FROM THE EDITOR

Jemal Inaishvili

In May the world started to speak about the world energy market in a keener manner.

Firstly, the first tanker is being loaded in Jeikhan from Baku-Tbilisi-Jeikhan oil pipeline, the official opening of which is planned in Turkey for June with participation of the countries that took part in the project as well as of the President of the United States. Secondly, in May seven European countries, along with India and China, signed the agreement on the final stage of creation in France of a proving ground for laboratory thermonuclear testing and its financing. The project envisages generation of alternative hydrogen energy starting from 2010 and its cost will make up 11 billion USD. In June the G7 leaders will be discussing this project of the century, the efficiency of which is 100 times more than that of a nuclear power station, at their meeting in St. Petersburg. At the same time, the oil prices have remained at a seriously high level and ranged from 68 to 75 USD striking the keynote of the world economy’s dynamics. Inflation management and retention of production growth remains the main problem of the excited world. Of course, all this, which we call external factors having an effect on the economic problems, affected Georgia as well and seriously deteriorated the macroeconomic indicators causing the strain of the social background. So, we offer a broad discussion on the world energy issues as well as the cause-and-effect relation of social issues in Georgia in the article “The Consumer Market’s Trends in Georgia and the Problems of the World Oil Business”.
In April, our magazine, along with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and USAID, held a conference on standardization and certification issues at “Metekhi” hotel. In June we are going to hold a similar conference on the export potential, its management and business promotion issues. All this and also the first wine festival, which we held in May together with the National Museum, serves the purpose of studying the country’s export potential and the issues related to its utilization. This means assistance to business in order to develop new markets and offer new products to the world. From this point of view, we, along with the experts, started a discussion on the European Generalized System of Preferences as well as on the problems related to the development of the local curative tourism. The discussion will continue in the next issue as well, and at this conference we shall try to elaborate a single approach to export promotion and provide for participation of each of you in this discussion, be it a letter sent to the editorial office or a direct participation in the conference – it will contribute to the development of the country’s economy. We believe that today Georgia has no issue that has more priority. These issues are not only the main topics of the issue, but are vitally important for all of us.
In this issue we also present an interesting review of the insurance market. We shall consider its trends, the directions of its development, whether it promotes the development of business and what it gives to all of us.
We traditionally present the Tax and Accounting Bulletins, in which we consider new problems of cargo registration at the customs and the trends of the Georgian market in May, as well as the National Bank’s news and recommendations of the International Monetary Fund.
The country is growing and occupies an increasingly significant place in the world. Moreover, we often find ourselves in the epicenter of the world events, the way it took place in Kiev, when GUAM was formed as an international organization. Of course, an accelerated transformation both in politics and economy is in store for the country, and in this situation we let you have an arena so that no one should remain indifferent and not a single idea should be unaccounted. Do not be inert, my dear reader. Besides, we take a great interest in your opinion of our magazine, which is becoming interesting day by day, advise us what we should make a topic of discussion and whose opinion we should present to you. I hope that we shall be able to cooperate and you will render a great assistance to the development of Georgian economy if we together create a better business environment.
May, 2006