Today President Mikheil Saakashvili met the nominee for Prime Minister, Lado Gurgenidze, at the State Chancellery who presented to the President a new action plan. President Saakashvili gave him instructions and an advice to make emphasis on social programs. During the meeting the issue of increasing pensions and teacher salaries in the near future was discussed. According to Lado Gurgenidze, in December the minimum pension will be 55 lari that will increase to 76 lari during next year.

"This increase will affect more than 820 pensioners. For this purpose 250 million lari will be allotted from the budget," stated the nominee for Prime Minister, adding that a priority should be given to creating new job opportunities and that, regardless of age, every capable person should be given the opportunity to get employed.

According to the President those social groups that would benefit from the government program should be informed about their right in a plain way, avoiding every bureaucratic procedure. He considers that people should receive different salaries in different areas, since, for instance, "it is much more expensive to live in Tbilisi then elsewhere. A teacher in the village, who has a land, should not be hungry; however all teachers are in need, no matter where do they live. That's why we should make an accurate scaling and instead of formal speeches we should translate to each family how much salary they would have or what kind of voucher they would receive," the President said.

Mikheil Saakashvili also emphasized that the government should have a permanent dialogue with its people and there must not be a distance between the government and every single person.

By the end of the meeting the President stated that "he is positive about the fact that the cabinet of ministers will be chaired by a person who is ready to have permanent dialogue with different groups of the Georgian society and translate the government's decision to them in a popular language".

Press Office
of the President of Georgia