Ex-PM Kvirikashvili says UNICEF study didn’t push his resignation
Giorgi Kvirikashvili (L) served as the Georgian PM between 2015 and 2018. Photo: netgazeti.
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Former Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili says that it is ‘not serious’ to connect his resignation back in June 2018 with the UNICEF study that year which said that the children's poverty remained as one of the key issues for the country.
In a telephone interview with TV Pirveli yesterday Kvirikashvili refused to provide more details of his resignation.
Kvirikashvili said that the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili did not interfere in his activities while in office.
However, he said that later, when Ivanishvili disliked something in his activities as the PM, he returned to politics as the head of the Georgian Dream party and he (Kvirikashvili) had to quit.
In 2018 Kvirikashvili said that the reason for his resignation was controversies ‘on economic and other fundamental issues’ with the Georgian Dream ruling party and the party head Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Georgia’s ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili responded to the June 20 developments in front of the parliament building in central Tbilisi, saying “the government has made a severe mistake, to which it admitted, but was late with its political response.”
David Zalkaliani as Foreign Minister, Giorgi Cherkezishvili as Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Nikoloz Gagua as Finance Minister are newcomers to the cabinet which took office immediately following the vote.
The Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has announced that he quits his post due to the controversies on economic and other fundamental issues with the Georgian Dream ruling party and the party head Bidzina Ivanishvili. He stated that now the party leader should be given an opportunity to offer the team which he believes to cope with the current state challenges better.
Social protection programmes can better identify poor families with children though poverty still remains a challenge in Georgia, UNICEF’s new Welfare Monitoring Survey says.