2021-07-26
Several days ago we received half a million doses of Pfizer vaccine. It is the US support and I wish to once again thank the USA and President Biden personally for this gift. It was stated by Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia at the Executive Government Meeting today.
The Head of Government of Georgia noted that 2 million doses of vaccine have been accumulated in the country, out of which 1.5 million doses of Chinese-manufactured and half a million as produced by Pfizer.
"In addition, million doses of Pfizer have been ordered directly from the producer and the process of supply has already been started and is in progress. In total, we will have 3 million doses of COVID vaccine, out of which 2 million is already in the country and 1 million doses will arrive in a month or maximum in a month and a half. It will be supplied in phases, every week-end. I wish to once again urge the population and once again explain the importance of vaccination. A lot of questions are asked about the need for immunization. Main answer and argument, which I wish to share with our population, is that a lethal outcome - which is the most painful result for us - is practically impossible after vaccination. Thus, I wish to once again urge everyone to get vaccinated and to safeguard the life and health of our own, our parents, our children and loved ones. Wide-scale disinformation is spread about vaccines in general. I wish to urge the population to rely and trust scientists and science, rather than thousands of lies, gossips and rumors spread via social media" stated Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia.
In the opinion of the Head of Government of Georgia, the number of infected individuals has practically doubled in the last two weeks as a direct result of careless street rallies. The Prime Minister of Georgia called on the population of the country to be vigilant and treat every action and public gathering with a degree of responsibility.
"Number of infected individuals has practically doubled in the last two weeks. I wish to note with due fairness that it is a direct outcome of the careless street rallies lasting for several days. These events have practically led to the doubling of the number of infected. I wish to once again urge the population to be vigilant and treat every action and public gathering with a degree of responsibility" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia spoke about the positive trends witnessed in the economy of the country, thereby noting that the growth indicator reached 12% in the first 6 months of the year, thus enabling the State to keep away from borrowing and the Government of Georgia has thus increased the State Budget by over a billion.
"We opened-up everything. Economy has been growing super-fast for several months now and we have unprecedented growth in the world. In April our economy grew by 45%, in May - by 25% and we expect factual data for June to manifest 18% of growth. We practically have a 12% growth indicator in the first 6 months of the year, which ultimately enabled us to keep away from borrowing this year. Moreover, we were able to increase the State Budget by over a billion. The Minister of Finance of Georgia has already submitted the adjusted budget parameters to the Parliament of Georgia. It has led to our increased capacity to finance a number of program initiatives for our population" noted Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia spoke about the information spread about possible restrictions, claiming that the country will no longer withstand further lock-downs.
"I wish to explain to the population of Georgia that even though recent talks and questions are spreading about it, no further lock-downs are to be expected. I wish to state that we have chosen a different way forward and it is a method of management. We should do our best to effectively manage the pandemic. Our country will no longer withstand new lock-downs and no restrictions will be justified either. Moreover, measures like these will be harmful for the economy of our country and will lead to the additional borrowing of several billion dollars or lari, which will need to be paid back by our citizens, of course" noted the Head of Government of Georgia.
The Prime Minister of Georgia once again called on the population to get vaccinated.
"My friends and fellow citizens, to avoid it from happening and to keep away from it, I urge you all to get vaccinated, as it is safe for health. We should trust the scientists, rather than Facebook, disinformation and thousands of lies spread through various means. Under my instructions, the Ministry of Health has been working actively for the past several days. It is my desire to gradually get the vaccines to every municipality and every village, of course, to let the population get vaccinated locally. It is utterly important" noted Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia.
In addition and in line with a Government Decree, a very important program is getting launched in the agriculture sector of the country today, which envisages co-financing of agro-industrial machinery. Grant financing is budgeted at 50 million GEL.
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia elaborated on the details of the program. According to Levan Davitashvili, co-financing for mechanization is a vital need of the rural population engaged in agriculture.
"It is the main wish and urging, which has been voiced by our population. Thus, we decided to introduce a program, which we effectively implemented in previous years, though with a limited budget. This time, we will be having wide-scale funding. We may accept applications from September. Grants will be provided as co-financing and the State will incur the partial cost of agriculture machinery. The rest may be covered with a concessional loan or leasing. Thus, I believe that our population will benefit significantly. We will have a possibility to support small mechanization applications up to 20 000 GEL, as well as the large machinery ranging between 20 000 - 100 000 GEL or over 100 000 GEL" noted Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia stressed the significance of land resources and full use of it, thereby noting that Levan Davitashvili is actively working towards this end. He has already developed truly vital program initiatives, which will be launched from September.
"Levan Davitashvili is actively working and has already developed truly vital program initiatives, which will be launched from September, with a bulk of it starting from 2022 to develop agriculture in the country. We should fully use the land resources available in the country. Levan has developed specific program initiatives towards this end, which will be offered to our farmers and our population" concluded Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia.
Press Service of the Government Administration