Business community meets with Kobakhidze

Representatives of large and medium-sized businesses are meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze at the Government Administration building.

Attendees of the meeting are both businesspeople who are loyal to the government and those who have joined a collective statement demanding new elections.

‘No new elections! Business calmed down, and settled during 12 years [of Georgian Dream rule]... they don't oppress businesses, they don't take anyone's business’, said businessman Noshrevan Namoradze, who is sharply critical of the ex-ruling United National Movement party.

Beso Ortoidze, another businessman who is the director of the construction company ‘Arsi’, also spoke to journalists, discussing the difficult situation of business against the backdrop of current events. ‘The main thing is to de-escalate and depolarise, and elections could be one of the solutions […]’ Ortoidze said.

‘We're not going there [to meet the Prime Minister] as a decoration. We are interested in answers’, he added. Parallel to the protests, a ‘Free Businesses Statement’ was published, calling for new elections and the release of detained demonstrators. The number of business signatories has already exceeded 2,200.