Gov’t to write off 1 BLN GEL in fines for renewable energy companies u...

According to him, one of the obstacles hindering the development of the energy system is the debt accumulated by companies over recent years in the form of fines and penalties.“We have made a critically important decision to write off fines and penalties imposed on companies operating in the sector, subject to specific conditions. All energy sector companies involved in developing renewable energy projects will have their accumulated state fines, with the total amount reaching one billion lari, written off under specific conditions.As for the conditions: to ensure companies are not tempted to continue operating irresponsibly and accumulating new fines, but instead take the state’s sector reform initiative seriously, they will be fully liable for any newly accumulated penalties and fines should they breach the renewed deadlines. Moreover, the fines forgiven by today’s decision will be reinstated,” Kobakhidze stated.According to the Prime Minister, the conditional debt relief serves two simultaneous purposes.“On the one hand, companies must have the financial barrier removed in the process of implementing energy projects, and on the other hand, companies must retain maximum motivation to implement planned projects within the grant deadlines. Debt forgiveness should mark the beginning of a new process based on bilateral cooperation, yet imbued with responsibility. This means new agreements, new schedules, and new reasonable mutual obligations between the state and companies. We shall take a strict approach to any new unfulfilled obligations or new debts to the state budget. With our new approach, we are beginning to implement an energy policy that will be acceptable to companies involved in the energy sector and from which the country will derive maximum benefit,” Kobakhidze declared.As Irakli Kobakhidze stated at today’s briefing, today’s decision will provide fresh impetus for the development of the energy system.“Our decision today will provide fresh impetus for the development of the energy system, which is of decisive importance for the country’s economic development and the strengthening of economic independence. I thank Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Mariam Kvrivishvili, and the ministry’s team for preparing this critically important decision. I wish the energy companies success in the process of implementing renewable energy projects,” the Prime Minister stated.

Tbilisi is testing the limits of Baku's patience

Azerbaijan media writes that Georgia has demanded a very high tariff for the possible transit of Azerbaijan oil to Armenia.As Baku claims, this contradicts Georgia’s own interests.As Azerbaijan მmedia writes, “Georgia does not have the luxury of ignoring Azerbaijan’s interests,” especially since “Georgia’s logistics monopoly is no longer without alternatives.”Earlier, Azerbaijan media wrote that the Georgian side was artificially hindering the transportation of Azerbaijani cargo through customs.

11th graders will only study subjects for national exams

“It is important to make the 11th grade, the final grade, specialized. This reflects the goal, which is related, first of all, to returning students to school, increasing the prestige and authority of the school and removing the pressure on families, which is related to financial issues in terms of preparing students for the national exams,” Givi Mikanadze said.In addition, those wishing to study in the 12th grade of public schools will have the opportunity to complete the relevant registration in March of each year. "Starting from the next academic year, school uniforms will be mandatory in all public schools from the first to the sixth grade, in a test mode," Mikanadze added.Socially vulnerable families will receive state support regarding uniforms."All families that are assessed by the Ministry of Health with 60,000 points or less will receive appropriate support from the state regarding uniforms," ​​Mikanadze said.Givi Mikanadze, during the presentation of the general education reform, also stated that "the voucher component of public school financing will be maintained, although we will consider different models that will help eliminate the necessary needs for schools."According to him, the general education reform will fundamentally change the teaching-learning process.In addition, completely new textbooks will be written within two to three years.According to Mikanadze, over the past six months, the ministry has selected groups of experts from various disciplines through a selection procedure.Research organization Gnomon Wise On October 16, 2025 reviewed the education reform. The organization notes, that Irakli Kobakhidze presented a concept for higher education reform that identifies the main challenges in the higher education sector and proposes ways to address them.The challenges include: “1. Excessive geographic concentration of higher education; 2. Irrational use of resources and uneven quality of teaching in the universities; 3. Lack of a coherent Human Resources strategy; 4. Weak link between teaching and research, including a lack of education programs and textbooks of modern standards; 5. Significant mismatch between higher education priorities and labor market needs and 6. Inefficient funding system.”“The higher education reform concept,34 developed by the governmental commission without the involvement of representatives of state universities or education experts, raises a number of questions regarding its true purpose. The concept does not justify the need to implement changes in this manner and, in many cases, instead of improving the quality of higher education institutions, creates additional  problems. If the higher education reform concept is first turned into a draft law and then enacted, Georgia's higher education system will regress decades to a centralized Soviet-era model. The state would control both the form and substance of education, students would be reduced to passive recipients, and academic freedom would be systematically dismantled. If fully implemented, the concept will isolate the Georgian education system from the European academic space and limit students’ ability to obtain internationally recognized, high-quality education”, - Gnomon Wise writes.The reform concept contradicts both Article 27 of the Constitution of Georgia, which guarantees the autonomy of universities, as well as the obligations assumed under the Association Agreement and the principles of the Bologna Process which ensure that universities have the right to determine their own academic profile, educational programs, personnel policy, and research directions. 

GD announces legal action against BBC in international courts over 'fa...

As the statement notes, GD will “use every possible legal means to ensure that the so-called media outlet spreading falsehoods answers for the dissemination of dirty, false accusations”.“This morning, the BBC published an article which, in addition to numerous absurd and false pieces of information, contains an accusation against the Georgian government that the Ministry of Internal Affairs allegedly used a ‘chemical substance’ against violent protesters during illegal rallies. Naturally, this so-called media outlet, which has been turned into a propaganda weapon of the ‘Deep State’, has presented not a single fact to substantiate this grave accusation.Moreover, all speculation is based on the opinions of specific individuals, among them Doctor Chakhunashvili, who is one of the active participants in illegal rallies, whilst his family member, his father, Giorgi Chakhunashvili, personally participated in the October 4 ‘overthrow of the government process’ and physically broke into the courtyard of the Georgian Presidential Palace. Furthermore, the article predominantly features interested parties, Gigauri, the accused Khasaia, the accused Shaishmelashvili, the convicted Bachiashvili and other similar individuals.The Georgian Dream communications team maintained active contact with the ‘investigative journalist’ before the publication of the article. We prepared comprehensive responses to every question posed by the BBC, addressing the British media outlet’s interests meticulously and in detail. Given that in recent times the aforementioned media outlet has become embroiled in more than one scandal, has repeatedly been confirmed to have spread falsehoods, and for this reason even the broadcaster’s top management was replaced, at the beginning of our response we set only two conditions—that our position be covered in full, we offered to provide evidence of every word we sent, whilst in parallel we demanded that, in observance of high journalistic standards, all reasoning presented in the article be based solely on evidence. In return, we were met with a jumble of lies and serious accusations against the government, which, as we have noted, are based on the narratives of interested parties and, of course, bear no relation to reality.It is well known to the public that several weeks ago, the BBC was embroiled in a scandal when the so-called media outlet broadcast a crudely edited interview with U.S. President Donald Trump, in which the context and content of the conversation had been distorted. As a result of this manipulation, the broadcaster’s director-general and executive news director resigned from their positions, though this more resembled rolling out the red carpet for the U.S. President than accepting responsibility for a mistake.That the BBC has no moral or professional obstacles to fulfilling dirty commissions and spreading falsehoods is also clearly evident from today’s published article, whilst the change in their management reminds us of the several changes of prime minister in Britain in recent years, which in that country has been followed not by fundamental change, not even by façade change, and as a result one ‘Deep State’-controlled government has replaced another.Because an outlet once considered authoritative, which today has been turned into a propaganda weapon of informal governance, has publicly spread false accusations against the Georgian government and has not presented even a single piece of evidence in the article to substantiate these accusations; because the so-called ‘journalistic investigation’ built on lies is primarily based on the narratives of criminals and has nothing in common with reality; because the BBC received exhaustive answers to all questions and did not publish even 1% of the substantiated responses in the article; because this dirty propaganda material is an attempt to smear the Georgian government, the Georgian police and, most importantly, Georgian statehood, we have decided to initiate legal proceedings against the fake media outlet in international courts.We will utilise every legal measure available to ensure that the so-called media outlet spreading falsehoods is held accountable for disseminating baseless, malicious accusations.Enclosed, we provide in full the questions supplied by the BBC before the publication of the article, along with the responses we submitted,” reads the Georgian Dream statement.

Georgian Dream Received GEL 4.1 MLN Donations in September

The information released by TI states that “in September, the party received donations from those whose companies received GEL 204 million in direct purchases from the state, GEL 16 million in agricultural subsidies, 1.4 million sq m of construction permits, and 17 mineral licenses.”“In addition to winning tenders worth GEL  2.5 billion since 2015, companies affiliated with donors have received a number of other benefits from the state - direct purchases, agricultural subsidies, construction permits and mineral licenses.For more information about donations, as well as information about the donors' business interests and their participation in state procurement, visit the website: www.politicaldonations.ge,” the organization says in a statement.