Page 36 - bne IntelliNews Georgia country report November 2017

prime ministers of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Uzbekistan, praised the new connection as the fastest way to connect through to London from Beijing by land. Part of China's One Belt, One Way infrastructure programme, the BTK provides a solution to transport freight across Asia and Europe with no need to pass through Russia or Iran.
According to a statement issued by the EU delegation in Baku, the ralway represents a major step in interconnecting Central Asia, Europe, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Positioning themselves as transport nodes between their bigger neighbours also enhances the geostrategic importance of the two small countries in the South Caucasus. Squished between Turkey, Iran and Russia, both Georgia and Azerbaijan have had ambivalent relations with Russia in recent years; Azerbaijan's relations with Iran have also been frequently strained. By creating a "golden triangle" of economic cooperation with the only large neighbour that has not been threatening, Turkey, Baku and Tbilisi are hoping to strengthen their relative importance in the region.
9.1.3 Agriculture sector news
Favouritism has decimated the number of Georgian companies that rear and sell sheep, an investigation by Studio Monitor, an associate of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), revealed on August 16.
Georgia's sheep industry took off a decade ago, when a Georgian farmer brought Turkish and Lebanese investors to Georgia. They became interested in grass-fed sheep that are customarily sacrificed in Muslim communities for the Eid al-Adha holiday.
By 2008, the price paid for one head of sheep went from almost nothing to $60, one of the farmers interviewed for the investigation reported; the price continued to increase, moving up by 50% in 2009. Meanwhile, the number of companies active in this niche increased from two in 2008 to 21 in 2009, while exports shot up from 25,271 sheep worth $1.1mn in 2008 to 266,540 sheep worth $17.1mn in 2009.
But state controls introduced in 2011 decimated the industry to the point where only five exporters remained in 2013, the investigation argued. Out of the four companies that are still active in sheep rearing at the moment, two of them reportedly have connections with a former minister of agriculture, Otar Donelia, who is currently the head of parliament's agriculture committee
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Thus, Victoria LLC and Alkernazi LLC, the two companies, were registered at the same address in Tbilisi nine days apart in 2013. Victoria was founded by Gia Adamia, whose nephew is a close friend and former classmate of Donelia's, the investigation claimed.
The farmers who have quit the industry allege that this link has resulted in government favouritism for the companies and roadblocks for everyone else, driving them out of business.
Meanwhile, one of the first foreign investors in the business, a Turkish
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