2017-12-20
"We must succeed in lowering the level of politicization in our society, and we must be able to speak casually with youths and citizens from all walks of life about issues pertaining to our country's future to encourage a sense of belonging in them," Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated during his meeting with the parliamentary majority.
The Prime Minister discussed in detail the Government's program and reaffirmed his commitment to making all important decisions through parliamentary engagement and debates.
"To be honest, on our part, we are experiencing much change, including in our own selves, and that must be said from the outset. We are switching to a different parliamentary model, which involves much greater parliamentary engagement in strategically important decision-making, and the whole Government is involved in this process. This process will continue and will prove very beneficial for our country," the Prime Minister stated.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili also spoke about the Government's optimization, which is motivated primarily by the goals of enhancing the Government's effectiveness, elimination of duplication by ministries and agencies, and lower administrative expenses, and has been discussed by the Cabinet since 2016.
"I believe that eighteen ministries has been a luxury for our country. Fourteen must be a more adequate number, and with the structure approved by the Parliament, involving the institutional arrangement of the new Cabinet, we will have much more effective governance," the Prime Minister emphasized.
The Prime Minister also described in detail the key priorities of the Government's program, achievements in the past few years, and ongoing projects serving the purpose of the country's rapid development.
During the meeting with the majority, the Prime Minister once again commented on today's incident and reiterated his apologies to the public.
"Unfortunately, a part of the opposition is pursuing the sole goal of destructiveness and provocation, violating all norms of ethics. Unfortunately, they succeeded in pushing me to overreact. But I will also say that, unfortunately, one is forced to protect his dignity, and it is often difficult to control one's emotions. Unfortunately, they have succeeded. I have apologized to the public, and I reiterate my apologies now," the Prime Minister said.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili emphasize the need maximally to depolarize society.
"We must succeed in lowering the level of politicization in our society, and we must be able to speak casually with youths and citizens from all walks of life about issues pertaining to our country's future to encourage a sense of belonging in them. It must be done, and it will be one of the cornerstones of the Government's work, which you will see in 2018. This is how I would like to start and conclude my speech-society's maximal engagement will be the main direction in the Government's future work. We will create platforms to facilitate civilized interaction on even the most pressing issues, so that people may express their most critical comments, but in a form accepted in the civilized community. Unfortunately, our standards are a far cry from it, and this will be a major task to usher in dialogue, interaction standards, and maximally to widen the scope of its participants. We are not seeking praises hailing the Government; we do not seek laudations for our work. What we want is hold discussions and find solutions together, where we want to be tomorrow. That, of course, does not mean that we do no have our own vision. What it means is that every member of our society without exception must be engaged in this process. I know that there will be a small fraction remaining outside this dialogue, which is unfortunate, but we must do our best to make this fraction as small as possible," Giorgi Kvirikashvili emphasized.
The Prime Minister, in his speech, also underscored the country's achievements and challenges in the foreign policy arena. According to him, the problem of occupation has been and will remain the top issue on the Government's agenda.
"There is no greater task in Georgia than the unification of our country, the return of our Abkhazians and Ossetians, and reconciliation, dialogue with one another and, of course, the restoration of territorial integrity within unified Georgia," the Prime Minister said.
During the meeting with the majority, the Head of Government emphasized violence against women and domestic violence, saying that it is a major challenge facing society.
"It has both cultural and other reasons which I will not discuss in detail now. We will have to take very decisive steps in this direction. The discussed this issue within the Government, also with parliamentary leadership, various majority MPs, and I would like to offer you debates as to how to tighten the law and its enforcement to eliminate this calamity in our country. I want us to invest extra effort to have tangible results. Unfortunately, the steps taken so far by us and the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Parliament have apparently been insufficient, so we will have to continue working in this direction," the Prime Minister stated.
At the conclusion of his speech, the Prime Minister reiterated that 2018 celebrates the 100th anniversary of Georgia's first democratic republic, which will be marked by nationwide festivities.
According to Giorgi Kvirikashvili, it is equally important that 2018 also marks the restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Church, and it is a pleasant coincidence that the 25th anniversary of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All-Georgia and his 85th birthday are also celebrated next year.
"His personality is larger than the boundaries of one religion or another. From this platform, I humbly thank him for everything he has done for the country. I hope that we all will celebrate together the establishment of the first Georgian republic. It will be a nationwide folk celebration that transcends ethnic or religious affiliations, and we want all of Georgia's friends to celebrate this important date," Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated.
At the end of his speech, the Prime Minister thanked the majority for joint achievements and expressed his trust in successful cooperation in the future.
Prime Minister's Press Office