Grigol Mgaloblishvili:

Mr. President, when I was appointed I have asked you some time for working and observing works of the government and only after several weeks make a decision about reshuffling, and today I have already presented the new cabinet. During last several days I had some consultations with you and with the Chairman of the Parliament.

Mikheil Saakashvili:

I want to say that there is some positive attitude towards you lately in the society. There is a mood of expectation and changes in the society still. Our main measuring tool is what our people say, how they feel and what the chances we give to them are. We are now facing double pressure because of the world crisis and Russian aggression and it is necessary to make some brave and unordinary steps. It is very good that you have thought about the government reshuffling a lot. Trust me, that the government has full autonomy during the decision making process, despite the fact that the President is also responsible for everything. It is very important, that people have full autonomy in their own sphere of management. By the way I am very glad to note that we had some discussions about these changes lately and we were developing several different ways. Last several days I had consultations with several candidates. This is the first time when the press didn't know anything abut these changes. This means that we can consider each others thoughts and on the other hand we can work with coordination, all intrigues and speculations must be excluded about this issue.

It is very important that we fulfill our 18 months program, save jobs and eliminate poverty that still exists among the population. I personally do not split internal and foreign policy from each other.

Continue your observations, see how the people work. On the one hand a person is evaluated by his or hers results - if person works well we must give them advantage, if bad - we can't keep them. On the other hand non of those persons who left their positions are precious and we can't "throw them out". These people are of very high qualification and we must use their capabilities on the different high positions. These people are true patriots.

Grigol Mgaloblishvili:

People, who went through very difficult period of time in a very dignified way, will continue in different directions. We have very specific missions. First of all the country must return to the previous condition, before the aggression. The government will be oriented on results with this new cabinet. I have tasked the new ministers to reshuffle the personnel at most and at the same time I gave them very strong directive to make sure that every professional keeps their jobs. Now we are in crisis and the time has come, when the work of each person must be evaluated adequately, to use existing resources and to attract new professionals.

Mikeil Saakashvili:

I believe that, our government has passed several very difficult exams: in the toughest period we never terminated giving pensions and salaries, energy sector worked very well, the country continued to operate as the one whole, we maintained public order and maintained armed forces, even when it was the mission of our enemy to destroy our armed forces. This government has passed the test incredibly well. Now we need new blood, but I am very grateful for those people, who will be working on different positions now. I want to note, that what was started by them, must be continued. What was started by Lado Gurgenidze still continues - regarding governmental reform, this tradition must be continued in governmental structures by all means. We must take care of those people who work there. These people work there for many years, they are very precious like gold. The training of new cadre needs great time, and you can lose someone in one second. This is why we need to be careful with this people, because exactly this is the main stand point of our country.

Grigol Mgaloblishvili:

I totally agree with you. We will use existing professionals today, but there is a big potential of training new cadre as well. We will work step-by-step, first of all we have to fulfill out 18 months plan. Our work will be evaluated exactly in this direction. At the same time this work will be oriented on the results and we will make conclusions deriving from that.

Mikheil Saakashvili:

I wish you success and I am sure that we will fulfill our missions at this stage for our country.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia