2024-03-11
Mikheil Sarjveladze has been appointed Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from Occupied Territories of Georgia, Health and Social Security. He needs no introduction at all. He has been a long-standing and dignified member of our political team, a true professional, man with high integrity. I want to once again wish him every success! It was announced by Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia at the Executive Government Meeting today.
Levan Zhorzholiani has been appointed as a Head of Government Administration. He has been an elected member of the Tbilisi Assembly for years, thereby serving as a Chairman of the Legal Committee.
"He is a lawyer of a very high caliber. I want to wish Levan success as well. Nika Tkemaladze has been appointed as a Department Head for Regional Coverage within the Government Administration. He is a very qualified person. It is essential for the work, quality of services rendered in regions. In this regard, the Department needs to pay particular attention towards this end and I am confident that Nika will be the best Head of this Department" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia expressed gratitude to Zurab Abashidze for his efforts in the previous capacity. He has now been appointed as an Adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia.
"Zurab Abashidze made a decision to resign. You may well be aware that he served as a Special Envoy of the Prime Minister in Relations with Russia for years. He has served this purpose with great success for over 10 years now. We have had very substantial achievements in various directions, great merits to him, with his engagement and participation. I wish to thank him for a long service towards the state and wish him success in the new capacity. Zurab Abashidze will be appointed as an Adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia. I wish to thank him for taking my offer. As for the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Georgia in Relations with Russia, Giorgi Kajaya will serve in this capacity. Over the years, he was a Head of Section within the Embassy of Swiss Confederation mandated to protect the interests of Georgia. From now on, he will serve as a Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Georgia in Relations with Russia" noted the Head of Government of Georgia.
The Prime Minister of Georgia made a reference at the Executive Government Meeting today to the visits held by Zurab Adeishvili to Brussels and Berlin, while being accused of gravest crimes dating back to his tenure as Minister of Justice and General Prosecutor of Georgia. It raises concerns and cannot be left without a response in the opinion of the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia expressed his gratitude to Ilia Darchiashvili, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia for holding meetings on the topic with Ambassadors of the EU and Germany.
"These visits are alarming for us and I wish to once again express my personal position on the topic. You all know who Zurab Adeishvili was - one of the masterminds and main orchestrator of the repressive regime. He was one of the leaders of the regime. He sacrificed the lives, health and wellbeing of a lot of people. We are talking about dozens of thousands of people! Besides, Zurab Adeishvili is convicted for several concrete cases and is also accused for two cases. These are very grave crimes. For instance, one of them is related to the seizure of a commercial facility - Wine Factory - which he foreclosed on illegal grounds. You may agree that this is not a mere offense. He is accused also for the foreclosure of one of the television companies - Iberia. It was the gravest crime committed against the mass media. He is accused of the kidnapping and brutal physical abuse against Koba Davitashvili, as he was personally engaged in the offense. Another case involved torture of inmates at penitentiary institutions. He has been sentenced for this crime. One more case involved the bankruptcy of Cartu Bank. We are talking about the gravest crimes and this person is now seen freely moving within the European Union. It is most alarming for each of us! Zurab Adeishvili is accused of the violence occurring on November 7 as well. He concealed the crime involving the killing of Buta Robakidze. These are concrete and gravest crimes. When a person is convicted of such severe crimes and is accused under a Court Ruling, his free mobility within Europe as part of the Ukrainian Delegation, is concerning and impermissible to leave without a response. Such occurrences undermine the perception of Georgian society in the European bureaucracy, raising doubts about the loyalty of the latter towards such values as the principle of legal state, first of all. In addition, there are other instances when offenders and fugitives are freely moving within the EU. These people are still deemed suspects in concrete wrongdoings committed against the citizens of the EU to this day" stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia also spoke about the topic related to Ukraine. According to Irakli Kobakhidze, the Government of Georgia remains optimistic that authorities of Ukraine will revisit their decisions taken throughout this period of time.
"We have been refraining from making concrete statements for a very long time, as Ukraine is at war and it was the main reason, of course" noted the Prime Minister, though response is required on certain developments in his opinion.
"In any case, we will continue operating in the manner that we call one-sided friendship, as we respect the people of Ukraine and the state of Ukraine. We respect the historic friendship, which has been established between our countries and peoples.
Nevertheless, it is essential to respond to cases, including this one. Our solidarity towards Ukraine is unwavering. It is expressed not only in words, but concrete actions, such as the support demonstrated in over 600 applicable decisions developed on international platforms. It also envisages humanitarian aid, which we have been rendering to Ukrainian people at large scale to this day. Against this background, let me tell you what has been happening. I will remind you of mere facts. Originally, on 1st March 2022 - i.e. in a few days after the dawn of the war in Ukraine, ambassador of Georgia to Ukraine was dismissed by the Ukrainian authorities, thus being a gravest and absolutely incomprehensible fact. Two reasons were given back then: failure to impose sanctions against Russia and failure to send volunteer fighters to Ukraine. I need to remind you that a number of countries - I will not list them here for understandable reasons -- have their ambassadors active in Ukraine, though they had much more - and - I would say a completely - different position towards the war in Ukraine. Their ambassadors were not dismissed for years. The decision taken back then by the Ukrainian authorities was absolutely unclear, especially from the current retrospect. Let me also remind you that our ambassador was forced to leave the territory of Ukraine last year - on 3rd July" stated Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia.
As the Head of Government of Georgia noted, reference is made to the ambassador who did not leave Kiev when the war was launched - in fact, did not leave the city ever since the war started.
"Back then, a number of diplomats, including those of the European nations and USA, left Kiev for security reasons, which is understandable. Nevertheless, let me remind you that the ambassador of Georgia did not leave the city in principle when the war was launched and remained there ever since inter alia to assist the Ukrainians with humanitarian aid and political matters. He was fully engaged in fixing the issues. Such individuals are made to leave Ukraine on false grounds, which - let me remind you - was allegedly the pre-mortal state of Mikheil Saakashvili. It was the official reason given by the Ukrainian authorities! From the current retrospect, it may be said that it is not only false, but laughable. Also, a statement was released exactly at the time when our ambassador was made to leave Ukraine that Russia through Georgian authorities was - let me quote - killing Mikheil Saakashvili. It was a somewhat intentional step made to cast a shade on the historic friendship between the two nations, which is absolutely and categorically unacceptable.
As for the high-ranking positions in the authorities of Ukraine, they are still occupied by offenders, criminals and fugitives to this day. I wish to single out again Zurab Adeishvili and Giorgi Lortkipanidze, who - let me remind you - apart from the offenses involving violence, is suspected in supporting Mikheil Saakashvili's return to Georgia, There are concrete evidences given by witnesses on this matter. After the illegal entry of Mikheil Saakashvili to the Georgian territory, Giorgi Lortkipanidze was even promoted to a position of a Deputy Head of Counterintelligence Service of Ukraine, which raises certain questions, to put it mildly" stated the Head of Government of Georgia.
In the opinion of Irakli Kobakhidze, these steps are absolutely obscure.
"I remain optimistic that Ukrainian authorities will eventually revisit their decisions taken during this time period. Inter alia, we hope that they will hand over the offenders, persons exposed in gravest crimes. It is an essential condition to cause no problem to our historic friendship, which had been established between our nations. No matter how things develop, we remain confident that decisions made by politicians cannot cause any threat to the friendship, which has such a solid historic foundation. I am referring to the one established between friendly countries and peoples. It has such a solid historic foundation that no decision of a politician can shake it, though their decisions are on their own and naturally important" stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia addressed the law-enforcement bodies today as well with an urge to design a common, updated plan for a more effective fight against drug-related crimes.
"Drug-Related Policy is one of the serious problems of the society, which is widely discussed by our political team. I wish to thank Vakhtang Gomelauri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia for carrying out several very significant operations in the recent past. Traders and chains of drug supply have been identified, though more is needed as facts of drug trade and use still prevail" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to Irakli Kobakhidze, any loyal attitude towards this end is impermissible. Users need care, though greatest severity needs to be demonstrated towards traders and it should be the government policy towards this end.
"There are certain systemic issues related to this as well. There is even a coined term of loyal drug policy, which I would say is an extension of the ideology, which we label as pseudo-liberal ideology. That is, one of the components of this ideological line, which we should oppose, is the ideology that may be acceptable to our society and that may benefit our society. Drugs destroy not only health, but values and these so-called pseudo-liberal ideologies inter alia aim to destroy the values among our youth, which we should oppose by all means.
At some point these people succeeded in promoting the liberal drug policy ideology, though we should not tolerate this in any case. It is impermissible to allow any loyal attitude towards this issue. Of course, I am not talking about users, who need our care instead. We need to make them refuse drug use. It should be one of the main directions of our drug policy, though as for the trade and sale of drugs - we need to be most strict and it should be our policy.
Also, attention needs to be paid to the psychotropic pharmacies. It needs to be highlighted as a stand-alone topic and society frequently talks about it. I wish to urge every respective line ministry, especially the law-enforcement agencies to design a common, updated plan to make sure that our fight against the drug-related crimes becomes further more effective" stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia touched upon the illegal timber cuts at the Executive Government Meeting today and noted that amendments need to be drafted for the Criminal Code of Georgia, on the grounds of which sanctions will tighten towards this end.
According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, work on the referred Draft Law will commence in the nearest future.
"Several individuals approached me about the illegal timber cuts. These were very concrete discussions on specific regions and concrete timber cuts in forests. I have no facts or evidence and cannot say anything on this topic or whether these facts are real, though we need to pay maximum attention to this topic in any case to make sure that such potential offenses get prevented. Otar Shamugia [Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) of Georgia] is not present at the Executive Government Meeting today and I will later have a communication with him on this topic. I wish the MEPA to pay maximum attention to this topic, along with the law-enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia. It is a very grave crime. In general, illegal timber cuts, especially in high quantities, is a grave offense. If compared with other grave offenses, it is nonetheless, especially when strategic resources of our future generations and population of the country are depleting. Therefore, we need maximum focus and a strict approach here as well. I believe that we should inter alia develop amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia, on the grounds of which sanctions will tighten on the high volume of illegal timber cuts and we will immediately start working on the Draft Law" stated Irakli Kobakhidze.
Another significant topic discussed by the Head of Government of Georgia today was the paid internship of students and new-graduates. According to him, wide-scale consultations with students and youth will commence for the maximum effectiveness of the system.
"We will be launching wide-scale consultations with students and youth in the coming days to give final touches to the Concept Paper on Paid Internships for Students and New-Graduates and to make the system most effective" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia at the Executive Government Meeting today.
The Prime Minister of Georgia expressed his gratitude to Giorgi Amilakhvari, Minister of Education, Science and Youth for the development of a Preliminary Concept Paper.
"Our aim is to launch this system from this autumn. At least several thousand students will need to be given an opportunity to be admitted for paid internships at public and private institutions for several months on the grounds of their cooperation. We wish the system to be most streamlined. First year will be for pilot exercise and we will make sure to improve the system further. With an aim of making the system effective in the very first year, it is essential to have maximum engagement from the youth and students. We will thus give final, polished scope to the system" concluded Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia.
Press Service of the Government Administration