Mikheil Saakashvili:

Greetings,

As you already know, in several months Parliamentary elections will take place in Georgia. These Parliamentary elections will be crucial to development of our country for the next 4 years. It is very important to me that the plan is presented to our people now, to inform what the program is for the government of Georgia approaching the upcoming elections, and what is going to happen within the four years following the election. This is important because people should know our priorities, and in order for the stability that is currently present in the country to continue; so that the success that we have achieved becomes more beneficial for each and every one of our citizens.

The statement I am about to make is related to a very significant future development of Georgia, and at the same time marks a new beginning.

Today, I am appointing Vano Merabishvili as the new Prime Minister of Georgia, and he will present a new program as well as a new government cabinet before the Parliament of Georgia for confirmation.

Our country has shown advancement in many directions in recent years and everyone recognizes this, even the people observing our country from the outside, but of course our citizens see and recognize all this. We have a very decisive progress in terms of fighting crime and corruption, building infrastructure, a new healthcare system, new education system, new system of social protection, development of tourism… Georgia is becoming a very impressive new country.

But our main goal, our greatest future challenge, and my personal goal is not only to achieve general progress but for each of our citizens to feel the effects of it, feel the personal benefit and the fact that it has effected their table, the future of their children and we have a lot more to do in order to achieve this great goal.

 This is why I am appointing Vano Merabishvili, because this man has been able to make a decisive strike on crime and corruption. He has also done many other things in the recent years and there is no doubt that he will be able to achieve this major goal.

I have been working with him for several years and in this case, his goal oriented, hard working character and strong problem solving skills, especially in specific cases, will be demonstrated just as well in this undertaking as it was when he had to deal with the hardest of challenges. I am sure his effectiveness and success will reach a much larger scale in the future.

Vano is a man, who has achieved with us what for many was thought unimaginable; he brought crime and corruption to its knees. In his capacity as Prime Minister, his main goal will be to bring unemployment to its knees.

This is why on Monday we are going to present a new program. A new post is also going to be created in the government of Georgia - the Minister of Employment. There will be a separate employment program with all of its benefits.

He turned the police, which had been completely discredited for decades, into an extremely effective, world class law enforcement system, which is highly trusted by the Georgian society. He was able to create new mechanisms there, and bring new people. Aside from this, he was able to achieve several tasks of very high responsibility in the recent years. For example, when tens of thousands of our citizens became in a need of new housing as a result of the Russian aggression in 2008, we gave this task to Vano and he was able to practically build new cities in a very short amount of time. He personally managed this program while also working on several economic projects. For example, the project was tasked to him to fully rehabilitate Akhaltsikhe and basically develop a completely new infrastructure and he achieved this with very impressive results.  He has various experiences. When I met Vano for the first time I was a Member of Parliament and he headed a farmer’s organization, and defended farmers’ interests. A legal base of assisting land owners was created through his personal efforts. Taking care of villages is of great importance in Vano’s life, and today the Georgian villages need great attention and this is one of Vano’s greatest strengths. I am sure that he will handle this issue very well.

The plan we are going to present on Monday, to the parliament and before the public, will be concentrated on converting the progress of Georgia into a benefit and progress of each Georgian family; how each Georgian family is going to personally feel the progress of the country regardless of where they live; in big cities, city centers, suburbs, villages, mountains or lowlands.

At the same time, I would like to greatly thank Nika Gilauri. I think he was a very effective Prime Minister. He assumed the leadership of the government of Georgia in a practically hopeless situation. He played a vital role in the fact that not only did Georgia withstand an economic crisis and the results of war, but he turned Georgia into one of the most rapidly developing economies, and despite all these challenges he was able to solve the toughest problems. I have asked Nika to manage a partnership foundation of the government of Georgia. This is a foundation which is concentrated on attracting foreign investments, creating new projects in infrastructure and agriculture. In essence, I have offered to him to do what he likes and what he does best; implementing economic projects, generating new ideas, attracting investments, discovering new people in this direction and future assistance in the economic development of Georgia. This is why he will remain a member of our team and I am sure he will be a very active manager.

I am now giving the floor to the new Prime Minister of Georgia Mr. Vano Merabishvili.

Vano Merabishvili

Thank you Mr. President.

Such a trust is a great honor for me.

I fully comprehend the huge responsibility related to this post.

My goal will be very specific – more benefits for people.

It is time for people to feel more prosperity as a result of the country’s development and modernization.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank all of my former colleagues at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia; each policeman, beginning from a private and ending with the managers, for the work which envisioned creating a new police and implementing deep reforms. I would like to thank them for the fact that they fight every day so that corruption, crime and lawlessness disappears in Georgia and the “thieves in law” never return to our country. Parents will never again fear letting their children go outside, and our streets will be peaceful and safe.

But Mr. President, I agree with you that we still have to do a lot in order to bring more benefits to people, directly based on the economic and all other kinds of development in our country.

I plan on presenting a plan and this plan will lay out specifically, step by step, what we will do today, tomorrow and the next year. and it will be based on three principles: Employment, developing villages, and healthcare affordability.

Our plan will be based on these principles because unemployment remains the main challenge in our country. There are still people in Georgia who have no means to afford relevant healthcare and villages need development in Georgia. I know that there are a lot of people unemployed in Georgia. I understand them and I will do everything to create new opportunities of employment for them. I know that many of our citizens still do not have means to get medical care for themselves, their children and parents. This is why the entire team and I will be oriented on creating generally affordable healthcare in Georgia.

I know and love the Georgian villages and I know their problems; I will take care of them. My team and I know what the Georgian villages need, and we will strengthen them with our plan as well as the Georgian farmers. We will make the Georgian farmers strong. Strong Georgian farmers were always a prerequisite and will always be a prerequisite for a strong Georgia; the most important backbone of our country. Our plan and the plan of the government of Georgia will work in this direction.

In the government of Georgia, each day, each hour, and each minute will be oriented on meeting these three main goals. Addressing the employment problem, healthcare, and developing villages.

I would like to thank Mr. Nika Gilauri. His work as the Prime Minister was very valuable to me. I look forward to future cooperation with him. I would like to thank him because today the budget of Georgia, the finance system, and the economy of Georgia are much healthier than at the time we assumed power back in the day.

Nika Gilauri

I thank you for the trust you have put in me in the recent years. Thank you everyone.