Georgia could become the new Dubai, says ex-PM

"If everything goes right, Georgia might become the new Dubai”.

This was what Georgia’s ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said when asked about the economic situation in the country at a press conference.

Today Ivanishvili presented his new non-governmental organisation to a crowd of journalists and answered a variety of questions afterward regarding the economy, justice reforms and other topics.

The ex-PM said creating proper economic legislation and enforcing the rule of law were factors that would develop Georgia into a country with a strong economy.

Ivanishvili believed Georgia’s location, its talented people and Europeanization would put Georgia on a successful economic path.

The former leader was reminded by a journalist that 2013 was the first year since the Rose Revolution when a budget breakthrough occurred in Georgia.

In response to this, Ivanishvili said the Saakashvili-led government used to fill the budget with money received from plea agreements, which deprived people of their property, and other illegal activities.

"We did not do anything like this”, Ivanishvili stated.

"I would criticize Irakli [Garibashvili, Georgia’s current PM] for using imprecise wording when he said that Georgia had experienced an economic decrease under the new Government’s conditions. I disagree with this,” Ivanishvili said.

"We came and started to recover the ways of how the [United] National Movement [former ruling party] used to manage the economy.”

Ivanishvili compared the economy during the time of the former government to a tree planted into the ground by its leaves with its roots sticking out the top.

"We put the tree the right-way down, cured its roots and now it needs time to grow,” he explained.

Ivanishvili left Georgian politics in November 2013 after the inauguration of President Giorgi Margvelashvili.