On the initiative of the National Bank of Georgia a seminar with the participation of the representatives of SWIFT and high technology companies such as: Montran, CMA and HP will be held from November 30 through December 1, 2005 at the hotel “Courtyard Marriott”.   According to the Vice-President of the National Bank of Georgia George Glonti, “The National Bank of Georgia has started working actively on the implementation of a clearing system in Georgia this year. Automated Clearing House will be established using the SWIFT channels. Implementation of this system is very important for the banking sphere in Georgia as it will reduce the price, simplify and accelerate the settlement in Lari”.   The SWIFT Regional Account Manager for Russia and CIS Steven Palstermans, the Business Manager for the Continental Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS Banking  Market Infrastructure Stéphane Ernst and the managers of the technical and business departments of commercial banks of Georgia will attend the seminar.   On the first day of the seminar the guests will consider the new services and strategies as well as the changes offered by SWIFT in recent years with the purpose of contributing to business development worldwide.   The second day of the seminar will be dedicated to the presentation of two alternative models of a clearing system that will enable the participants to choose one of the offered models. The first model is a joint clearing project of the National Bank and SWIFT.   It has been specially worked out for the banking structure of Georgia. The presentation of the model implies using the SWIFT services within the clearing system.  The companies CMA and HP will present the model implemented and tested in Azerbaijan. 7 500 financial institutions from 200 countries are involved in SWIFT. The National Bank of Georgia joined the above-mentioned system in 1996.   At present SWIFT provides its services to 19 commercial banks, which make transfers on an individual basis.