PM Garibashvili sums up Georgia’s local self-governance reform

"We are the only government who dared to change the system and choose decentralisation.”

These words were spoken by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili as he delivered a speech at the conference Local Self-Governance – Best Practice 2015 today.

The conference focused on the results of the local self-governance reform Georgia implemented last year.

PM Garibashvili said thanks to the reform, local self-governments across Georgia now had all levers and freedom to implement projects, which would contribute to the country’s democratic development.

"I would like to remind everyone of what we had before the implementation of the self-government reform. You know just two or three years ago Georgia had a centralised system and we are the only Government that dared to change this system,” Garibashvili said.

"The result is that we carried out unprecedented local elections last year, we elected 59 Governors and 12 Mayors through direct elections. We set a very ambitious plan, we imposed an unprecedented barrier – the 50 percent threshold. I share the joy and pride that our country has received as a result of this reform," said the Prime Minister.

Garibashvili also said his team had a detailed plan on how to develop each region of the country. He named several programs his Government had launched in order to make the regions stronger.

"Regional economic development, revival of cities, opening of enterprises, employing our citizens and improving their families' economic situation are the main goals of these programs,” Garibashvili said.

He noted within the governmental programs 130 enterprises were opened, which saw 6,700 people get employed.

For the first time in Georgia, on June 15, 2014 citizens directly elected their chosen Mayor in twelve cities and heads of all municipalities across the country.