Page 6 - GEORptFeb21

Meanwhile, Georgia’s domestic exports, which exclude exports of goods that are re-exported, increased by 3.5% y/y in 2020 to more than $2.4bn, driven by exports of metal ores to China, according to statistics office Geostat. ​ ​Direct exports have now been on the rise for four years, moving up 50% since 2016. Total exports in 2020, however, contracted by 12% y/y to $3.34bn.
On the political front, ​Bidzina Ivanishvili, billionaire founder and chairman of Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream and the ​dominant politician in the country for the past decade​, announced his retirement from politics. Ivanishvili has quit once before, several years back, before returning to renew his part in Georgia’s always heated political battle, so many sceptics will expect him to return to politics once again.
Irakli Kobakhidze, who currently serves as executive secretary of Georgian Dream, is expected to replace Ivanishvili as party chairman.
Also seemingly bowing out of Georgian politics, at least on a de facto basis, is ex-president Mikhael Saakashvili, who, with his United National Movement (UNM), failed time and time again to knock Ivanishvili off his perch. His role in the general election proved divisive among some of the opposition. Saakashvili’s credibility and support among voters has also faded although the UNM remains the leading opposition party in Georgia.
2.0​ ​Politics
2.1​ ​Georgia’s political kingpin Bidzina Ivanishvili quits
politics
Bidzina Ivanishvili, billionaire founder and chairman of Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream and the ​dominant politician in the country for the past decade​, on January 11 announced he is retiring from politics.
"I deem my mission to have been accomplished. I have decided to completely withdraw from politics and let go of the reins of power. I am leaving my position as party chairman, as well as the party itself," Ivanishvili, who will turn 65 years-old in a few weeks’ time, said.
Ivanishvili is stepping out of the political limelight at a curious time in Georgian politics. Georgian Dream won two-thirds of parliament’s seats in last autumn’s general election, but the opposition parties have refused to také their seats in the legislature, remaining united in accusing Ivanishvili’s party of having rigged the vote.
"It is heartbreaking that a constructive opposition has not been created," Ivanishvili wrote in his farewell letter.
After making his fortune in Russia in the 1990s in metals and banking, Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest person, set up Georgian Dream in 2011. A year later, it won the general election and a year after that dislodged the president, Mikhael Saakashvili, who, with his United National Movement (UNM), had ruled since the November 2003 Rose Revolution.
Ivanishvili has quit once before, several years back, before returning to renew his part in Georgia’s always heated political battle, so many sceptics will
6​ GEORGIA Country Report​ February 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com