2016-11-25
Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Acting Prime Minister of Georgia shared the Government Program to the Parliamentary Faction - Patriots of Georgia and briefed the Members of Parliament (MPs) on the reform agenda anticipated for the next 4 years.
At the outset of his Address, Mr. Kvirikashvili congratulated the MPs with their election to the legislature and wished them success at the Parliament of Georgia.
In the opinion of the Acting Prime Minister, key priority of the Government in the past 4 years has been the human rights and reduced social burden of general public.
"Economic policy was led in a way that predominantly protected social rights and economic growth was balanced through the ensured basic human right, such as healthcare and social security. Rapid development agenda of the country for future defines new aspirations and therefore a Four Point Reform Agenda has been developed to respond to the current challenges. The plan meets the needs of economic growth in Georgia" stated Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Acting Prime Minister of Georgia.
In his opinion, top priorities of the country are education and therefore it is a key area of the Four Point Reform Agenda.
"We plan to distribute the public funds primarily for the degree education that are currently in high demand. We assume they will remain rising in the coming years and economy of the country will drive this demand. We have replicated a German dual education model, which implies a work-based method on the grounds of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Speaking from my practice, I have met a lot of businessmen who send their staff to gain overseas education in high demand in Georgia due to the lack of such partnership" added Mr. Kvirikashvili.
According to him, Four Point Plan of the Government entails a set of economic reforms, which in his opinion are oriented at the provision of most incentives and encouragement for the private sector. Significant tax provisions will be defined and businesses will no longer pay profit tax if they reinvest. Acting Prime Minister also spoke about the financing principle of Start Ups and noted that Government continues to actively support the promising entrepreneurs engaged in start-ups.
Mr. Kvirikashvili believes that new Pension System Reform, i.e. the Second Pillar designed and developed with support of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank is of great importance. He expressed hopes that the private pension system will enable the citizens to make savings.
Acting Prime Minister exposed the MPs from the Parliamentary Faction - Patriots of Georgia with a Governance System Reform, which includes two sub-components: Service-Oriented Government and Inclusive Governance.
"It provides for a preliminary scrutiny of all the significant institutional reforms prior to the actual decision-making in the country. It will engage the private sector, international financial institutions (IFIs), business associations, civil society organizations, NGOs, etc. Steps have been made towards this end. Investors Council has been established by the initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to include the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), EBRD, Asian Development Bank (ADB), various business associations. We meet regularly to discuss the proposed amendments to the legislation so that no negative surprises are faced and entrepreneurial forecasting and projections get improved" noted Mr. Kvirikashvili.
Acting Prime Minister spoke vastly about the Spatial Planning, which is an integral part of the Four Point Reform Agenda of the Government, thereby being a key framework document for the rapid development and advancement of the country. By the explanations of Mr. Kvirikashvili, chaotic urban development will no longer be practiced and regulated plan will be developed for urban and rural development within the Spatial Planning Reform Agenda.
"Considering the geographic location of Georgia, it can enjoy opportunities offered by the New Silk Road, however we will fail to find the best use of them if we do not bring our infrastructure in compliance with those existing in the modern world. Time is important here. If the transit cargo finds another passage, it will become harder to retour it back to the South Corridor. That is why we need to intensify the modernization of infrastructure in the coming years" noted Mr. Kvirikashvili.
Acting Prime Minister touched upon other areas of Government Policies at the meeting with the Parliamentary Faction - Patriots of Georgia. In his opinion Universal Healthcare is the main achievement of the Government Policy on Healthcare and Social Security. It will be maintained in future. Citizens of the country will remain protected from high cost of medical treatment. Primary Healthcare Reform will be pursued further. Every patient will be eagerly admitted to the Elimination of Hepatitis C Program. Advanced methods of cancer treatment will be introduced. Social security system will get further advanced and improved.
According to the Acting Prime Minister, freedom of speech and media will remain protected in the country. Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili believes that strong and independent Judiciary is a corner stone for the development of the country. Judiciary system reform is therefore implemented and intensive efforts will get deployed to make the performance of Courts of Law approximated to European standards.
In his opinion, key aspect of the current foreign policy of the country is to improve the national security and sovereignty, ensure de-occupation and territorial integrity of the country.
"We will further advance the strategic cooperation with the United States of America (USA), strengthen our relations with neighboring countries and nations in the region, develop strategic partnerships. Considering the global challenges it is essential to have a coordinated and effective cooperation with our partner countries within the Anti-Terrorist Coalition. We will by all means continue with a pragmatic and balanced policy of de-escalation with Russian Federation, though it will not happen on the expense of infringed sovereignty and national interests of Georgia. We will indeed continue pursuing our very intensive efforts towards reconciliation with Abkhazia and Ossetia. All those plenty of projects and steps that have been made by the authorities in the past years will not only be pursued further, but will be extended more substantially with a wide spectrum of efforts made towards this end. Our team in the Government has the right mindset to introduce a lot of significant adjustments in the coming four years and that is why we need support of the Parliament" concluded the Acting Prime Minister.