Trip to Georgia

At the request of Nico Nissen, a former IFC German colleague, I joined the annual field visit of a small NGO called HERA. Its goal is to support women by creating jobs for them.  This is seen as a means of protecting them from human traffickers active in many Easter European countries. It has been operating since 2010 in various countries in Eastern Europe. Their approach is to offer grants for small capital items to existing women entrepreneurs. In all cases, the grant is given on condition they agree to create a new job,  while in others the grant is given to ensure the entrepreneur can stay afloat.

I found the idea intriguing and agreed to meet Nico and his 3 colleagues in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.  The team had been working in Georgia for a week already. 

I left Montreal on Sunday, August 15th to Frankfurt, Berlin, and Istanbul to Tbilisi. It was my first long trip in 2 years and actually took 24 hours from door to door. The flights were full but mask-wearing was strictly enforced on all flights and in all airports because of Covid. I had a covid test done in the airport of Montreal just in case rules would change while I was traveling although I am double vaccinated with Pfizer.   

I finally arrived in Tbilisi on Monday at 10 pm and was in my hotel by midnight. The group had booked us in the Terrace hotel which is a small modern hotel overlooking the city.  I had a good night sleep and joined the other 3 of the group for breakfast on Tuesday morning on the hotel roof with a wonderful view of Tbilisi. The city sits in a huge valley between towering hills with a river running through the city.    

We reviewed the planned activities for Armenia and I met my new colleagues.  Nico Nissen worked with me in Africa and was based in my Nairobi APDF office. He is an agricultural engineer and actually owns a large farm in Northern Germany near the Danish border. Lynellen and Dennis Long are US nationals who live in the UK and France. Lynellen founded the NGO with Nico. Her husband Dennis worked at IFC with the Mekong small business project. So, at this meeting of 5, three of us were former IFC staff members. The fourth member was Paul Steckler who is a college friend of  Lynellen. Paul is a professor at the University of Texas in Austin, He is also a producer of a number of award-winning documentaries.   

After lunch, Dennis Long and I took a BOLT taxi downtown. Bolt is a local copy of UBER and dirt cheap. In fact, the 10-minute ride from the hotel to the old town, near the Marriot Hotel cost about US$1.50!      Dennis and I ambled through the beautiful old town for about 3 hours. Pictures can be seen at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ekJ76WMehouDaF857

The city is clean and has been rehabilitated after 70 years of communist rule. In some corners, one could see old run-down buildings but mostly old buildings have been redone and there are quite a number of historic buildings which predate the communist period.  It is an other case of the whole Russian soviet period being erased from visual history as fast as possible leaving no traces of that period to be seen.   As I have read often, that period of colonial occupation is going to be the only one in history which leaves little to nothing to be seen. Names are changed, buildings are torn down and huge efforts are made to hide any traces of that period everywhere, even in Russia.

The general impression is of a clean and well-maintained city with lots of new structures but more old structures which have been rehabilitated.  I am told that there is little to no corruption in this country and people seem to respect the traffic and pedestrian signs. There is very little car horn hooping and drivers actually stop to let pedestrians cross the streets.   We stopped in a number of small shops which sell the usual tourist trinkets. Prices are not cheap but then this was the main tourist area. We spent an hour in a carpet shop looking at various carpets but did not buy anything. I am hoping to get a nice carpet somewhere in Armenia next week.

In the evening, Nico and I joined Sebastian Molineus for dinner. He is the World Bank resident director for Georgia, Armenia, and Arzibijan.  He is actually the son of a former Bank staff member whom Nico and I know.  The dinner was at a converted wine cellar which now houses some 6 or 7 restaurants, called wine factory 1. Wine used to be produced here for delivery to the Soviet Union.  The weather was pleasant and we ate outside. It was an interesting dinner as Sebastian gave us good insights into the situation in these three countries he covers. It is a strange portfolio as Armenia and Arzibijan recently were at war in the Nagarno Kahrabak which Armenia lost badly due to the superior drone force which Arzibijan used to totally wipe out the Armenian land forces. They destroyed its 200 tanks, all its radar facilities, and many of its troops holed up in trenches.  The drones had been supplied by Turkey and Israel. As Arzibijan is an oil exporter to Europe, it is flush with money to acquire arms. Actually, Nagarano Kahrabak is an Armenian enclave inside the borders of Arzibijan and has been the cause of several wars in the last century.  

Sebastian gave us an interesting insight into how the development of Chinese industry away from its west coast to inland cities was putting Georgia into the path of future land Silk Road transportation corridors from China to Europe. Already roads and railways were being built through the middle of Georgia.  Further transport North-South into Russia was promoting massive drilling of tunnels through the Caucasian mountain range to the north.  With the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia had lost its main wine export market. This forced the Georgian wine producers to turn to export to Europe. This meant going from producing cheap and terrible wines for Russia to making the huge leap into the quality wine market of Europe. The transition has been made and today Georgia is a large exporter of quality wines to markets in the West.   

The next day, most of the group was off to play golf. As I do not enjoy that game, I had the day to myself. I decided to use the Funicular which goes to the top of the mountain. It starts on the street of our hotel about a 10-minute walk away.  It is a modern facility build in 2014 and rises some 250 meters in a short steep ride. Once there one has to climb about 100 steps to the first flat area. I did that and stopped to have a Georgian mushroom soup in the shade overlooking the city, I must say that after 2 years of living in a one-story house in Florida and an apartment in Montreal, my stair climbing system needs a very good workout. I got that just today and am feeling it in the legs. See photos at:https://photos.app.goo.gl/GwfAD6VUtYuAMKiA8