The Meeting of the Government of Georgia was held on 10 December 2008. The agenda consisted of 19 items. The Meeting was opened by President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.
"I'm glad to see the appearance of new interesting persons on the government arena. As agreed with the Prime Minister who started work very well, after a certain period we had intended to introduce sweeping changes and transfuse new blood to the Government. Today, this has been done on quite an unprecedented scale. We have many interesting new ministers and I'd like to wish them success in their service. First of all, I'd like to say that this is a very crucial time. We have to address several core challenges amid the hardest world economic crisis on a par with our efforts to build democratic institutes and our struggle to create new jobs. The new appointment sin the Cabinet of Ministers means that as the country and the government, we must get ever closer to the European institutes and Europe, provide peace in our nation and take the right course to build and reform our armed forces. Personally, I have a few expectations from the Government. These are: a coordinated work, an in-depth knowledge of matters, and a regular interaction with our people, with our society, with a sense of where we are and where we are heading, what our perspectives are and how we must act to address these challenges. The challenges are daunting but we are confident that we can address them to an adequate level. I'd like to maintain the tradition and assign the Prime Minister the function to lead and take care of you. I'd like to wish you all the success in your very important work," Mikheil Saakashvili said.
Prime Minister of Georgia Grigol Mgaloblishvili
"I'd like to welcome again our new colleagues. Before moving on to the items of the Agenda, I'd like to say in brief that consistency is a hallmark of our work. We must fulfill the pledges and plans that we gave to our people. We have a very consistent 18-month plan, three months of which has been quite a success. Considerable works have been performed, though we'll face the key challenges in the months to come. We must do all that it takes to get the country back to the development stage that it was on before the events of August. This, first of all, calls for a focused work on our part. I'd like to welcome our new colleagues again and wish them success in this dicfficult but very important work," Grigol Mgaloblishvili said.
Press Center of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia