2024-04-22
Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia focused on three topics at the Executive Government Meeting today.
Prime Minister of Georgia spoke about the construction of a new football stadium, new terminal with modern standards at Mestia Airport and a document on National Goals for Education.
"I wish to announce a new mega-project. We did have a discussion at the previous Executive Government Meeting about it. I am referring to the construction of an International Airport of Tbilisi. Today, I wish to share with you a significant piece of information, relating to sports this time. We are proud of the success achieved by our sportsmen. Once again, I wish to repeat that we have a series of tremendous success predominantly in all team sports types. Our National Football Team managed to make milestone achievements first time in history, 30 years after regaining independence, as footballers qualified for the European Championship for the very first time. Our rugby players have managed to defeat the teams of six nations for the first time. Basketball players have qualified for the World Championship for the first time and got established among the best 16 teams of the world. Water polo team is also getting qualified for the European Championships; they did for the World Championship. They did get listed among the best 8 teams of Europe twice in a row. Our Volleyball Team got qualified for the European Championship for the first time and achieved the very first historic victory. We have a tremendous progress in individual sports as well. Number of medals has tripled in recent years, resulting from the consistent policies pursued in the country.
Such achievements were not made during the notorious 9 years, when the current opposition was in power; even in comparison with 90's, when sport was less successful and it has its concrete causes.
I wish to remind you individual occurrences that took place back then. You all remember how the President of the Football Federation was elected and how the President Elect was made to make a statement about his resignation on the same day. They shied away from nothing. Such rough intrusions were made into football and sports at large. I also wish to remind you what was happening about and around FC Dinamo Tbilisi. A concrete businessman was flown from Russia, who had no clue about football and he got trusted our national pride - FC Dinamo Tbilisi - our historic club. Thus they actually almost destroyed the club. Zero success was achieved at European tournaments during all those years. Also, if we look today at the results of Georgian Championship, FC Dinamo Tbilisi has 12 scores in 10 games and ranks 5th. This is what the policy of the previous rule has brought our praiseworthy sports club to. Some time ago, the current management of the FC Dinamo Tbilisi wanted to construct residential blocks at the premises of the training base of our historic club. This is the attitude and evidence of policies pursued by the previous rule. Of course, we will not let it happen. Nevertheless, their attitude is clear and vivid. These people spread political statements on behalf of FC Dinamo Tbilisi. Several days ago they disseminated a political statement, protesting against the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence on behalf of FC Dinamo Tbilisi. Owner of the club must be versed in politics as he is in football. It is a testament of the policy pursued by the previous rule and it brought our sport to failure. It took us years to recover from the losses incurred to sports and to get to the unique success, which our sports has in every direction today.
Also, I wish to recall stories told by individual footballers. One of them told me personally that one of the foreign coaches was not given a green light to list a footballer on political grounds. Back then, the football club in question had a foreign coach and he was refused to list a footballer even though he was playing at one of the top leagues and he thus failed to play in the National Team of Georgia. It all had political grounds" stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
As Irakli Kobakhidze noted, unique training base station Dinamo Juniors, which gave rise to many generations in the past, was sold during the previous rule.
"Very often - as the same footballer tells me - members of the National Football Team has to fly to Tbilisi at their expense to take part in tournaments. Sometimes, they were promised to compensate afterwards and there were cases when no costs were reimbursed post-factum. That is, members of the National Football Team were getting to Tbilisi at their expense. Things like these were happening. How can a sportsman achieve success in conditions like these? It has now been abolished and let me once again repeat that we now have a consistent policy, which naturally brings due results. Also, let me remind you that they destroyed Batumi Football Stadium. City, which has great traditions in sports and football, was left without a stadium for years. Batumi would not have had it if not a groundbreaking project initiated and implemented during our rule. It was their attitude towards sports. Of course, it got fundamentally changed. Another, utterly appalling occurrence was when they sold a unique training base station of Dinamo Juniors in Didube. It was not only a base, but a unique compound with its unique history, which gave rise to all the generations of footballers playing for FC Dinamo Tbilisi. They simply took the land and sold it. Besides, they lied to one of the foreign investors, as it surfaced a subway, while the new owners were not told and intended to build residential blocks there. Therefore, unique training base station was demolished, while the foreign investor ended up having a land which was not fit for construction. It was the attitude. One should not love his homeland or home city, and not love anything on earth to do things like these. How can a unique training base station of Dinamo Juniors, which was built in 1949 - let me once again repeat that it gave rise to generations of footballers - be sold, thereby leading to corruption and whatever else; I do not want to list. Our attitude is, of course, radically different. We are here to take a good care of sports and continue caring for sports, football included" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
At the same time, Prime Minister of Georgia spoke about the construction of a new football stadium with 70 000 seats for spectators.
"We wish to announce a significant mega-project, which is related to sports and namely to football and rugby. We wish to build a new stadium in Tbilisi, which will essentially serve these two sports types and will have 70 000 seats for spectators.
Stadium will have the state-of-the-art standards, which will enable us to hold the highest ranking tournaments in our capital city, including the Champions League. It will be a stadium of British style. You may well be aware that no running tracks around the fields are characteristic to the British style. It allows for a greater emotional connection between the fans and footballers. It will be translated into a greater success of the team. It will be a stadium of the highest standard. Presumably, location will be adjacent to the new airport and this area will be developed in a conceptual manner. In such conditions, construction of the new airport will benefit the right use of the stadium. I wish to note herewith that we will apply for hosting the Final Game of the Champions League to be held in 2028 at the newly-built stadium. It will be a very important gift for Georgian football and Georgian fans. Tbilisi will have a unique stadium with 70 000 seats for spectators and this project will be duly executed. Active work will be required. The Ministry of Culture and Sports of Georgia will be preoccupied with this project. The Ministry of Finance of Georgia will be requested to ensure funding for this project. Our city should have a new, unique stadium in the nearest future" added Irakli Kobakhidze.
The Prime Minister of Georgia also spoke at the Executive Government Meeting about the construction of a new terminal of modern standards at Mestia Airport. According to him, it will lead to a much greater increase of the inflow of tourists to Svaneti.
"Second topic is Mestia Airport. We had a discussion about the International Airport of Tbilisi at the previous Executive Government Meeting. It is equally important for us to develop domestic airports for regional air travel within the country. Inflow of tourists is increasing in the country and we have a very good trend. Q1 of 2024 was also very good, compared to Q1 of 2023 as the number of visitors increased by 11%. We hosted over 1 300 000 visitors in the indicated period, out of which 1 million individuals were tourists. Thus, we need to develop the infrastructure to create the most welcoming conditions in Georgia. Also, domestic airports need to be developed to support the local mobility, including the inter-regional and inter-city air flights. New terminal will be thus built at Mestia Airport. Green Studio has been selected as a vendor already as it had the best bid. New terminal will be built with modern standards. We are all aware that Mestia in Svaneti is one of the most attractive travel destinations. Thus, the new terminal will facilitate a greater increase of tourism in Svaneti and it will lead to the development of not only Mestia, but the region at large. It will result in the improved welfare of the local population. Terminal will have a food court, shopping quarter and all the relevant amenities or services. Of course, more active work will be continued to develop our hospitality potential and I wish to thank the Ministry of Economy for designing and developing this project. It is with their engagement that a new terminal will be built at Mestia Airport" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia also spoke about the document on National Goals for Education. As Irakli Kobakhidze noted, this paper is based on the patriotic and national spirit.
"Third topic is related to the document on National Goals for Education. We did talk about it at one of the Executive Government Meetings. Project proposal was already available back then. It was thoroughly discussed and public disclosure meetings were held with wide-scale engagement. Members of Parliament (MP), government officials and subject-matter professionals as well as school teachers, pupils, parents and school principals, including those of the private sector were engaged, along with degree students. These meetings resulted in a final draft of the document, which is based on the following values and principles: patriotism and national spirit; statehood mentality, respect towards family values; official language, history and culture of the state; ethnic diversity and cultural heritage; free, democratic and peaceful society; building of a fair and social state; sustainable development and public welfare; engagement, tolerance and justice; high civic awareness; general human, moral and ethics principles; rights, obligations and social responsibility; environmental awareness; healthy lifestyle and physical, aesthetic, socio-emotional development; analytic and creative thinking; academic knowledge and erudition; high culture of communication; digital citizenship; creativity and acceptance of novelties. Curriculum will be improved on the grounds of this document, educational resources and school environment will be improved to result in the achievement of the pre-defined goals by schools.
I wish to once again repeat that the previous document dates back to 2004 and it has not been updated for 20 years. Thus, it was important to essentially revisit it and I thank the Ministry of Education for drafting it and for holding public disclosure meetings, resulting in the high-quality document.
We see that we have challenges in the system of education, including the global trends and rather risky and negative developments. We do not want these trends to get established in our country. Thus, to ensure that pupils are raised with relevant values that have been conveyed to us over centuries, it is essential that general schooling be based on relevant principles in our country. Quality of youth education and understanding of values will be improved in our country. It is one of our goals and the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia will be preoccupied with it" concluded Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia.
Press Service of the Government Administration