The history of the city dates back to the 4th century CE, but modern Rustavi was founded in 1948 (it was established on the site of an old settlement destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century). The name "Rustavi" is a Persian word and means "rural district". This shows the long-term presence of the Persians in this region. The city's development took place thanks to the construction of a large metallurgical complex that dealt with the production and manufacture of oil pipelines for the entire Transcaucasia. The city was built almost from scratch. Interestingly, German prisoners captured in World War II worked on its construction. In its heyday, around 200,000 people lived here and 60 factories operated. The main industries are: metallurgy, chemical, metal, wood, food and construction industries. The city has deposits of non-ferrous metals.

Georgia regained independence in 1991, which, however, adversely affected the country's economy. Most industrial plants were closed and 65% of the city's population became unemployed. Rustavi also plunged into an economic crisis at the time.
Currently, the Georgian economy, after several years of war, is experiencing a crisis again. Production collapsed and imports were reduced, the country had transport difficulties related to the economic blockade for many years.

The population of Georgia has decreased by almost one million over the last 12 years, and Rustavi itself by 50,000, as the inhabitants moved elsewhere in search of work. However, the city is still trying to develop. Recently, two large factories have opened: Rustavi Metallurgical Plant and "Geosteel", owned by British-Georgian and Indian-Georgian private companies.

There are numerous theaters in Rustavi. The most famous is the National Drama Theater, which was founded by Gigi Lortkipanidze. The first performance in which 27 actors played was "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmond Rostand. During its 43 years of activity, the National Drama Theater has staged several dozen plays. There is also a Children's Theater and Historical Museum in Rustawi, founded in 1950. The Georgian Academic Song and Dance Ensemble "Rustavi", which was founded in 1968, is internationally recognized. Within 35 years of its creation, the band performed over 3000 concerts and achieved great successes in over 50 countries. The city also offers something for motoring fans, namely the Rustavi International Motopark. It was built in 1979 and was the main arena of motor struggles in the USSR. From 1991, it was useless and fell into total ruin. In 2009, the area was sold to a private company Stromos. After complete reconstruction, the track hosts numerous car races, such as the Alfa series, Legends championships, the BMW Annual Festival, amateur races and many more. On the track, you can also rent a Formula Alfa or Legend car for 600 GEL (approx. PLN 1000) and 300 GEL (approx. PLN 500), respectively, and drive on the modernized track yourself. The ride is preceded by a 30-minute training by your own car under the guidance of an instructor.

Rustavi is a pearl of socrealistic architecture. The city is divided into Old and New Rustawi. At the end of the central avenue (Merab Kostawy), just in front of the headquarters of the combine's office, there is the beautiful square of Heydar Aliyev - former president of Azerbaijan.

Every year, the international theater festival "Golden Mask" takes place in Rustavi, and in the autumn - the City Day and the festival "Rustavkalakoba". Tourists are attracted by beautiful, picturesque landscapes and numerous tourist, leisure and sanatorium centers.

In Rustavi there are three professional vocational training centers and 26 public schools. The first Georgian primary school was founded in Rustavi in 1948 due to the increasing number of school-age children.
The Association "Georgian Youth for Europe" (GYE), which is an independent, non-governmental non-profit youth organization operates in the city. The association works mainly for young people between 12 and 25 years old, but also for adults. The mission of "Georgian Youth for Europe" is to enable them to achieve their full physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual potential.
In 2010, Georgia's education and science minister Dimitri Shashkini and Kvemo Kartli region governor, Davit Kirkitadze, personally attended the opening of newly reconstructed public schools. At that time, the ministry awarded nearly 650,000 GEL for their revitalization.

From 27 to 28 February, the delegation of the City of Łódź headed by Mr. Marcin Gołaszewski, Chairman of the City Council in Łódź, visited the partner city of Rustavi. The visit was the inauguration of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of patrnership.

The first point on the visit was a meeting with representatives of the Rustavi authorities, headed by Mayor Irakli Tabaghua and Chairman of the Rustavi City Council Levan Oniani. The Georgian partners thanked our authorities for the cooperation in the field of internal audit and control. Rustavi gladly uses the experience of Łódź and sets us as an example of change.

The talks concerned new areas of cooperation such as projects in the field of archeological research. The first historical records about Rustavi come from the 4th century AD. Archaeological research has so far covered only 20% of the area of the historic city, which was completely destroyed in the 13th century as a result of Mongol invasions. The exchange of school youth is another area of cooperation that we plan to develop.

After the official meeting of city authorities, there were presentations of the economic potential of both regions. Then we went to the industrial zone in Rustavi, where we had the opportunity to visit the company producing bituminous mass.

We also had the opportunity to visit the newly emerging "Modusi" vocational school, where a thorough reconstruction of the infrastructure is underway. The school educates specialists for the needs of the labour market in such professions as: IT specialist, accountant, car mechanic or seamstress. The culmination of the program was at the Museum of the City of Rustavi.

From 8 to 10 July three-person delegation from the partner city of Rustavi visited Łódź. The topics of the visit concerned issues of economic development of the city as well as internal audit and control.

Rustavi representatives visited the Start-up Spark project office. During the meeting, they had the opportunity to learn more about the activity of the Łódź Special Economic Zone and cooperation between large corporations and people participating in the startup acceleration project. At Art_Inkubator, they could learn how the Fabryka Sztuki (Art Factory) works, learn how to become a resident and see workshops and premises for creative entrepreneurs.

Part of the Georgian delegation was able to get acquainted with the operation of the Office of Internal Audit and Control of the Medical University.

At the International Faculty of Engineering of the Łódź University of Technology, the possibilities of cooperation between Rustavi and the university were discussed. During the presentation, guests could learn more about the university's current and planned projects.

The representatives of the partner city were impressed by the economic development of Łódź so far and plans connected with it.

On 22 January 2018 the representatives of Rustavi, the fourth biggest city in Georgia, visited Łódź

A ten-person delegation from the twin city of Łódź, headed by Irakli Tabaghua, the recently elected mayor of Rustavi, met at the premises of the City of Łódź Office with the Deputy Mayor of Łódź Wojciech Rosicki.

I part: 4-13.05.2015

4-25 May - exhibition entitled "COMMON FORTUNES OF TWO NATIONS" Łódź City Hall, Big Debating Hall

11-13 May - visit of an official delegation from the partner city of Rustawi along with the Ambassador of Georgia

12 May, 12.00 - opening of the exhibition of Georgian painting "SATISFACTION" by David Pataraia, presentation of Georgia's tourist attractions, Bureau for Promotion, Tourism and International Cooperation of the City of Łódź Office.

The exhibition of paintings by Georgian artist David Patarai "Satysfakcja" opened the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the partnership between Łódź and Rustavi. The paintings could be admired in Galeria 87 of the City of Łódź Office at 87 Piotrkowska St. until 15 May. Then the exhibition was made available at the Kookaburra Studio Art Gallery at 35 Piotrkowska St. in Łódź.

W ramach działań rocznicowych odbył się szereg imprez towarzyszących, m.in. pokaz kina gruzińskiego, degustacja kuchni gruzińskiej oraz eventy muzyczne. W lipcu gościliśmy jedną z najpopularniejszych gruzińskich kapel reggae - Reggaeon z Rustawi.

As part of the anniversary activities, a number of accompanying events took place, including show of Georgian cinema, tasting of Georgian cuisine and musical events. In July, we hosted one of the most popular Georgian reggae bands - Reggaeon from Rustavi. We could hear the sounds of piano and accordion, unusual for reggae, and unique references to traditional Georgian polyphony.

II part: 10-12.07.2015

10 July, 21.30 - outdoor projection of a Georgian film "Mandarins", Old Market Square in Łódź

12 July, 20.00 - concert of Georgian music, Rubinstein Passage.

III part: Promotion of Łódź in Rustavi 1-5 October 2015

Video coverage from the stay of the Łódź delegation in Rustavi: https://youtu.be/vSPBQx6jP7U

Wizyta partnerów z Gruzji  - 10-11 November 2015

Z okazji 20-lecia współpracy partnerskiej Łodzi i Rustawi, w naszym mieście gościłą sześcioosobowa delegacja z Gruzji. Przewodniczył jej Paata Khizanashvili - Wojewoda Okręgu Kvemo Kartli, w granicach którego położone jest Rustawi. W składzie delegacji znajdował się również Przewodniczący Rady Miejskiej Rustawi, David Maglakelidze.

Goście spotkali się z wiceprezydentem Krzysztofem Piątkowskim.

Wizyta była okazją do podsumowania zrealizowanych w ciągu 2015 roku wspólnych polsko-gruzińskich projektów w dziedzinie: kultury, edukacji oraz biznesu.

Delegacja skorzystała również  z doświadczenia Łodzi w zakresie przyciągania inwestycji miejskich. Goście zapoznali się z możliwościami gospodarczymi Łodzi na spotkaniu w Biurze Obsługi Inwestorów oraz w Łódzkiej Agencji Rozwoju Regionalnego.

11 listopada delegacja brała udział w uroczystościach z okazji Święta Niepodległości a także spotkała się z Panią Prezydent oraz Panią Wojewodą.

Zapraszamy do obejrzenia filmów o Gruzji:

https://youtu.be/czDOxNZ_390

https://youtu.be/bc9kjrBEshw

Participation of Łódź delegation in the Rustavi City Day.

Participation of the Rustavi delegation in the VI European Economic Forum.

Presentation of the city of Rustavi >>>

On the occasion of the 2nd Forum of Partner Cities in Łódź, delegations from 7 partner cities visited the city: Russia (Kaliningrad, Ivanovo), Ukraine (Lviv, Odessa), Finland (Tampere), Georgia (Rustavi), Mexico (Puebla).

This year's theme of the forum was to stimulate local entrepreneurship and attract foreign investment. In addition to a special programme for representatives of the city of Puebla, who were particularly interested in the business environment for innovative companies introducing advanced "clean technologies", especially companies from the automotive sector and foundations developing civil society with the use of EU funds, the rest of the delegation implemented the prepared programme.

The programme for 25.10.2012 included study visits to the city and meetings with the head of the Łódź Regional Science and Technology Park, W. Reymont Airport, Barry Callebaut company, the New Centre of Łódź and Manufaktura.

On 26.10.2012 the representatives of the cities took part in a conference devoted to stimulating entrepreneurship and attracting foreign investments, presenting their solutions in this area. During each of the meetings, the guests of the Forum saw the possibilities of applying examples of solutions applied in Łódź to their country - among others, participation of companies from the innovative technology sector from their country in the Łódź Regional Science and Technology Park, establishing air connections between the cities, cooperation in joint projects supported by EU funds or youth and academic cooperation.

TVP3 Łódź television made a coverage from this meeting.

We invite you to watch the reportage:

https://youtu.be/VBK2-A_M0zE 

Our city hosted representatives of Łódź's twin cities at the Partner Cities Forum. Mayors and officials of friendly cities met at conferences devoted to the management and promotion of cities.

The following guests were present at the 1st Partner Cities Forum: Russia (mayor of Ivanovo - Wieczesław Swerczkow), Germany (mayor of Stuttgart Martin Schairer), Belarus (delegation of the Association of Entrepreneurs-Scientists ABC from Minsk), Ukraine (representatives of Lviv and the first deputy of the mayor of Odessa, Sergey Chernenko), France (delegations from Lyon and Lille), the Swedish city of Orebro (Lars Molina, chairman of the Orebro City Council), but also from distant Georgia (Zakaria Darchiashvili, mayor Rustawi) and Chinese Tianjin (Wang Zhiming, vice-general secretary of Tianjin City Council).

In addition to mayors and their deputies, Łódź was also visited by officials responsible for foreign relations, promotion, education, municipal investments, sport and culture. The main point of the congress was the conference on city management and its promotion. The purpose of the meeting was to create a platform for the exchange of information and experience in these fields, and to Promotion of their activities. Representatives of the partner cities also took part in workshops within the framework of the project 'Europe for Citizens'.

A special presentation of Łódź in 3D technology was prepared exclusively for this meeting, and the Office of Promotion, Tourism and International Cooperation presented the project "Łódź - City of Creative Industries". During the workshop the presentation "Large infrastructure projects as the driving force of the economy" was also presented. It shows, among others Łódź projects for the construction of EC1 and the New Center of Łódź, which are to revive the economic and social area of 90 hectares of the city center and ART-Incubator, bringing creative industries into practice. During the visit of the partner cities of Łódź, foreign guests did not lack the opportunity to take part in the most important event of our city in that period, namely the gala "ReAct" opening the autumn Fashion Week Fashion Philosophy Poland in 2011 and at the first Łódź show by the famous designer Custo Barcelona.

Video coverage from the Forum:

https://youtu.be/_STaMzgcPg4