CM MARCH 2022

COUNTRY FOCUS
Georgia: The art
of being business
friendly.
ON THE GRAPEVINE
MENTION Georgia, or even
search for it on the web, and
it’s more likely than not that
what is returned will relate to
the State of Georgia, the last of
the thirteen colonies founded
in what became the United States of America.
However, we’re more interested in the republic
of Georgia, a country that was once part of the
Soviet Union, a country located in southwest Asia,
with the Black Sea to its east, Russia to the north,
and Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the south.
First unified by King Bagrat III in the 11th
century, it flourished under Kings David IV and
Tamar but fell to the Mongols in 1243. By 1490
it had fragmented into small kingdoms which
struggled against the Ottomans and Persians until
the Russians annexed it in the 19th century.
It’s been independent since 1991 following the
collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s first president,
Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was a nationalist who was
deposed in a coup within eight months. A civil war
began soon after which ended in 1995 with two
regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Tskhinvali)
breaking away – with support from Russia.
But mounting public discontent over rampant
corruption and poor Government services,
followed by an attempt by the Government to
manipulate parliamentary elections in November
2003, touched off widespread protests that led to
the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze, president
since 1995.
Now, tensions with Russia are still unresolved;
increasing US economic and political influence in
the country has long been a source of concern for
neighbouring Russia, as have Georgia’s aspirations
to join NATO and the EU. And with tensions on
the Ukrainian border, it’s likely that the Georgian
Government may be sweating at present.
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein
GEOGRAPHY AND PEOPLE
Georgia is not a large country with just 69,000 sq.
km of land (the UK measures 242,495 sq.km). And
of that, around 12,560 sq. km is Russian occupied
– namely, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
It occupies a strategic location which, says
export.gov, makes it a natural logistics and transit
hub along the ‘New Silk Road’ that links Asia and
Europe via the Caucasus.
The CIA World Factbook estimates, based on
2018 data, that 35.5 percent of the landmass is
given over to agriculture, 39.4 percent to forest,
and 25.1 percent to other uses.
Kakheti is the most important
wine region in Georgia in
quantitative, qualitative and even
historic terms. Almost threequarters
of the country’s wine
grapes are grown here, on land
that has been used for viticulture
for thousands of years.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2022 / PAGE 24