Georgia's Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili hosted diplomatic corps and representatives of international organisations at the joint New Year reception today.
Speaking at the reception, he summed up the political results of 2017. The Prime Minister stressed that the outgoing year was full of successes and challenges.
Stressing how successful 2017 has been in terms of bringing Georgia closer to Europe through visa liberalisation, Kvirikashvili said this has been a strong political step from European Union, highlighting that it welcomes Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
The PM said that Georgia will continue promoting peace and security. He expressed special gratitude to the servicemen, including the Georgian, who defend the world's security by participating in international missions.
The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that this year was stable for Georgia. "At the same time, I regretfully note that the ruling party has shown a lack of desire to develop and reform the country, there are many people in it who think only about personal enrichment." The people have lost interest in the country's democratic processes, which showed mayoral and local elections.The ruling party won solely through the use of administrative and financial resources. In this case, one must be objective, there was no direct falsification of the elections," he said.
Petre Mamradze said that the most disturbing event in 2017 was the recent special anti-terrorist operation in Tbilisi. "It was a bolt from the blue, thank God none of the civilians were injured, but our special forces soldier was killed and four others were injured. This event showed a complete lack of professionalism on the part of inspecting officials," the head of the Institute of Management Strategy pointed out.
The expert also noted the importance of strengthening the foreign political contacts of the republic. "In foreign policy, I would like to note that the authorities at least stopped constantly annoying our big neighbor Russia. Also, a positive cooperation with Europe was developing this year. But it should be emphasized that the amendments to the Constitution showed that the interests of the state are directly dominated by interests the ruling party that wants to strengthen its own power," Petre Mamradze concluded.
The head of the Center for Security Studies and International Relations of Georgia, Nika Chitadze, listed Georgia's economic and foreign political successes of this year. "We had a strong economic growth: if in 2016 GDP growth did not exceed 3%, then in 2017 Georgia's GDP growth may be about 5%, foreign trade volume also grew by 12%. The visit of US Vice-President Michael Pence to Tbilisi is among main foreign political successes," he said.
Meanwhile, many problems in Georgia have not been resolved during this year, and the problem of terrorism has also arisen. "The problems with the media have been highlighted more clearly, I mean the scandal surrounding Rustavi-2, when different courts issued a negative decision on the fate of the television company. It's good that at least after the intervention of the Council of Europe the execution of this decision was suspended. Another problem of this year is a surge in corruption at tenders. And of course one should not be silent about the problem of terrorism, since it has not yet been ascertained how Akhmed Chatayev came to be in the center of Tbilisi," Nika Chitadze said.
