2019-05-21
"Strong regions equal to strong Georgia. Hence, I cannot imagine a sustainable development of our homeland without a political system based on the principles of self-governance". It was stated by Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia at the IV Forum of an Institutional Dialogue between National and Local Authorities. Forum is titled as Regional Economy - Strong Municipalities within the Context of Decentralisation Reform. It was held in Tskaltubo today.
As noted by the Head of Government of Georgia, it is impossible to overcome challenges faced by Georgia without a strong self-governance. Prime Minister of Georgia regards strengthened self-governance as one of the key priorities of the Government of Georgia.
"Our priority is strong regions, inclusive growth, which ultimately will enable us to build a successful country. Unfortunately, inaccurate economic policy implemented for years has brought an ugly economic system to us. I will never resist saying this because of very simple statistical data. Almost 50 percent of our State Budget depends on the taxes paid by 300 companies. Every second of them are inter-related entities. Hence, 50 percent of our tax revenues actually depends on 150 business groups. This is naturally affecting everything. It is reflected in the opportunities missed by our regions, when they failed to fully realize their economic potential and get engaged in the economic development of the country, its diversification. It is a very hard task to change, however together we should be able to succeed" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, significant progress has been achieved in this regard over the past four months and large portion of municipalities carried out a very hard endeavor.
"You may well be aware that over the past certain time, when we were talking about a development of infrastructure in our municipalities, regions experienced certain delays and slowdown. Irrespective of the significant increase of the budget allocations for you and other regions, this year we are advancing and I wish to thank you all for this. You are aware of my attitude towards these topics. Large portion of municipalities managed to carry out a hard task indeed and I am confident that this outcome will be further improved by the end of the year. In fact, we managed to achieve this criterion everywhere, except 5-6 municipalities" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, a draft Strategy on Decentralisation has been developed. It envisages an increased authority of local self-governance, financial decentralization and more transparent accountability of local authorities.
"When we talk about the development and progress of self-governance, naturally it requires a respective political will, real and legitimate steps to be made, rather than mere political statements. We have already developed a draft Strategy on Decentralisation, which is based on the vision of the Government and Parliament of Georgia announced in March 2018. It is in real sense leading to the increased authority of self-governance, financial decentralization and more transparent accountability of local authorities. Within this context, we should be assured that each citizen gets engaged in the process" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, strategy has three dimensions: increased authority of self-governance; material and financial empowering of local authorities; reliable, accountable, transparent and result-oriented local authorities.
"You know well that social security is of special importance in our policies and I hope that we will manage to reorient a part of our social programs to local authorities. I cannot believe that problems faced in regions can be better seen from Tbilisi. I wish to once again reaffirm you in the solid political will of the Government of Georgia and our political team towards continuing and completing the democratization process of local authorities. Each of us is guided with a principle of shaping Georgia into a strong European state. We have a lot of obstacles on this path. We have been through a lot of challenges together and naturally nobody has an illusion that we will not have them in future" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
In the opinion of the Prime Minister of Georgia, reform of the education system is truly a national idea, which will give all the potential to Georgia to overcome all the challenges faced by it. It is thereby the only guarantee that Georgia will be a unified, strong and successful country in the 21st century.
"We have a truly national idea and it is education. Education serves as the only guarantee for making Georgia united, strong and successful in the 21st century. Most appreciated of all the joys in life is reading and books are admired in every region of Georgia. Our greatest asset is our people, our future generation, our children. It is exactly why we think that it is a national idea, which will bring great success to Georgia. It will equip the country with a potential, which will enable us to overcome all the current challenges, including occupation" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, his initiative will be scrutinized by the Parliament of Georgia in a few days. In line with the initiative, 6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be earmarked for education.
"In my opinion, it is the most courageous step that we have ever made since regaining our independence. It is the idea that should unite us all, irrespective of political beliefs, viewpoint on economic development or attitude towards any other topic. It is the issue that will reap tangible results for Georgia if we manage to consolidate. Indeed, our intention is to make the initiative solid through a legal framework to make it sustainable and prevent future teams in power from diverting from the ace of development designed for the country. All of this is targeted towards our society and our intellectual potential, our future" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, engagement of the local authorities in the national idea has a decisive importance.
"By our assumptions, almost 7 BLN GEL needs to be invested solely in general schooling to make sure that they comply with high European standards all over Georgia. It is a huge amount, but that is why we decided to allocate a quarter of the State Budget for education. I had an opportunity to visit public school N33 in Kutaisi today upon completion of its refurbishment by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). I wish to express my gratitude to them and note that our attitude towards the matter is simple: when we talk about inclusive economic growth, which covers every region, every citizen and Georgian household, whereby every community is developing equally - education component has the most significant role to play. I do not wish at all to continue with the current perception and segregate schools into two groups: prestigious and non-prestigious. It is the very fundamental factor that prevents development of a lot of progressive issues in Georgia. Therefore, one of the goals of our national idea will be to make every school prestigious and of high quality in Georgia. Every parent, youth and citizen of Georgia should be convinced that access to high quality education is ensured to all" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, unique landscape and location of the country give us all the opportunities to become a regional economic hub.
"Engagement of each of you is of great importance. Same applies to your participation in the successful implementation of the reform in the education sector. I am convinced that we will regain the role of regional hub in education upon the implementation of this national idea. It will be the pre-requisite of success achieved by our country. I wish to thank the organizers of the event today. It is a very important format, whereby Parliament, Government and local authorities - and what is most important - private sector hold a dialogue with each other on how to advance our cooperation further, where are the drawbacks and where is the room to improve and do more" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Prime Minister's Press Office