On February 8, 2011 was held the meeting of the Georgian Government. The agenda included 47 items.
Before the meeting started, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri, talked about reorganization of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia. We present the Prime Minister's speech:
"Good day.
Before we start discussing the issues on the agenda, I would like to give the public and members of the government a piece of news about one issue. This is one of the main issues at today's government meeting. This is about reorganization of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia. As you already know, several weeks ago, I was instructed by the President to consider several options to reorganize the Ministry. We have worked with Goga (Khachidze) as well as with the Ministries of Economy, Energy and Finance. We have discussed several options. Today, we will summarize these choices and try to present legislative changes with respect to this issue to the Parliament, in the nearest future. These changes mainly include: functions of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources will be separated. The issues of environment protection and ecology will remain within the competence of the abovementioned Ministry, while the issues of natural resources and licensing will be transferred to the Ministry of Energy. The Ministry of Energy will be transformed into a Ministry of other profile and will become a Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. At present, the Ministry of Energy works exactly on the issues of natural resources and utilization of hydro resources. As for licensing and utilization of natural resources as a whole, it will become the competence of the Ministry. This very Ministry will be in charge of these issues. The protected territories will be submitted to the Ministry of Economy in the form of an LEPL such as LEPL Department of Tourism of the Ministry of Economy. The issues of licensing, holding auctions will be transferred from the Ministry of Economy to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. There are too many details and we are still working on the issue. In the nearest days, we will send the legislative changes to the Parliament and work on them with the Parliament. I am having several meeting with respect to the issue after the government meeting. I think as soon as the Parliament starts its sessions, it will discuss the issue and these two new directions will be established during the next month or a month and a half. Thus, the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources will be transformed into a Ministry of Environment Protection. One more version is also considered, according to which the Ministry of Environment Protection will be included in the Office of the State Minister. The Ministry of Energy will be transformed into a Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. These are the main changes to be implemented in this direction."
Prime Minister's Press Service