Suchergebnisse

One of the most important challenges for Georgia is the growth and development of the country's economy, which requires active work in various directions. One of the contributing factors is the continuation of work on bilateral trade and investment relations with the United States, as our country's strategic partner, and the launch of a free trade agreement.For this purpose, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia started economic lobbying of Georgia in the USA in 2019 and hired three lobbying companies for that.One of such hired companies is Hulsen Media Services LLC, with which the contract is signed by the Ambassador of Georgia to the United States Giorgi Tsikolia.Registrant will assist The Minsistry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia with outreach to state and federal lawmakers, US businesses and US audiences to raise awareness about economic opportunities presented by the country of Georgia, Outreach may include print, TVand digital ads. This company placed ad time on cable television inWashington, D.C, and Dallas Texas Media Markets. The company received $ 542,410 USD for the project alone.Also under the leadership of Ambassador Giorgi Tsikolia, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia hired the company JPW Communication. Registrant will also help interested businesses advocate for elevated U.S.-Georgia trade relations. Outreach will include meetings betweenU.S.and Georgia interests.Hill and Knowlton Strategies, LLC is another hired company with a contract signed by the then Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Giorgi Kobulia. This company works closely with the two companies mentioned and offers the same services to its clients. Underscore the need for theUnited States to expand its already close relationship withGeorgia as a reliable ally.H+K will work with the Client to encourage increased trade and investment between the United States of America and Georgia, in order to do this, company will: Conduct opinion research; Develop and recruit members for a regional business coalition, and design a website for said coalition.Client shall pay a project fee of $750,000 for H+K services, payable in seven equa) monthly installments of $107.142.86 USD.This company describes in detail about arranging meetings for the client, materials published in the media and other activities. The contracts with all three lobbying firms are currently terminated and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development does not currently have a lobbyist operating in the US.

Hiring of American lobbyists has become a regular practice in the Georgian reality. Both the presently acting in Georgia governing party and the former one that has already moved to the opposition are launching lobbying activities in the USA.The study surveyes the lobbying activities carried out by United National Movementის in the USAsince 2012. We suppose that the higher the financial means of a political party, the larger the scope of the lobbying campaign performed by it in the USD. In the course of the study we reviewed the documents that are uploaded on the American Department of Justice web-page Fara.gov. These contracts provide the terms and conditions of the agreement between the parties thereto on the lobby services, as well as the list of the tasks to be performed, the term of the service delivery and the sum to be paid.The party United National Movementused to launch quite large scale and successful lobbyist activities during the nine years of its being the authority in Georgia.After the defeat in the Parliamentary elections of October, 2012 United National Movement has been carrying out its lobby campaign independently; Relevantly, they had to source the financial resources to pay to the lobbyists out of their own budget. Presently they have only three lobby companies hired, out of which they have executed an active contract with one company only: Cogent strategies. United National Movement had contracts executed with both these American companies when being at the head of the country.

Since 2011 Bidzina Ivanishvili and the "Georgian Dream" Coalition started large-scale lobbying activity in the United States of America. In its firsts stage, the lobbyists were tasked to argue for fair, open and honest elections in 2012 and to organize meetings of the Georgian Dream representatives with the high-rank officials of the US. These efforts were aimed to conduct PR, to raise Ivanishvili's recognition in the West and "to show the real face" of Mikheil Saakashvili.The Georgian Press actively covered the controversial topics of lobbying efforts of Mikheil Saakashvili and Bidzina Ivanishvili. With the appearance of billionaire Ivanishvili in the Georgian politics, the fact that Georgia has been using lobbying assistance in the United States since 1991 has become widely known to the Georgian Society.Bidzina Ivanishvili began hiring lobbyists in the US right after his appearence on the Georgian poliical stage. As use of his financial assets were limited in Georgia, he directed his funds to the West. From November 2011 until his emergence in the government of Georgia, 6 lobbying companies were paid USD 1 095 635 in total.Lobbying activities of Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream can be reviewed in two phases: the pre-election period, before the Georgian Dream came to the government of the country and after its emergence in the government of Georgia. Unlike its predecessor, with assuming political leadership of the country, the Georgian Dream abruptly reduced both, the number of hired lobbyists and the amount of money paid for their service. The contracts signed with most of these lobbying companies were terminated and only two companies - Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and the Harbour Group - were maintained in the US for further partnership. They rotects the interests of Georgia in the US and are tasked to increase support of Georgia among the political and civil leaders of the US and to back-up its foreign policy throiugh media coverage. According to the signed contract these companies are paid USD 320 000.The study proves that Bidzina Ivanishvili managed to neutralize the nine-year-long lobbying campaign of its main opponent – the United National Movement's political force. There was no such precedent before 2011, as the oppositon parties did not have enough funds to carry out lobbying campaign on such scale against Mikheil Saakashvili's government.