people from the regions and extra cars therefore.

Aghmashenebeli Avenue is one of the most polluted areas in Tbili-si as it is situated on low land. As for the cleanest districts, I would say Varketili and the surrounding territory.

“We have signed a contract with the Covenant of Mayors to-gether with more than 100 cities, a covenant of European cities. The project is an initiative of the Eu-ropean Union and aims to reduce emissions. We took on the respon-sibility of reducing emissions by 20 percent by the end of 2020. In this way Tbilisi will contribute to overcoming global climate change as well as improving its ecological conditions.

Work has already begun in this direction, which is reflected in all of the aforementioned projects implemented by the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbilisi City Hall.”

GEL 16 Million Allocated for Greening Tbilisi in 2013

Continued from p. 3


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the long road

Guy de Fontgalland

A Compassionate World: Challenge of

our Times

We all have, without our full knowl-edge of the depth of the

problem, moved into a world which is dangerously close to being torn apart by terrorism, conflicts, wars, financial and economic turmoil. It may look like a doomsday scenario, but if one looks at the overall hu-man conduct of greed and plunder and add to it the dev-astations caused by climate change, one must admit that we are yet to come to terms with the real disorder that we refuse to see clearly.

The Boston Marathon bombing, whoever is ulti-mately known to be behind the dastardly and inhuman act, brought home to many in the United States that life is fragile and that terror can strike anyone, anytime, any-where. That level of uncer-tainty is a given. And then we have these massive pockets of continuing wars and violence from Syria, Irag, Afghanistan, Egypt where thousands have died and been displaced and where normal life has become a distant dream.

There are drums of war between North and South Korea, too much insurgency and terrorism in Africa, dis-putes over Kashmir, Spratly islands, Malvinas, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Eu-ropean Union, touted as an exemplary cohesion of na-tions with a common will and purpose seems to be under severe stress. Britain is keen to walk out of the Union and it is likely that most British will support David Cameron’s initiative.

Add to all the woes we see today is the increasing pover-ty levels mainly caused by the loss of purchasing power of national currencies in devel-oping countries and the un-bridled inflation which seems to engulf some 80% of the world population. The new entrants to the global poverty index from Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy – with a few more to join – makes the global economic foundations shaky and uncer-tain.

There has been a sharp shift in the use of money away from the real economies of produc-tion - of agriculture, of educa-tion and health, of affordable housing for the large segment of the population – to highly complex financial products

which sucked the coffers of investment banks and then of the tax payers. Nothing much has changed to substantially re-direct the energy of finance into a more human-need based productive force.

The Economic Forums, like that of the annual Davos glitz, will always gather some of the most distinguished thinkers, economists, bankers, CEOs and heads of state. They are useful to the extent that they do bring forth national, re-gional and global issues which need to be tackled as a matter of utmost urgency. But once the pundits go home and the bureaucracy begins to grind into volumes of statistics and reports, the time has come for the next series of Forums. And so it goes on, year after year, with political wrangling, face-offs, pronouncements and promises. There is very little action on what I would like to call a Global Project for a New World Order.

What could this New World Order be? It would be an Or-der which will have the fol-lowing pillars: Founding a just society in each nation and across the world where peace and economic stability is as-sured; Enlivening democracy across nations and giving peo-ple the right to a decent living; Scaling down and eventu-ally eliminating all weapons of mass destruction includ-ing nuclear weapons and the more sophisticated weapons such as the intercontinental ballistic missiles.

A Nation’s readiness for war has some serious in-built threats. One is that it needs to constantly feed the innovation and production of the war machines and the men and women who will use them. Having them would not be enough. They need to be tested on ground and on space through actual engage-ments in the theatre of war, which means that the pockets of conflict must be created. And when you multiply this phenomenon among a num-ber of militarily dominant countries, we end up with a world that is war-hungry and ready to fight, at all times. This war-prone momentum, despite the darkest history of wars, deaths and destruc-tion, needs to be stopped if the meagre resources of this earth are to be preserved for the betterment of mankind.

I am both an investment banker and an educationist.

I often bring up these issues informally with some of my friends and associates, across so many countries. We of-ten begin the conversation on a questioning mode: Is a new world that is reasonable, compassionate, just and re-spectful of each other be pos-sible?. To my surprise, some would show least interest in the subject and those who feel it is an import plank of human endeavour, would think it is the ultimate utopia, that this is just a dream.

The pessimism does not stem from a lack of belief in a new world order, but from the thought that it would be near impossible to harness the energies and focus of global leaders, all of whom are fight-ing their own survivals in pol-itics and are merely focussed on problems and issues per-taining to their own national constituencies. Pessimism and the absence of hope also come from the knowledge that the leading economies of the United States, Europe, Russia and China have their own rigid agendas for growth and dominance and that the concept of a new world order would be totally alien to them. If control and dominance is the ultimate aim of the most powerful nations, why bother about a just society.

But the cancer of discon-tent, of terror, of conflict and of wars has deeply eroded hu-man societies, has polarised them and has destroyed many of the bridges which held na-tions together. We have cer-tainly come a long way from the dark days of the last two world wars, but we have not yet moved away from the brink of yet another world war.

The New World Order of a just and peaceful global so-ciety needs to be the prime agenda for all of us. And the momentum must be built from grass root civil societ-ies, schools, universities, think-tanks and, without doubt, from the pantheon of supreme political leaders whose vision and statements to change this world will have a profound impact.

The greatest of religions, from Christianity to Islam, from Buddhism to Hinduism, have all taught compassion to fellow human beings as the overriding arch of human ex-istence and of happiness. Cre-ating a compassionate world is the challenge of our times.

green business

TBC Bank has been awarded “Best Bank in Georgia 2012” by EMEA Fi-nance magazine for

the second consecutive year.“Georgia deserves a bank

that can keep pace with its rapid growth, and TBC Bank is proving that it is fit and ready to run at the head of the pack,” says Christopher Moore, publisher & CEO, EMEA Finance magazine. “Of course, growth at all costs has its pitfalls, and here TBC Bank

is working to increase its capi-tal and to strengthen its risk management procedures. Presently, the Bank has the lowest non-performing loans ratio in Georgia at just 1%. The Bank is a deserved win-ner of this accolade,” Moore explains.

“We are very proud to receive The Best Bank in Georgia 2012 award from EMEA Finance magazine and find it particu-larly gratifying to win it for the second year in a row. This very prestigious award is an excel-

lent recognition of the Bank’s strong financial performance and the key projects imple-mented during the year,” com-mented Vakhtang Butskhrikid-ze, CEO, TBC Bank.

EMEA Finance is a bi-monthly magazine focused on the financial markets in Eu-rope, the Middle East and Af-rica. Since its launch in 2008 the magazine has become a leading source of information for its executive-level audi-ence across the financial ser-vices and corporate sectors.

TBC Bank Wins “Best Bank in Georgia 2012” Award from EMEA Finance Magazine

the FinanCiaL

Media are migrat-ing online at a rapid rate, and economic value is following,

according to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). European consumers value online media at €1,077 per year over and above what they pay for it, or approximately half the €2,078 online and of-fline total for each connected consumer.

Across the nine European countries the online net value, or “consumer surplus,” ranged from €792 to €1,557. European consumers derive the biggest online surplus (about 30 per-cent of online total) from user-generated content and social networks, but traditional media

categories are catching up fast. The report is based on surveys of some 7,000 consumers.

BCG calculates the consumer surplus—defined as the value consumers themselves place on an activity or product over and above what they pay for it—for seven major categories of me-dia: books, local newspapers and magazines, international newspapers and magazines, TV programs and movies, radio and music, games, and user-gener-ated content and social media.

By wide margins (with ma-jorities from 65 to 78 percent, depending on the country), European consumers believe they have access to higher-quality online content than they did three years ago. Most Euro-peans (from 55 to 72 percent) expect continued improvement in online media. Strong majori-ties in virtually all countries (as

high as 75 percent) are more excited about the benefits of the Internet than worried about the risks.

Based on its research, BCG believes that the key factors are in place to accelerate online consumption across Europe. One such factor is rising device ownership. Throughout Europe, consumers using three or more devices enjoy higher online me-dia consumer surplus—an aver-age of about 50 percent higher—than those with fewer devices. Europeans owned an average of 1.4 devices three years ago; today they own 2.6. They expect to own 4 devices in three years’ time.

Another key factor is the in-creasing penetration of fast mo-bile broadband. This facilitates the availability of more high-quality digital content, for which there is significant demand.

European Consumers Value Media at About €2,100 per Year, of which €1,077 Comes from Online Media

the FinanCiaL

Forty percent of India’s 90 million urban In-ternet users say that online activities such as product research

and price comparison influence what they buy. This digital in-fluence is expected to greatly ac-celerate over the next five years, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report, asserts that the number of Internet users in India is expected to nearly triple from 125 million in 2011 to 330 million by 2016. This surge of Internet penetration will cause the digital influence on pur-chase decisions to explode.

To determine how Internet use affects buying decisions, BCG’s Center for Consumer and Customer Insight surveyed 25,000 Indian consumers on their online activities during each step of the purchase cycle, in 101 different product catego-ries. On the basis of the findings, BCG assigned each product cat-egory a Digital Intensity Index (DII). Categories with the high-est DII have the most online activity among category buyers. “The fact that air travel, with the second-highest digital intensity, has a DII of only 20.6 out of 100 shows how much opportunity still exists for companies to en-gage Indian consumers online—and to influence their buying decisions,” noted Arvind Sub-ramanian, a BCG partner and coauthor of the report.

The demographics of Indian Internet use revealed some un-expected findings. Indian men are far more likely than women

to be on the Internet (32 per-cent versus 12 percent) and more than three times likely to be digitally influenced (14 percent versus 4 percent). Al-though higher income levels are well represented online, even 18 percent of the lower-income “strugglers” (whose annual household income is less than $3,300) have Internet access, and 6 percent are engaged in commercial activity online.

Overall, the Internet has the highest penetration among peo-ple ages 18 to 24 (48 percent) and the lowest among those older than 54 (6 percent). The Internet is projected to reach small towns and the low rungs of the economic ladder more quickly than retail chains will, bridging geographic barriers and feeding the growing appe-tite for consumer goods.

BCG’s research also dispelled many misperceptions about Indian consumers. Only 30 percent of online buyers were drawn to Internet shopping for discounts. A higher proportion (37 percent) valued the conve-nience of shopping from home,

and 29 percent said that they appreciated the expanded vari-ety of products available online compared with what is avail-able at brick-and-mortar stores. In contrast to more advanced e-commerce markets, digitally influenced consumers in India rely on company websites for detailed product information as frequently as they refer to third-party sites for comparative re-search and online purchases.

The report highlights that this rapidly expanding digital influence in India is a call to action for consumer products companies. By acting quickly and decisively, these compa-nies can mitigate the risk of being disintermediated from their customers by e-commerce powerhouses as has happened in the U.S. and China. To capi-talize on this growing market, companies must integrate their online and offline strategies, engage consumers and build their loyalty, refocus ad spend-ing, actively manage the Inter-net channel, mind the gaps in which online activity is low, and optimize the mobile experience.

India’s Low E-Commerce Numbers Mask the Internet’s Huge Impact on Purchase Decisions


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green business

Advertiser: WEALTH. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]

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finchannel.com/wealth


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green business


Creating highly insulated buildings to reduce heat loss in winter and thermal radiation in summer are steps that construction

businesses are currently taking to be more environmentally friendly. “Us-ing solar power generating photovol-taic glazing systems to create energy for the building is something we are looking into for Tbilisi Business Centre. We have to use the latest ad-vances in glass technology that allow a high percentage of the sun’s energy to reflect in the summer months. Also, we plan to create terrace gar-dens for each level to absorb CO2 and produce oxygen,” Robin Monot-ti Graziadei, architect and managing partner of Robin Monotti Architects, told The FINANCIAL.

According to Monotti, green building can be promoted by creat-ing a prize for green buildings that rewards the best new projects with green credentials.

London-based Robin Monotti will bring the 16-storey circular tower of 16,000 m2 of space as a new busi-ness centre to Tbilisi. The business centre will include offices, confer-ence halls, trading floors, restau-rants, outdoor garden terraces on each level, and parking. The design of the new tower is a delicately bal-anced stack of glass-enclosed disks that seem to spiral upward, and the structure will be located next to an angular, boxy structure designed by the architects Giorgi Chakhava and Zurab Jalaghania and built in 1975. This angular structure now serves as the headquarters of Bank of Geor-gia.

As there is very little awareness and limited practice of green build-ing among the business commu-nity in Georgia, Monotti said that “it needs to be taught at university so new students in architecture will consider it an important aspect of

their education as architects or engi-neers”.

“The artificial and natural worlds are starting to be reunited again in architecture, with the creation of gardens at high levels and buildings that integrate nature,” Monotti said in answer to the question on where architecture is today and where it is going.

The Tbilisi Business Centre proj-ect is already among the list of proj-ects that Monotti is proudest of. The Watering Holes fountain for the Royal Parks of London, and Yacht House Foros, Ukraine, are also in the list.

The terms for completing the busi-ness centre, cost of the project and other details of negotiation, Monotti kept confidential.

“The initial decision was to find a suitable government-owned site along the river but outside of the historic centre. The new Tbilisi Busi-ness Centre was designed for its con-text, and was only developed after a visit to the site and a careful consid-eration of how to create a new build-ing next to Bank of Georgia, formerly the Ministry of Highways, a listed national monument of Georgia.

“As the Bank of Georgia is a mas-sive concrete building, we wanted to

create something light and glassy,” said Monotti.

He explained that as Bank of Georgia is boxy and full of 90 de-gree angles, they wanted to create something rounded and without any angles. “As Bank of Georgia uses the “Space-City” method which allows space to flow through the building, we wanted to create a building that is spatially compact. As the BOG build-ing is created out of horizontal can-tilevering beam floors, we wanted to create a vertical building.”

“In order to not be overshadowed by such a powerful neighbour, and in turn not to overshadow it, we want-

ed Tbilisi Business Centre to match the height of BOG and to be built at an appropriate distance from it, he added.

“If Bank of Georgia’s shape can be considered very ‘male’ because of the sharp angles, Tbilisi Business Centre is ‘female’ because of its rounded shape,” Monotti said.

In his words, the initial concept models, perhaps appropriately for a business centre, were made with coins on a table. This allowed many different combinations to be tested very quickly.

Monotti holds Georgian architec-ture in high esteem. “You can never spend enough time in Georgia as there is so much to see and learn from. We rate Georgian architecture very highly and look forward to co-operating with a Georgian architec-ture office on this project.”

Glass buildings have become very popular worldwide and also in Geor-gia. Monotti explained it as an ar-chitecturally symbolic message that administration, law enforcement, business and management can be transparent processes to the wider public.

“Chakava’s Ministry of Highways (the current headquarters of Bank of Georgia in Tbilisi) and Casa Mala-parte in Capri, Italy, are my favou-rite buildings,” Monotti told The FINANCIAL.

London-Based Robin Monotti Architects Bringing Circular Tower to Tbilisi

robin monotti graziadei,architect and managing partner of

robin monotti architects

reduCe pAper usAge

Set up an intranet that employees can use to access internal documents such as policies and procedures, phone lists etc.

Rely on email for billing, invoices, communication with clients, regular re-

porting and more.Offer a direct deposit option to employees for

payroll.Switch to e-marketing including using your

website as a sales tool, utilizing email newsletters, and using online advertising.

Use the Microsoft Word “track changes” pro-gram for editing documents.

Offer employees personal size dry erase boards for note-taking.

When you need to print, buy only 100% post consumer waste recycled paper

eNCourAge TeLeCommuTINg, use oF pubLIC TrANsporTATIoN

ANd CArpooLINgSave fuel usage, employee expense on gas and

office energy usage by offering telecommuting. For employees coming to the office, offer incen-tives for use of public transportation and carpool-ing.

TAke smALL sTeps To reduCe eNergy

CoNsumpTIoNImplement a few energy-saving measures to

help fight air pollution, global warming and to re-

duce your company’s electric or natural gas bill.Invest in energy saving power strips, which can

make up for their costs in just a few weeks.Turn off lights when not in use, especially in

bathrooms, kitchens and lower use areas.Take advantage of natural daylight and reduce

lighting inside the office.Be use to power down large office equipment

(and unplug!) when employees are done working.

swITCh ALL LIghT buLbs To CompACT FLuoresCeNTsWhile the initial investment may cost more than

conventional bulbs, CFLs last longer-- so over time your office will save money and save energy.

reuse ANd reCyCLeTake every advantage to reuse materials in the

office.

This can include re-using envelopes for intra-office and postal mail, using rechargeable batter-ies and buy recycled toner cartridges.

Recycle glass, plastic, metal cans, white paper, and mixed paper and organics.

reduCe CompuTer eNergy CoNsumpTIoN

By turning off or at least powering down your PCs during periods of inactivity – such as at night or over the weekend – Energy Star estimates that firms can save anywhere between $25-$75 per PC per year.

Set computers to switch to a low-power sleep mode after a few minutes of inactivity and make sure to optimize efficiency settings on all newer computers.

beCome CArboN NeuTrAL

Calculate the carbon emissions of your office (using an online calculator or by contacting your local power company), then purchase carbon off-sets.

reduCe wATer usAge

Check all office kitchens and bathrooms regu-larly for leaks and fix immediately.

Install low-flow toilets (alternately, you can place a plastic container filled with water in the tank of the toilet).

Encourage employees to be conscious of wa-ter usage when cooking, making coffee and tea, etc.

Green Checklist


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green business

Advertiser: Lomsia. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]

Member of Wissol Group

10 Kostava Str., Akhaltsikhe, Georgia; Tel.: +995 365 222001; Mob.: +995 577 120 154; E-mail: [email protected]

Lomsia Hotel offers you

63 high class Hotel Rooms & Suites

Restaurant & Bar

Terrace and Lounge

Buffets for large groups

Conference Room

Events in LomsiaKaraoke

DJ and Dance

Live Music

Team Building Games

Birthday Parties and Jubilees...

www.lomsiahotel.gefacebook.com/lomsiahotel

LOMSIA HOTEL

Akhaltsikhe

SpecialsFashion Show

Car Exhibition

Bunnies in the town

More than a night out!


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dining | places we strongly reccommend to visit |

For advertising

please contact:

577 741 [email protected]

AeroSvit Representative office in GeorgiaAddress: 25 st.Leselidze Office 205

Tbilisi 0160, Georgia Tel: 243 96 93Fax: 243 96 93

[email protected]

Tel.: 260 15 [email protected], www.piazza.ge

La Brioche

Addr: Batumi, Georgia, Parnavaz

Mepe №25

Tel.: 293 14 04, Fax: 299 93 [email protected]

Betsy’s Hotel

32-34 Makashvili Street, 0108, Tbilisi, GeorgiaTel: 251 00 01

Fax: 253 00 [email protected]

15 Lubliana Str.

37 Chavchavadze Ave.Tel.: 291 30 26; 291 30 76

1 BrotherKakabadze Str.

Tel: 292 29 45;Fax: 292 29 46;

[email protected]

13, Rustaveli Avenue.; Tel.: 2 779 200

[email protected]

4, Freedom Square,Tel: 2 779 100

[email protected]

Hotel“O. Galogre”

8, Vakhtang Gorgasali Str. Batumi, Georgia Tel: +995 422 27 48 [email protected]

3 Vashlovani Str.;(“Super Babilon” oposit)

Tel.: 298 90 86

Tel: 888 222 2900www.sheraton.com/tbilisi

The tickets are available at tbilisi international airport freedom square 4

courtyard marriott hotel, 1st floorTel: 2400 400; 2400 040

36 Al. Kazbegi ave. Tbilisi, 0177, GeorgiaTel/Fax: 229 43 43

[email protected]

50 Chavchavadze Ave.Tel: 2 91 52 42

13 Shavteli Str.Tel: 2439494

[email protected]

5 Chavchavadze Ave.

Tel.: 222 44 17577 22 99 22

plasticsurgerygeo.com

Ice cream, coffee, blended drinks,

pastry, salads… Open8am-2am

(May-October)8am-1am

(November-April)

Addr: 12 Eristavi Str. (at the round garden)34 Leselidze Str. 7a Pekini Str.

Phone: 299 03 99; 574 74 69 [email protected]

Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel Rose Revolution Square 1

Tel.: 240 22 00; Fax: 240 22 01 [email protected] radissonblu.com/hotel-tbilisi

lE maRaIS

32 Abashidze Str. Tel: 222 40 83

ThaI

Addr: 35 Abashidze Str.Tel.: 222 17 70, www.thai.ge

6 Kavsadze Str.Tel: 2 25 15 45

2 55 44 55www.lottravel.ge

20 Telavi Str.Tel: 277 20 20Fax: 277 21 20

www.sheraton.com/tbilisi

Village Anaklia, Zugdidi, Georgia

Tel: 2 60 99 902 60 99 91

www.hotelanaklia.com

275 Agmashenebeli Ave.,

Kobuleti, GeorgiaTel: 2242400Fax: 2242403GEORGIA PALACE

HOTEL

E-mail: [email protected], www.gph.ge

4 Freedom SquareTel: 2988 988, Fax: 2988 910

E-mail:[email protected], www.gmt.ge

Erekle II str.Tel: 555 00 44 46

Berika International LTD GSA for Czech Airlines in GeorgiaTel.: 2227941, Fax: 2222941

Georgian Real Estate Management

The Green Building,6 Marjanishvili Street,

0102 Tbilisi

Tel: 243 30 77, Fax: 243 30 79www.firstbrokerage.ge

E-mail: [email protected]

BusinessTravelComHotel and airticket bookinG: 2 999 662 | sky.Ge

26 May SquareTel: 2300099

E-mail: [email protected] www.hi-tbilisi.com

4 Kargareteli str.

Tel; 2236278 [email protected]


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green business

Adv

ertis

er: R

adio

Com

mer

sant

. Con

tact

FIN

AN

CIA

L A

d D

ep a

t mar

ketin

g@fin

chan

nel.c

om

biznesis personaluri radio

[email protected]+995 32 2505 955

biznesis personaluri radio

[email protected]+995 32 2505 955

SoundCloud and SwiftKey win European Web Entrepreneur of the Year awards

Alexander Ljung & Eric Wahl-forss of SoundCloud are Eu-ropean Entrepreneurs of the Year while Jon Reynolds of SwiftKey is Young European

Entrepreneur of the Year (under 30 years).The European Commission sponsors

the awards as part of Startup Europe, the Commission’s six-part plan to accelerate, connect and celebrate local entrepreneur-ship ecosystems in Europe, so that tech start-ups not only start in Europe, but stay in Europe.

45% of Europeans would like to be their own boss if they could. On congratulating the Europioneer winners, Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes said “Sound-Cloud and SwiftKey destroy the myth that all good ideas start and end in Silicon Val-ley. These companies have great futures in Europe, and they show us that it’s sexy and enriching to be your own boss, to create your own job.”

The Europioneer awards are a partner-ship between the European Commission and The Next Web. 908 nominations were received from across Europe. The winners were selected by a distinguished panel of judges from Europe’s tech and startup community.

SoundCloud is a Berlin and London-based audio platform with around 40 million users. The goal of SoundCloud is to democratise music online – for it to be more than just a listening experience. SoundCloud enables anybody to upload, record, promote and share their music, soundbites and podcasts online– users have described SoundCloud as being like “email for music” or “YouTube for audio”.

reQuesT For proposALin the frames of the grant allocated under the european union grant

contract on the comprehensive institutional building for the support of the national food agency (nfa) and in compliance with the procure-ment procedures provided by this contract, nfa calls for bids on pur-chase of computer equipment (in two lots) and invites all persons con-cerned to take part in the tender.

purchase objects:computer equipment – 16 units the detailed description of the computer equipment, the list of docu-

ments to be produced and other requirements of the buyer are given in the tender documentation, which can be got by bidders at national food agency. the documentation is also available on the agency of-ficial web-site www.nfa.gov.ge.

The tender will be held in eleven lots (the specification of each lot and quotation is provided in the tender documentation).

the total estimated cost of purchase objects (lots) is 37400 (thirty-sev-en thousand and four hundred) gel.

participation in the tender is possible both in all and in a single lot.all goods purchased must originate in a member state of the euro-

pean union or a country covered by the enpi programme. for these purposes, “origin” means the place where the goods are mined, grown, produced or manufactured and/or from which services are provided. the origin of the goods must be determined according to the eu cus-toms code or to the relevant international agreement applicable.

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/country-co-operation/index_en.htm

the computer equipment shall be supplied to: 6 marshal gelovani street, tbilisi.

the winner of the tender shall supply the computer equipment within 60 days after the execution of the contract.

the persons concerned shall submit their bids in georgian language and in case of foreign companies notarized translation of a tender bid in the sealed envelope to the national food agency at 6 marshal gel-ovani street, tbilisi on the 17th may, 2013 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

the bids will be opened at the above mentioned address on the 17th may, 2013 at 3 p.m.

for additional information please contact mr. davit tsomaia at the national food agency, 6 marshal gelovani street, tbilisi, tel: 558 555 335.

LEPL – National Food Agency

lepl national food agency of the ministry of agriculture of georgia

TeNder ANNouNCemeNT


GreenEvo, Green Technology Ac-celerator, is an innovative pro-ject organised by

the Ministry of the Environ-ment of the Republic of Po-land which aims to identify the best green technology so-lutions offered by small and medium-sized polish com-panies. Project participants are selected every year dur-ing the competition process. This year, it is intended for participants from Georgia to be part of the selection pro-cess as well. One of the fields where savings can be signifi-cant is energy efficiency and waste management.

Maciej Chrzanowski, Eco-nomic Officer at the Polish Embassy, explains that the companies will visit Georgia as part of the GreenEvo pro-ject from 17-21 June, 2013. The range of technologies represented will include: energy-efficient housing, bio-mass, waste management, post-industrial land reculti-vation, solar panel heating.

“It is incorrect to assume that only developed econo-mies can afford to invest in green technologies,” Maciej Chrzanowski said. “Returns (or savings) can be signifi-cant in Georgia too. One such field is energy efficiency, where Georgia has huge po-

tential both in the residential sector and in industry. Other promising fields are waste management, currently be-ing reformed in Georgia,” he added.

Polish entrepreneurs will be interested in finding local partners from the private sec-tor, government or municipal administrations. “We plan to organise matchmaking in Tbilisi and several other cities. Georgian companies interested in taking part in these events are kindly asked to contact the Embassy of Po-land in Tbilisi,” Chrzanowski added.

“Nowadays Poland wants to support other countries by sharing experience and know-how,” Agnieszka Kozłowska-Korbicz, Gree-nEvo Programme Coordina-tor, Ministry of the Environ-ment of Poland, told The FINANCIAL. “An expression of these aspirations is Gree-nEvo, a project supporting the international transfer of environmentally-friendly technologies. Capitalizing on experiences from the period of transformation, we want to show other countries how to establish local technologi-cal competence and cooper-ate with private sector organ-izations,” she added.

“Since 1989, Poland has gone through a political and economic transformation, which helped it catch up with the most developed coun-tries, owing to investments

in environmental protection, stimulation of the develop-ment of green technolo-gies and establishment of the institutional framework supporting the green econo-my,” Agnieszka Kozłowska-Korbicz said.

“One of the possible uses of our technology specifically applicable in Georgia is cost-efficient housing for refugees. Still, the technology is also suitable for luxury housing estates,” said Jakub Wójcik, Vice President, Izodom 2000 Polska, manufacturer of pas-sive houses.

“Houses built using Izo-dom technology are ten times cheaper in heating and air conditioning costs, they are both warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. They are fit for seismic zones. Most importantly, we closely coop-erate with local construction companies. Our technology gives them an advantage over the competition by building up to five times faster, with-out additional investments in equipment or extensive training. With growing scale, the manufacturing of compo-nents can be moved to the lo-cal market,” he added.

“The majority of our pro-duction is exported. The main markets include the European Union, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Russia and Ukraine,” Wójcik added.

Georgia to be Part of the GreenEvo Project


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aPriL 29, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 21:00 - Band “Wheels”, Dj Datuna Restaurant “Dzveli Sakhli” 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performanceRestaurant “mghvime” Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop “riverside”) phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72 Every evening from 22:00 inextinguishable star of georgian Estrada gia Suramelashvili and live music: Estrada ensemble “mghvime” (4 boys and 1 girl), tam-tam, violin, saxophone, king. You will listen to famous old and new hits, jazz, blues, rock… Restaurant “maidan” 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - maidan jazz Band Restaurant “Bermukha” Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69 Everyday from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet “Taoba”: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi Kakutia Café “Kala” 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00 - Rezo Kiknadze - saxophonistpub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «goblins» (Covers)

Cinema«Rustaveli» Cinema 5 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 293-22-53, 2 555-000 «Scary movie V»;«oblivion» 3D;«g.I. joe: Retaliation» 3D;«The machine Which makes Everything Disappear»;«The Croods» 3D;«Coma» (Ticket price: 7,50 - 11,50 Gel)«amirani» Cinema 36 Kostava Str. Tel: 299-99-55 «Scary movie V»;«The place Beyond the pines»«The croods» 3D(Ticket price: 7,50 - 11,50 Gel)«Sakartvelo» Cinema 2/9, Guramishvili Ave. Tel: 230-80-80; 269-66-47«gladiators of Rome»;«Coma»;«escape from planet earth» 3D(Ticket price: 4 - 8 Gel)

theatreTbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27Scarlet Flower Director: Anatoli lobov Duration: 90 minutes Date: April 29 hall: Big Stage Time: 12:00 15:00 price: 5, 7 Gel

GalleryVladimer Kandelaki’s personal Exhibition Sh. amiranashvili art museum 1, Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 299-71-76 museum is working every day except monday. from 11:00 till 17:00 till - may 12 «Where is Your Shadow angel?» – Exhibition by Christine Robakidze Exhibition hall of the National parliamentary library of georgia 7, lado Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 297-16-18 (The exhibition hall of the national parliamentary library of Georgia is open every day, 10:00 - 20:00) till - may 9 gallery represents exhibition of three georgian artists - oleg Timchenko, Vakho Bughadze and Uhsangi Khuma D. Shevardnadze National gallery 11, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 299-80-22 Gallery’s working hours: Saturday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 till - may 5 Baia gallery presents: personal Exhibition by anton Balanchivadze Baia gallery 10 Shardeni Str. Tel: 275-45-10 Gallery’s working hours: 12:00-19:00 till - may 8lado Gudiashvili exhibition «promenade» is presented at the lado gudiashvili Exhibition hall 11 l. Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 293 23 05 Exhibition hall is working every day, 11:00 - 18:30 except Mondays and official holidays. Entry: adults - 5 gEl / people from 6-18 - 3 gEl / Students and pensioners (with ID) - 3 gEl / admission is free for orphan groups (with proof of status) and for children under 6 http://lgexhibitionhall.info-tbilisi.com/ till - may 30

aPriL 30, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 21:00 - Band «Wheels», Dj Datuna Restaurant «mghvime» Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop «riverside») phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72 Every evening from 22:00 inextinguishable star of georgian Estrada gia Suramelashvili and live music: Estrada ensemble «mghvime» (4 boys and 1 girl), tam-tam, violin, saxophone, king. You will listen to famous old and new hits, jazz, blues, rock… Restaurant «Bermukha» Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69 Everyday from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet «Taoba»: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi KakutiaRestaurant «Dzveli Sakhli» 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performance Restaurant «maidan» 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - georgian folk ensemble «Urmuli», georgian dances Café «Kala» 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00 - maia Kankava pub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «goblins» (Covers)


theatreRustaveli Theatre 17, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 272-68-68I Thirst the Wind Direct Director: murman Jinoria cast: murman Jinoria Duration: 75 minutes Date: April 30 hall: experimental Stage Time: 19:00 price: 6, 8 Gelliberty Theatre

2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 298-58-21jeans generation Director: Davit Doiashvili cast: marina Janashia, nana Darchiashvili, Goga chkheidze, Dima Merabishvili, Merab Kolbaia, Lela Metreveli, Jaba Kiladze, Mariam Nadiradze, Apolon Kublashvili, Sandro margalitashvili Duration: 165 minutes Date: April 30 Time: 19:00 price: 6, 12, 14 Gelgeorgian State pantomime Theatre 37 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 299-63-14Krimanchuli Director: Amiran Shalikashvili Duration: 60 minutes Date: April 30 Time: 19:00 price: 5 GelTbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27Scarlet Flower Director: Anatoli lobov Duration: 90 minutes Date: April 30 hall: Big Stage Time: 12:00 15:00 price: 5, 7 GelIrine’s happiness Director: Dimitri Khvtisiashvili Duration: 90 minutes Date: April 30 hall: Big Stage Time: 19:00 price: 7, 10 Gel

GalleryVladimer Kandelaki’s personal Exhibition Sh. amiranashvili art museum 1, Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 299-71-76 museum is working every day except monday. from 11:00 till 17:00 till - may 12 «Where is Your Shadow angel?» – Exhibition by Christine Robakidze Exhibition hall of the National parliamentary library of georgia 7, lado Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 297-16-18 (The exhibition hall of the national parliamentary library of Georgia is open every day, 10:00 - 20:00) till - may 9 gallery represents exhibition of three georgian artists - oleg Timchenko, Vakho Bughadze and Uhsangi Khuma D. Shevardnadze National gallery 11, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 299-80-22 Gallery’s working hours: Saturday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 till - may 5 Baia gallery presents: personal Exhibition by anton Balanchivadze Baia gallery 10 Shardeni Str. Tel: 275-45-10 Gallery’s working hours: 12:00-19:00 till - may 8lado Gudiashvili exhibition «promenade» is presented at the lado gudiashvili Exhibition hall 11 l. Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 293 23 05 Exhibition hall is working every day, 11:00 - 18:30 except Mondays and official holidays. Entry: adults - 5 gEl / people from 6-18 - 3 gEl / Students and pensioners (with ID) - 3 gEl / admission is free for orphan groups (with proof of status) and for children under 6 http://lgexhibitionhall.info-tbilisi.com/ till - may 30

May 1, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 21:00 - Band «Wheels», Dj Datuna maclaren’s Irish pub 5 rkinis rigi (chardin) mob: 599 57 85 4921:30 - live musicRestaurant «mghvime» Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop «riverside») phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72 Every evening from 22:00 inextinguishable star of georgian Estrada gia Suramelashvili and live music: Estrada ensemble «mghvime» (4 boys and 1 girl), tam-tam, violin, saxophone, king. You will listen to famous old and new hits, jazz, blues, rock…Restaurant «Dzveli Sakhli» 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian Dances Tavern «Scarlet Sails» 25, leselidze Str. Tel: 293-10-28 22:00-01:00 - group «Comic Condition»Restaurant «Bermukha» Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69 Everyday from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet «Taoba»: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi KakutiaRestaurant «maidan» 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - maidan jazz Band Café «Kala» 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00 - live Band pub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «zarebi» (Covers)


theatremarjanishvili Theatre 8 marjanishvili Str. Tel: 2 955-966Raspberries Director: levan Tsuladze Cast: Nato Murvanidze, Nika Kuchava Date: may 1 hall: Big Stage Time: 20:00 price: 4 - 10.50 Gelmarjanishvili Theatre 8 marjanishvili Str. Tel: 2 955-966Beauty Queen - premiere Director: Guram Vashakidze Date: may 1 hall: Theatre in Attic Time: 20:00 price: 11 Gelliberty Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 298-58-21So what if wet lilac is wet Director: Gogi Todadze cast: Giorgi Bakhutashvili, otar lortkipanidze, nikoloz paikridze, medea Jibladze, Tamar Tavkhelidze, Tamar Aznarashvili, Mariam Karkashadze, David Kolelishvili Date: may 1 Time: 19:00 price: 6, 9, 11 GelRoyal District Theatre 10 Abesadze Str. Tel: 299-61-71Katzelmacher Director: mikhail charkviani cast: Gaga Shishinashvili, Salome maisashvili, iako chilaia, Ani Guliashvili, magda lebanidze, Ana Tsereteli Duration: 80 minutes Date: may 1 Time: 20:00 price: 7, 10 GelTbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27mousetrap Director: otar Baghaturia Duration: 80 minutes Date: may 1 hall: Big Stage Time: 12:00 15:00 price: 7, 10 Gelgabriadze Theatre 13,Shavteli Str. Tel: 8 790 98-65-91 (magtifix), 298-65-90The Battle of Stalingrad marionette Theatre Author and Director: rezo Gabriadze in russian +10 years Date: may 1 Time: 20:00 price: 5, 10, 15 Gel

GalleryVladimer Kandelaki’s personal Exhibition Sh. amiranashvili art museum 1, Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 299-71-76 museum is working every day except

monday. from 11:00 till 17:00 till - may 12 «Where is Your Shadow angel?» – Exhibition by Christine Robakidze Exhibition hall of the National parliamentary library of georgia 7, lado Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 297-16-18 (The exhibition hall of the national parliamentary library of Georgia is open every day, 10:00 - 20:00) till - may 9 gallery represents exhibition of three georgian artists - oleg Timchenko, Vakho Bughadze and Uhsangi Khuma D. Shevardnadze National gallery 11, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 299-80-22 Gallery’s working hours: Saturday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 till - may 5 Baia gallery presents: personal Exhibition by anton Balanchivadze Baia gallery 10 Shardeni Str. Tel: 275-45-10 Gallery’s working hours: 12:00-19:00 till - may 8lado Gudiashvili exhibition «promenade» is presented at the lado gudiashvili Exhibition hall 11 l. Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 293 23 05 Exhibition hall is working every day, 11:00 - 18:30 except mondays and official holidays. Entry: adults - 5 gEl / people from 6-18 - 3 gEl / Students and pensioners (with ID) - 3 gEl / admission is free for orphan groups (with proof of status) and for children under 6 http://lgexhibitionhall.info-tbilisi.com/ till - may 30

May 2, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-32 21:00 - Band «Band’a’roll», Dj Datuna maclaren’s Irish pub 5 rkinis rigi (chardin) mob: 599 57 85 4921:30 - live musicRestaurant «mghvime» Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop «riverside») phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72 Every evening from 22:00 inextinguishable star of georgian Estrada gia Suramelashvili and live music: Estrada ensemble «mghvime» (4 boys and 1 girl), tam-tam, violin, saxophone, king. You will listen to famous old and new hits, jazz, blues, rock… Restaurant «Bermukha» Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69 Everyday from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet «Taoba»: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi KakutiaRestaurant «Dzveli Sakhli» 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performance Restaurant «maidan» 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - georgian folk ensemble «Urmuli», georgian dances Café «Kala» 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00 - guliko Chanturia pub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «zarebi» (Covers)


theatreRustaveli Theatre 17, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 272-68-68psychosis 4:48 Director: Kita Rokva cast: Beso Zanguri Date: may 2 hall: Grand Stage Time: 19:45 price: 8 Gelmarjanishvili Theatre 8 marjanishvili Str. Tel: 2 955-966Beauty Queen - premiere Director: Guram Vashakidze Date: may 2 hall: Theatre in Attic Time: 20:00 price: 11 Gelliberty Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 298-58-21honeymoon Director: maya Doborjginidze cast: mariam Jologua, Salome Chulukhadze, Natia Kvashali Date: may 2 Time: 19:00 price: 6, 9, 11 GelTbilisi Nodar Dumbadze State Central Children’s Theatre 99/1, D. Agmashenebeli Ave. Tel: 295-78-74, 295-39-27Kukaracha Director: Shalva Gatserelia Duration: 110 minutes Date: may 2 hall: Big Stage Time: 19:00 price: 7, 10 Gelgabriadze Theatre 13,Shavteli Str. Tel: 8 790 98-65-91 (magtifix), 298-65-90Ramona marionette Theatre Author and Director: rezo Gabriadze +10 years Date: may 2 Time: 20:00 price: 5, 10, 15 Gel

GalleryVladimer Kandelaki’s personal Exhibition Sh. amiranashvili art museum 1, Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 299-71-76 museum is working every day except monday. from 11:00 till 17:00 till - may 12 «Where is Your Shadow angel?» – Exhibition by Christine Robakidze Exhibition hall of the National parliamentary library of georgia 7, lado Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 297-16-18 (The exhibition hall of the national parliamentary library of Georgia is open every day, 10:00 - 20:00) till - may 9 gallery represents exhibition of three georgian artists - oleg Timchenko, Vakho Bughadze and Uhsangi Khuma D. Shevardnadze National gallery 11, rustaveli Ave. Tel: 299-80-22 Gallery’s working hours: Saturday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 till - may 5 Baia gallery presents: personal Exhibition by anton Balanchivadze Baia gallery 10 Shardeni Str. Tel: 275-45-10 Gallery’s working hours: 12:00-19:00 till - may 8lado Gudiashvili exhibition «promenade» is presented at the lado gudiashvili Exhibition hall 11 l. Gudiashvili Str. Tel: 293 23 05 Exhibition hall is working every day, 11:00 - 18:30 except mondays and official holidays. Entry: adults - 5 gEl / people from 6-18 - 3 gEl / Students and pensioners (with ID) - 3 gEl / admission is free for orphan groups (with proof of status) and for children under 6 http://lgexhibitionhall.info-tbilisi.com/ till - may 30

May 3, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-3221:00 - agora live Band, Dj Datunamaclaren’s Irish pub 5 rkinis rigi (chardin) mob: 599 57 85 4921:30 - live music; after 01:00 – KaraokeRestaurant «Bermukha» Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259

69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69Every day from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet «Taoba»: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi KakutiaRestaurant «mghvime» Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop «riverside») phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72restaurant is working 24 hours entertainment at the restaurant «mghvime» is colorful. every evening from 20:00 inextinguishable star of Georgian estrada Gia Suramelashvili. estrada ensemble «mghvime» (3 boys and one girl), tam-tam, violin. During weekdays: Singer, composer Kaki Bolkvadze and hot Georgian and Asian dances Restaurant «Dzveli Sakhli» 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian Dances Tavern «Scarlet Sails» 25, leselidze Str. Tel: 293-10-28 22:00-01:00 - group «Comic Condition» Restaurant «maidan» 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - maidan jazz Band Café «Kala» 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00 - maia Baratashvili pub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «zarebi» (Covers)



May 4, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-3221:00 - Veriko Turashvili & live Band, Dj Datuna maclaren’s Irish pub 5 rkinis rigi (chardin) mob: 599 57 85 4921:30 - live music; after 01:00 - Karaoke Restaurant «mghvime» Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop «riverside») phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72restaurant is working 24 hours entertainment at the restaurant «mghvime» is colorful. every evening from 20:00 inextinguishable star of Georgian estrada Gia Suramelashvili. estrada ensemble «mghvime» (3 boys and one girl), tam-tam, violin. During weekdays: Singer, composer Kaki Bolkvadze and hot Georgian and Asian dances Restaurant «Bermukha» Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69Every day from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet «Taoba»: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi Kakutia Restaurant «Dzveli Sakhli» 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian Dances Tavern «Scarlet Sails» 25, leselidze Str. Tel: 293-10-28 22:00-01:00 - group «Comic Condition» Restaurant «maidan» 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - maidan jazz BandCafé «Kala» 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-3721:00 - Keti paresashvili pub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «Rustavi 2» (Covers)


theatreliberty Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 298-58-21god! Save us and people Director: Avto Varsimashvili Cast: Kakha Mikiashvili, Apolon Kublashvili, Dima Merabishvili, Tiko Kordzadze, Mariam Nadiradze, Salome chulikhadze Date: may 4 Time: 20:00 price: 6, 12 Gelgriboedov Theatre 2 rustaveli Ave. Tel: 293-11-06marriage Director: Avtandil Varsimashvili Cast: Mariam Kitia, Apolon Kublashvili,

Irina Kvizhinadze, Valery Kharutchenko, Nana Darchiashvili, oleg mchedlishvili Duration: 110 minutes Date: may 4 Time: 18:00 price: 5 Gelgabriadze Theatre 13,Shavteli Str. Tel: 8 790 98-65-91 (magtifix), 298-65-90Ramona marionette Theatre Author and Director: rezo Gabriadze +10 years Date: may 4 Time: 20:00 price: 5, 10, 15 Gel


May 5, 2013

Clubs, Pubs…SkyyBar 22 metekhi Str. mob: 592 32-32-3221:00 - agora live Band, Dj Datuna Restaurant «Bermukha» Agmashenebeli lane 13th km. Tel: 259 69 69; mob: 598 59 69 69 Every day from 17:00 restaurant Bermukha is awaiting you with renovated hall and colorful show program. music program starts from 19:00: Dato archvadze’s quartet «Taoba»: georgian folk and city songs. Estrada singers: giorgi Tsiklauri, Nina okroashvili, giorgi Kakutia Restaurant «mghvime» Address: left bank of mtkvari river (next to shop «riverside») phone: 2 305 558/ 2 359 540; 599 56 60 72restaurant is working 24 hours entertainment at the restaurant «mghvime» is colorful. every evening from 20:00 inextinguishable star of Georgian estrada Gia Suramelashvili. estrada ensemble «mghvime» (3 boys and one girl), tam-tam, violin. During weekdays: Singer, composer Kaki Bolkvadze and hot Georgian and Asian dances Restaurant «Dzveli Sakhli» 3, Sanapiro Str. Tel: 2 365-365 20:00-23:00 - georgian songs with live performance Restaurant «maidan» 6, rkinis rigi Str. Tel: 275-11-88; 590 75-11-88 20:30 - georgian folk ensemble «Urmuli», georgian dances Café «Kala» 8/10 Erekle II Str. Mob: 599 79-97-37 21:00 - live Band pub «Dublin» 8 Akhvlediani Str, Tel: 298-44-67 21:00-24:00 - Band «Rustavi 2» (Covers)


5ConcertTbilisi Event hall 1, meliqishvilii Str. Tel: 299-00-99 jazz Series 21:00 - lee Ritenour Band @ Tbilisi Event hall (Ticket price: 60, 90 Gel)


For more information, please, visit the following

website: www.info-tbilisi.com E-mail: [email protected]

where to go

kievOne way (Tbilisi- Kiev) -217Gel

One way (Kiev - Tbilisi) 153 GelRound Trip (Tbilisi- Kiev-Tbilisi) - 365 Gel

dubaiRound Trip (Tbilisi – Dubai – Tbilisi)-

465 GelOne way(Tbilisi - Dubai) - 348 Gel

dusseLdorFOne way (Tbilisi - Dusseldorf) - 310

GelRound Trip(Tbilisi – Dusseldorf-Tbilisi) - 607 Gel

erbiLOne way (Tbilisi - Erbil) -

347Gel Round Trip(Tbilisi – Erbil- Tbilisi) - 550 Gel

From tbilisi to day depart arrive Flight#

aktau 4.7 02:50 05:10 DV 842

amsterdam 1.6 06:10 07:55 A9 651

amsterdam 3.7 16:00; 08:00 17:50; 09:50 9Y 301

almaty 1.2.4.6 08:55 14:35 KC E90

athens 1 06:15 07:15 A3 983

baku 1.3.5.6.7 01:50;12:30 03:10;13:50 J2 224/226

baku DAILY 15:05;20:15 16:20;21:30 QR 975/977

batumi 5.7 14:45 15:15 A9 505

doha DAYLY 15:05/19:05 20:15/00:15+1 QR 975/977

dubai 2.7.4 08:00 11:10 9Y 411

dubai 2.4.6 06:35 10:00 FZ 714

donetsk 7 02:50 02:35 QU 202

istanbul DAILY 05:15;18:15 05:45 18:45 TK 387/383

istanbul DAILY 06:30 06:45 PC 463

kiev 2.3.5.7 08:40;17:00 09:10;17:10 A9 557

kiev DAILY 07:30; 18:20 08:00;19:00 PS 728/516

London 1.3.5 15:30 17:10 BA 158

Minsk DAILY 03:55 06:05 B2 736

Moscow X3.5 09:50 12:20 A9 930

Moscow 1.3.5.6.7 16:35 19:25 S7 956

odessa 7 15:05 16:10 QU 212

Munich DAILY 05:05 06:10 LH 2557

Prague 3.6 05:20 06:15 OK 935

riga 1.3.6 07:00 08:35 BT 723

rome 2.7 06:00 07:15 AZ 551

tel-aviv 2.4.7 18:25 19:10 A9 695

vienna 4.7 08:55 09:25 A9 681

urumqi 2 22:40 07:30+1 CZ 6040

warsaw 2.4.7 05:50 06:25 LO 724

Days=( 1-Monday., 2-Tuesday., 3-Wedsday., 4-Thursday., 5-Friday., 6-Saturday., 7-Sunday. D-Daily; X-except off)

Tel: 2 999 662

SpECIal oFFER FRom BUSINESSTaREVlCom To EgYpT

ShaRm El ShEIKh7 NIghTS / 8 DaYS

3* Hotels from 460 USD per person4* Hotels from 480 USD per person5* Hotel from 570 USD per person

AIR TICKETS ROUND TRIP (TBILISI-SHARM EL SHEIKH-TBILISI)TRANSFER, HOTELS (ALL INCLUSIVE)

CALL: 2999 662; 592 07 53 53

SpECIal oFFER FRom BUSINESSTRaVElCom

CALL: 2999 662; 592 07 53 53. E-MAIL: [email protected]

brusseLsOne way (Tbilisi - Brussels) -

261GelRound Trip (Tbilisi – Brussels - Tbilisi) - 424 Gel


C M Y K

green business


The CSR Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia (AmCham) intends to strengthen its corporate

social responsibility and green direc-tions and raise awareness of these in the regions of Georgia this year.

“The concepts of CSR and Green Business are more or less under-standable to the companies oper-ating in Tbilisi, but there is a huge problem with low awareness in the regions of the country,” said Margo Zhiznevskaya, Head of the CSR Committee at AmCham and CEO and owner of Financial Brokers Georgia. “The AmCham CSR Com-mittee is going to hold trainings in the regions to raise awareness of CSR there. In general 2013 will be the most successful year for devel-oping CSR in Georgia as British Pe-troleum has started a countrywide programme promoting CSR. This programme aims to raise awareness and implement CSR programmes on a countrywide scale. The project will involve many individuals and com-panies,” she added.

Race for Boston and Earth hour held at the Sheraton Metechi Palace are some of the activities that the AmCham CSR Committee was in-volved in for the purpose of protect-ing the environment and being more eco-friendly.

The Corporate Social Responsi-bility Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce was founded in the beginning of 2012. At that time there were 30 AmCham mem-bers who then became interested in the CSR Committee. Since then Am-Cham has been very active in imple-menting CSR projects in Georgia as well as contributing to the develop-ment of CSR throughout the coun-try.

“We have several goals and strat-

egies for 2013. These include assist-ing to develop a PR and advertising campaign to promote the image of businesses in Georgia; bringing economic development; cooperat-ing with the anti-corruption concern under the Ministry of Justice on the relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption issues; developing a code of ethics template and policy manu-als to be used by AmCham members and the wider business community,” Zhiznevskaya said.

“Several factors contribute to the developing of CSR in general and among them one of the most im-portant is competition. Competition drives companies to find alternative ways to attract more customers and business partners. Before, only big companies were involved in CSR activities as they thought it required too much money to develop CSR. But now, more and more small and medium-sized companies are be-coming interested in CSR. Still, this tendency is not as big as it should be but the situation is changing rapidly and we hope to be able to see a very positive result in the near future. The reason why CSR activities are still not very big is that there is a lack of information in business commu-nities as well as in society and the mass media,” she added.

Q. What is the profit for those companies who are actively in-volved in CSR activities?

A. Improving business processes inside and outside a company and raising its reputation are a result of CSR activities for companies. These results will bring further develop-ment to the business itself which will then turn into financial profit as well. If you are a company to work in, to work with and to buy from then you are definitely successful, with big profit.

CSR is for creating a reputation for a company in the long term per-spective, which will be reflected in its stability and a positive impact on the environment. This only happens

in the case of having the right CSR campaign. A campaign is not right when it is only associated with char-ity and simply throwing money at a problem.

Q. How can a company plan the right CSR campaign to bring it profit?

A. A company should ask itself: a) are my employees satisfied with the job they have? Do they feel the stability of the company and do they associate their private success to the company’s success? b) Is the compa-ny responsible to its suppliers, busi-ness partners? Are they comfortable with the company and its stakehold-ers? Will they choose the company over its competitors? Do they feel safe in cooperating with the com-pany? c) Clients - are promises given to be promises kept? When they buy the company’s product or service do they feel as though they are part of the company’s CSR programme, global environmental programme?

If a company has largely positive answers to these questions then it in all likelihood has a good CSR cam-paign.

Q. What about the profit for customers? How will they ben-efit from CSR campaigns?

A. First of all CSR will be benefi-cial for the employees of a company which is involved in CSR itself. If a company’s activity includes a nega-tive impact on the environment, then they should try to do something positive at the same time to make up for it. In this way, the population always benefits. When this popula-tion are the buyers of the product and know that what is written on the package of the product is upheld, it means that they are getting benefit from a CSR-friendly company.

As for the company’s expenses for implementing CSR projects, I think that at least 10 percent of its budget will be enough for this. It is absolute-ly possible to implement CSR proj-ects with less expense and gain big profit in the long term perspective.

AmCham Focusing on Green Business

hIghesT shAre IN swedeN, LATvIA,

FINLANd ANd AusTrIA

the FinanCiaL

In 2011, energy from renewable sources1 was estimated to have contributed 13.0% of gross fi-nal energy consumption in the EU27, compared with 7.9% in

2004 and 12.1% in 2010. The share of renewables in gross final energy

consumption is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strat-egy. The target for the EU27 to be reached by 2020 is a share of 20% renewable energy use in gross final energy consumption. The national targets3 take into account the Mem-ber States’ different starting points, renewable energy potential and eco-nomic performance.

Between 2010 and 2011, almost all Member States increased their share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption. The high-est shares of renewable energy in final energy consumption in 2011 were found in Sweden (46.8% of re-newable energy sources in total con-

sumption), Latvia (33.1%), Finland (31.8%) and Austria (30.9%), and the lowest in Malta (0.4%), Luxembourg (2.9%), the United Kingdom (3.8%), Belgium (4.1%) and the Netherlands (4.3%). In 2011, Estonia was the first Member State to exceed its Europe 2020 target.

Since 20045, the share of renew-able energy in final energy consump-tion grew in all Member States. The largest increases during this period were recorded in Sweden (from 38.3% in 2004 to 46.8% in 2011), Denmark (from 14.9% to 23.1%), Austria (from 22.8% to 30.9%), Ger-many (from 4.8% to 12.3%) and Es-tonia (from 18.4% to 25.9%).

Renewable Energy


C M Y K

| places we strongly reccommend to visit | diningSaNCho

23, Akhvlediani Str. Tel: 298 25 98

DISCoVERY

40, Chavchavadze Ave. Tel: 229 42 30

24/24

pICaSSo

4, Vashlovani Str.Tel: 298 90 86

64, Paliasvili Str.Tel: 225 06 69

# 20 Shavteli Str. Tel: 293 10 80

hangar Bar

Better seen than heard

16, Akhvlediani Str. Tel: 293 60 52

BUFFalo BIll

Red Café - Bistro & Cafe

# 71 Vazha-phavela Ave.Tel: 2201 211

[email protected]

VERa STEaKhoUSE

37, Kostava Str.Tel: 298 37 67

Segafredo zanetti Espresso

26, Chavchavadze Ave

Tel: 222 36 77

TSISKVIlI

Beliashvili Str. Tel: 253 07 97

Better seen than heard

DUBlIN IRISh pUB

8, Akhvlediani Str.Tel: 298 44 67

CoFFEE gE

27, Abashidze Str.Tel: 222 50 66

pREgo10, Paliashvili Str. Tel: 225 22 58

15, Erekle II. Tel: 293 14 11

25, Tarkhnishvili Str. Tel: 225 25 16

2, MarjaniSvili Str. Tel: 2 999 723

41, Gamsakhurdia Str.Tel: 237 96 88

SIaNg-gaN

prospero’s Books34, rustaveli Ave. Tel: (+995 32) 2923 592

ENglISh TEE hoUSE

5, Marjanishvili Str. Tel: 294 16 20

32, Paliashvili Str.Tel: 222 11 09

Belle Ville

french - european bar-restaurant pleasant and cozy atmosphere high quality service, live music every day

26, l.Kiacheli Str. Tel: 293 65 53

Entree

13 Taktakishvili Str.20 Rustaveli Ave.19 Petriashvili Str.

7 Pekini Str.78 Chavchavadze Ave.

(Bagebi)86 Aghmashenebeli ave.

Tel.: 599 21 53 83

DoNUTS

10/12, Abashidze Str. Tel: 225 39 85

4 Freedom Square,Tel: 254 70 30

[email protected]

www.citadines.com

VElTINS

43 Abashidze Str. Tel: 222 60 18

lITERaTURUlI CaFÉ

2, Tarkhnishvili Str.Tel: 244 45 46

31, Pekini Str.Tel: 231 30 57

22, Abashidze Str.Tel: 222 02 7636, Kostava Str.Tel: 299 07 46

For advertising

please contact:

577 741 [email protected]

BusinessTravelComHotel and airticket bookinG: 2 999 662 | sky.Ge

4, Besiki Str.

Tel: 2 519 966

QUEUE

#1 Freedom squ.Tel: 2 240 241


C M Y K

WISSOL GROUPBEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BETTER FUTURE

Advertiser: Wissol Group. Contact FINANCIAL Ad Dep at [email protected]

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Green Business 2013