3 year Gov’t report: How has Georgia progressed since 2012?

The Prime Minister of Georgia has today presented a three-year report of what his Government has achieved since it gained power in 2012.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke of the goals the Georgian Dream coalition had achieved in its first term in power, and reiterated what goals were yet to be achieved.

Next year is election year in Georgia, where the nation will decide who will lead the country for the next four years. Garibashvili said his party had not finished making changes and the Georgian Dream coalition would continue developing the country toward a brighter future.

International recognition

Signing an Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU) was Georgia’s top achievement of the past three years, said Garibashvili today.

The Georgian official stressed the country had never been as close to the EU as it was now. He mentioned a number of reforms had been updated or adopted to ensure Georgia met European standards.

Amended or new reforms included:

• National Strategy for Protection of Human Rights;
• Labour Code;
• Local Self-Government Code;
• Juvenile Justice Code; and
• Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection.

Garibashvili said all of these efforts had been adequately recognised by the international community. The latest recognition came via the release of Georgia’s positive visa liberalisation progress report by the European Commission, which will soon see Georgian citizens travel freely to Europe.

Garibashvili also stressed the importance of Substantial NATO-Georgia Package and NATO’s support for Georgia that was voiced at the organisation’s Summit in Wales.

Since coming into power, Georgia enjoyed bipartisan support from its top strategic partner – the United States (US). Garibashvili said this support was reflected in increasing US financial support for Georgia, and used US grants towards education in Georgia as an example of this.

Garibashvili stressed even though there was an absence of diplomatic relations between Georgia and Russia, his team managed to establish trade relations with Russia and this would greatly benefit Georgian businessmen and entrepreneurs.

Georgia: A bridge between Europe and China

A major part of Garibashvili’s three-year report was devoted to Georgia’s increasing role as a regional hub connecting two of the largest markets in the world – Europe and China.

#Georgia becomes key part of #SilkRoad.We are corridor btwn world's two largest markets - #China & #Europe. #OpenGovernance#3YearsReport

— Irakli Garibashvili (@PrimeMinisterGE) December 21, 2015

The PM stressed the importance of Tbilisi holding the Silk Road Forum that convened hundreds of international powerful businessmen in Georgia earlier this year.

Garibashvili also drew attention to the successful first Silk Railway train from China to Georgia, which increased Georgia’s role as an important transit country.

Boosting Georgia-China relations was one of the greatest achievements of the current Government, said Garibashvili, and he added the two countries had begun negotiations about establishing free trade regime.

"These all give a unique opportunity to our entrepreneurs to reach the market of China, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Turkey ...,” Garibashvili said.

Focusing on people and their needs

For the first time in the country’s history, the state cared about its people and their lives.

The center of our values is human life, his/her well-being, rights, conditions for development #OpenGovernance#3YearsReport

— Irakli Garibashvili (@PrimeMinisterGE) December 21, 2015

Garibashvili spoke about the Universal Health Care Program and its importance, noting the state cared for the health of every citizen in Georgia.

Garibashvili said since 2012, health services had become more available for everyone in Georgia including those in remote regions. He said medical centres were now in each municipality and each village could benefit from faster and better emergency medical services.

He added the Hepatitis C Elimination Program, which was immensely successful, was unique not only for Georgia but for the world too.

In the past three years the health budget had increased 55 percent, meaning his Government recognised the importance of focusing on the people of Georgia and their needs.

Education was another priority of the current Government and the state budget to this sector had increased 35 percent since 2012.

Currently the state financed 21 Bachelor programs and also supported 192 successful students learn at leading universities abroad.

Teachers’ salaries had increased and those living in mountainous regions now enjoyed a number of social and economic concessions.

The PM’s report also covered issues regarding Georgia’s Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Garibashvili said for the first time in Georgia’s history, his team regulated IDP housing by law, and as of today 15,000 IDPs had been given new accommodation units, with more given to desperate families soon.

Economic success

Georgia’s agricultural sector was transforming into a successful economic area, and this had much to do with a budget increase of 91 percent in recent years.

The PM said the most successful programs in the agricultural sector were Agro Insurance, Preferential Agro Credit and Agriculture Cooperatives.

When talking about encouraging local production, Garibashvili highlighted the new Produce in Georgia program and added within this initiative 130 new enterprises had opened this year alone.

"From 2003 to 2012 the unemployment rate increased by 4.8 percent in Georgia. During the past three years this rate has decreased 2.6 percent,” Garibashvili said.

He also stressed that Foreign Direct Investments were the highest in 2014 in Georgia’s history.

Developing the Anaklia Port into a deep sea port would bring immense benefits to Georgia’s economy, not only in the western region but the entire country.

"I would call this port the Silk Port as it will connect Europe and Asia,” Garibashvili said.

Georgia’s growing energy sector was another topic mentioned; Garibashvili spoke about Georgia’s success in using hydro power to fuel the nation, and named the Gardabani Thermal Power Plant as "the project of the century”.

While summing up the tourism sector, Garibashvili said 17 million foreign visitors entered the country in the past three years. This had brought Georgia 4.6 billion GEL. To compare, in the seven years leading up to 2012, a collective total of 13 million foreign visitors came to Georgia.