Kvirikashvili becomes Prime Minister of Georgia

President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has approved the candidacy of the country’s acting foreign minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili for the position of prime minister.

"I supported both Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s resignation and Kvirikashvili’s candidacy, as soon as they were presented to me," RIA Novosti cited the President as saying.

Now the former minister of Foreign Affairs must present to parliament the new composition of the cabinet of ministers and his program and get the parliament’s vote of confidence in the new government headed by Kvirikashvili.

The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, praised the personality of the new prime minister in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, stressing his responsible attitude to work as one of his best qualities. "Everyone praises Kvirikashvili. He did not have any experience, neither as Minister of the Economy nor as Minister of Foreign Affairs, any experience of diplomatic work, but he has not made any adverse problems. On the contrary, all his statements were balanced, well thought out," he said.

"But it is important that the governmental system remains unchanged and vicious: it is a pure patron/client system. Therefore, we cannot expect a lot from the fact that such a man came to power," the expert noted.

The Georgian political scientist Vakhtang Maisaya said that Kvirikashvili's appointment to this post did not surprise Georgia. "So we shouldn't expect significant changes from this government. It will be a technical cabinet, which will deal with the daily issues, but not those which will have more or less impact on the political and social life in Georgia. The main task of the Cabinet is to lead the country to the parliamentary elections and make some kind of stabilization fund for it," the expert noted.

The head of the Center for Global Studies, Nana Devdariani, believes that the Minister of Health David Sergeyenko was an even better candidate, but Kvirikashvili is also a positive choice. "Still, public opinion was more inclined towards Sergeyenko, because he achieved a very great amount of success, such as the universal public insurance program. But Kvirikashvili is also a very good candidate. He transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only recently, previously he worked in the Ministry of the Economy. And he was also included in the preparation of the documents of the EU Association Agreement," she said.