Lion Finance Group PLC Cancels Treasury Shares and Declares Q3 2025 Interim Dividend

Tbilisi is testing the limits of Baku's patience

Azerbaijan media writes that Georgia has demanded a very high tariff for the possible transit of Azerbaijan oil to Armenia.As Baku claims, this contradicts Georgia’s own interests.As Azerbaijan მmedia writes, “Georgia does not have the luxury of ignoring Azerbaijan’s interests,” especially since “Georgia’s logistics monopoly is no longer without alternatives.”Earlier, Azerbaijan media wrote that the Georgian side was artificially hindering the transportation of Azerbaijani cargo through customs.

11th graders will only study subjects for national exams

“It is important to make the 11th grade, the final grade, specialized. This reflects the goal, which is related, first of all, to returning students to school, increasing the prestige and authority of the school and removing the pressure on families, which is related to financial issues in terms of preparing students for the national exams,” Givi Mikanadze said.In addition, those wishing to study in the 12th grade of public schools will have the opportunity to complete the relevant registration in March of each year. "Starting from the next academic year, school uniforms will be mandatory in all public schools from the first to the sixth grade, in a test mode," Mikanadze added.Socially vulnerable families will receive state support regarding uniforms."All families that are assessed by the Ministry of Health with 60,000 points or less will receive appropriate support from the state regarding uniforms," ​​Mikanadze said.Givi Mikanadze, during the presentation of the general education reform, also stated that "the voucher component of public school financing will be maintained, although we will consider different models that will help eliminate the necessary needs for schools."According to him, the general education reform will fundamentally change the teaching-learning process.In addition, completely new textbooks will be written within two to three years.According to Mikanadze, over the past six months, the ministry has selected groups of experts from various disciplines through a selection procedure.Research organization Gnomon Wise On October 16, 2025 reviewed the education reform. The organization notes, that Irakli Kobakhidze presented a concept for higher education reform that identifies the main challenges in the higher education sector and proposes ways to address them.The challenges include: “1. Excessive geographic concentration of higher education; 2. Irrational use of resources and uneven quality of teaching in the universities; 3. Lack of a coherent Human Resources strategy; 4. Weak link between teaching and research, including a lack of education programs and textbooks of modern standards; 5. Significant mismatch between higher education priorities and labor market needs and 6. Inefficient funding system.”“The higher education reform concept,34 developed by the governmental commission without the involvement of representatives of state universities or education experts, raises a number of questions regarding its true purpose. The concept does not justify the need to implement changes in this manner and, in many cases, instead of improving the quality of higher education institutions, creates additional  problems. If the higher education reform concept is first turned into a draft law and then enacted, Georgia's higher education system will regress decades to a centralized Soviet-era model. The state would control both the form and substance of education, students would be reduced to passive recipients, and academic freedom would be systematically dismantled. If fully implemented, the concept will isolate the Georgian education system from the European academic space and limit students’ ability to obtain internationally recognized, high-quality education”, - Gnomon Wise writes.The reform concept contradicts both Article 27 of the Constitution of Georgia, which guarantees the autonomy of universities, as well as the obligations assumed under the Association Agreement and the principles of the Bologna Process which ensure that universities have the right to determine their own academic profile, educational programs, personnel policy, and research directions. 

GD announces legal action against BBC in international courts over 'fa...

As the statement notes, GD will “use every possible legal means to ensure that the so-called media outlet spreading falsehoods answers for the dissemination of dirty, false accusations”.“This morning, the BBC published an article which, in addition to numerous absurd and false pieces of information, contains an accusation against the Georgian government that the Ministry of Internal Affairs allegedly used a ‘chemical substance’ against violent protesters during illegal rallies. Naturally, this so-called media outlet, which has been turned into a propaganda weapon of the ‘Deep State’, has presented not a single fact to substantiate this grave accusation.Moreover, all speculation is based on the opinions of specific individuals, among them Doctor Chakhunashvili, who is one of the active participants in illegal rallies, whilst his family member, his father, Giorgi Chakhunashvili, personally participated in the October 4 ‘overthrow of the government process’ and physically broke into the courtyard of the Georgian Presidential Palace. Furthermore, the article predominantly features interested parties, Gigauri, the accused Khasaia, the accused Shaishmelashvili, the convicted Bachiashvili and other similar individuals.The Georgian Dream communications team maintained active contact with the ‘investigative journalist’ before the publication of the article. We prepared comprehensive responses to every question posed by the BBC, addressing the British media outlet’s interests meticulously and in detail. Given that in recent times the aforementioned media outlet has become embroiled in more than one scandal, has repeatedly been confirmed to have spread falsehoods, and for this reason even the broadcaster’s top management was replaced, at the beginning of our response we set only two conditions—that our position be covered in full, we offered to provide evidence of every word we sent, whilst in parallel we demanded that, in observance of high journalistic standards, all reasoning presented in the article be based solely on evidence. In return, we were met with a jumble of lies and serious accusations against the government, which, as we have noted, are based on the narratives of interested parties and, of course, bear no relation to reality.It is well known to the public that several weeks ago, the BBC was embroiled in a scandal when the so-called media outlet broadcast a crudely edited interview with U.S. President Donald Trump, in which the context and content of the conversation had been distorted. As a result of this manipulation, the broadcaster’s director-general and executive news director resigned from their positions, though this more resembled rolling out the red carpet for the U.S. President than accepting responsibility for a mistake.That the BBC has no moral or professional obstacles to fulfilling dirty commissions and spreading falsehoods is also clearly evident from today’s published article, whilst the change in their management reminds us of the several changes of prime minister in Britain in recent years, which in that country has been followed not by fundamental change, not even by façade change, and as a result one ‘Deep State’-controlled government has replaced another.Because an outlet once considered authoritative, which today has been turned into a propaganda weapon of informal governance, has publicly spread false accusations against the Georgian government and has not presented even a single piece of evidence in the article to substantiate these accusations; because the so-called ‘journalistic investigation’ built on lies is primarily based on the narratives of criminals and has nothing in common with reality; because the BBC received exhaustive answers to all questions and did not publish even 1% of the substantiated responses in the article; because this dirty propaganda material is an attempt to smear the Georgian government, the Georgian police and, most importantly, Georgian statehood, we have decided to initiate legal proceedings against the fake media outlet in international courts.We will utilise every legal measure available to ensure that the so-called media outlet spreading falsehoods is held accountable for disseminating baseless, malicious accusations.Enclosed, we provide in full the questions supplied by the BBC before the publication of the article, along with the responses we submitted,” reads the Georgian Dream statement.

Georgian Dream Received GEL 4.1 MLN Donations in September

The information released by TI states that “in September, the party received donations from those whose companies received GEL 204 million in direct purchases from the state, GEL 16 million in agricultural subsidies, 1.4 million sq m of construction permits, and 17 mineral licenses.”“In addition to winning tenders worth GEL  2.5 billion since 2015, companies affiliated with donors have received a number of other benefits from the state - direct purchases, agricultural subsidies, construction permits and mineral licenses.For more information about donations, as well as information about the donors' business interests and their participation in state procurement, visit the website: www.politicaldonations.ge,” the organization says in a statement.

Georgia to abolish administration for Russia-occupied territory of Tsk...

According to Papuashvili, several legislative initiatives have been developed in consultation with the government, which will be tabled at today’s session of the Parliamentary Bureau. The Parliament plans to adopt these amendments by the end of the year.“I would remind the public that in November 2006, under the United National Movement government, unconstitutional elections were held in the Tskhinvali region, resulting in the proclamation of a so-called president of South Ossetia and the formation of a so-called alternative South Ossetian government. Through this action, the government of the day granted indirect legitimacy to separatist processes, an egregious and grave betrayal of Georgia’s state interests.Several months later, a Temporary Administrative-Territorial Unit Administration was established in June 2007, once again in breach of the Constitution, based on the very same unconstitutional ‘alternative government’. This decision artificially restored the administrative boundaries of the South Ossetian Autonomous Region, which had been abolished in 1990. This move later became one of the key factors enabling the 2008 Russian military aggression and the occupation of Georgia’s historic region of Samachablo.From today’s perspective, it is evident that these decisions were part of an external power’s geopolitical manoeuvre, with Georgia cast as a sacrificial pawn. The policies implemented under Saakashvili’s leadership provoked an escalation in the region and ultimately drove the country towards war.Against this backdrop, members of Georgia’s Parliament have assessed this decision as gross treachery against Georgia’s national interests, a view reflected in the constitutional lawsuit demanding that the United National Movement be declared unconstitutional. It must be emphasised that at a time when Georgia has spent years working to strengthen its policy of non-recognition, the United National Movement regime’s use of the term ‘South Ossetia’, even indirectly, was from the outset a betrayal of the Constitution and national interests. No ‘South Ossetia’ exists within Georgian legal or political space whatsoever.Accordingly, following consultations with the government, we have decided to abolish the administration of the administrative-territorial unit established on the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region.I should emphasise that the municipalities of Akhalgori, Kurta, Tighvi, and Eredvi will remain operational. These were elected in 2006 in full accordance with the Constitution. They represent the only legitimately elected and functioning government in the Tskhinvali region and thus constitute the sole lawful continuation of Georgia’s legal and constitutional framework,” declared Papuashvili.