The Georgian government is seeing what a TV beauty pageant and supra can do to entice more investors from China, now one of the South Caucasus country’s top foreign investors.
In a Tbilisi restaurant this week, 16 contestants from the Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant waited expectantly for a dish of pelamushi, a grape-juice pudding and traditional Georgian dessert. The 12 who were served it made it to the semifinal. In compensation, the remaining four were presented with plates of jewelry and got — who could resist this? — a photo memento with Georgian government officials.
The Georgia round of the pageant also featured a talent competition of sorts — a performance of Georgian folk dances with the Abkhaz International Song and Dance Ensemble.
Miss Chinese Cosmos will air on the Hong-Kong-based satellite station Phoenix TV this October, the end of Georgia's grape-harvesting season.
Tbilisi’s role in Miss Chinese Cosmos (organized together with the Hualing Group, Georgia’s main Chinese investor) comes amidst an ever stronger Georgian embrace of China, where Georgian officials increasingly go to attract investment, loans and tourism. Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said that the contest is "another sign of cultural relations and bringing people together."
Last month, another Chinese-led pageant was held in Tbilisi — a meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The bank, seen as Beijing's response to the World Bank, picked its president at the gathering in Georgia.
Some observers believe that, for now, Chinese money is a convenient resource for Georgia because, unlike with other potential major economic partners like the European Union and Russia, it comes free of geopolitical or reform obligations.
With its shaky economy in mind, Tbilisi has engaged in a lot of shuttle diplomacy with Beijing, trying to take full advantage of Georgia's location on the Chinese-promoted trade and transportation route to Europe, the Silk Road.
Apart from attracting investment, Georgia hopes that a free trade agreement will turn China into a major outlet for its exports; not least, wine products. China is one of the fastest growing markets for Georgian wines, with Chinese stores already selling established brands.
And maybe one day . . . even pelamushi.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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