Deputy Chairman of the faction Independent Members of Parliament, Levan Koberidze met with a group of students participating in the summer job programs in Germany.

The initiative group is composed of several thousand students from different higher education institutions of Georgia who participate in a 3-month employment program and regularly travel to Germany for prearranged jobs during the summer vacations.

COVID-19 did pose a problem for these young people as well, causing many of them to have cancelled pre-purchased air tickets at an affordable price. As the students remarked at the meeting, resumption of regular flights to Germany is of paramount importance to them and therefore, they expect the Parliament and the Government to be of help in purchasing the tickets at a reasonable fee.

"These are the students who study in Georgia and regularly travel to Germany to earn money and consume it for their studies in Georgia. During the season, each of them in addition to expenses earn about 2000-2500 EURO through honest work. Many of them work as per their profile and gain experience. If counted, there are up to 4 thousand students and the amount generated and mobilized in Georgia reaches 10 ml EURO in sum. Such programs not only boost the economy, rather allow the youth to earn and consume on their studies. The only thing they need is the regular flights to Germany. Therefore, although Georgia has resumed flights with 5 countries, they are still deprived of the opportunity to arrive in Germany either through low-cost airline flights, or by charters”, - Levan Koberidze commented post hoc the meeting with the youth.

As he added, although the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development had announced that Lufthansa would most likely start flying from August 2, the problem still remains in the part of the ticket fees, which are too high for the students to afford.

"These students do not ask for subsidies, they are committed to pay their own money in advance for tickets in the maximum amount of about 800 GEL for both directions. The Government shall now spare no effort to negotiate with any airline company and schedule charter flights as soon as possible", - Levan Koberidze noted.

As the MP stated, all the relevant agencies are to be coordinated and resolve the problem of these students in the shortest possible time.

L. koberidze expressed his willingness for active participation in the processes.