On 2 September, Mamuka Bakhtadze posted on Facebook that he will resign from his position as the Prime Minister of Georgia. “It was a great honour for me and at the same time a great responsibility to serve as the Prime Minister of Georgia for protecting the interests of our country. I was and will be a member of the Georgian Dream team and the devoted soldier of our country. I would like to thank my predecessors and wish success to the next Prime Minister,” read his post.
His post continued naming the main political achievements of his government. Firstly, there was the initiation of a long term strategic development plan based on five key points which included: 1) Georgia’s speedy integration into NATO and the EU, 2) carrying out genuine and innovative economic reforms and the creation of a new economic model, 3) offering a more flexible government model, 4) declaring education, youth and innovations as a priority and 5) taking steps to ensure high level protection of human rights. All these points served the two main goals of his government, namely “ending the Russian occupation and poverty.”
He also underlined in his post that Georgia had reached its all-time high in relations with the US, EU and NATO. “Today we are associated members of the EU, we have a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU, visa liberalization, which gave our people direct and tangible results. Today, Georgia is closer to a European family than ever. Until Georgia becomes an EU member, I consider Georgia’s membership in the European Economic Area as the best mechanism for Georgia’s integration into Europe,” he wrote.
Writing on the issue of poverty in his country Bakhtadze wrote that the dependence on imports and foreign loans made Georgia into a poor country and that he hopes that through the new economic model, which focuses on investments and infrastructural development, the country will seek to decrease this dependence. The high dollarization in Georgia was named as a second reason for the poverty in the country but added that his government had taken steps to promote the national currency.
On the issue of Russian occupation, Bakhtadze said that it is very complicated to resolve the conflict and that his government had offered peace initiatives to help the people in the occupied regions and the peaceful resolution of the conflict. Amongst the other achievements of his government, the former Prime Minister mentioned the planned infrastructure projects in the country and the increased state funds for medicines and for the internally displaced population.
Later in the day, Bakhtadze met with media representatives in order to publicly comment on his resignation. “I’ve made a decision to resign. I had the first conversation in this regard with the state officials at the end of spring, including the party's leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili. Naturally, these conversations continued. I also had the final consultations with our political team yesterday, therefore, I made the decision. The goals that I had while serving on this post, for the achievement of which my team gave me the mandate and trust, have been implemented. A strategic development framework for the country has been created and implemented. I decided to resign because I believe that I have fulfilled my mission at this stage,” he told reporters. He also added that no government can be regarded as successful until there is a challenge of occupation and poverty in the country.
Bakhtadze graduated in 2003, from the Tbilisi State University with a degree in Management and Microeconomics and from the Georgian Technical University with a degree in Electromechanical Engineering. He obtained MBA from the Moscow State University in 2005 and the INSEAD business school in 2010. After serving at the supervisory board of the Georgian International Energy Corporation from October 2010 to November 2012, Bakhtadze became CEO of Georgian Railway LLC, the state-owned railway company of Georgia in 2013.
In 2017, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the second cabinet of Giorgi Kvirikashvili. He was appointed the Prime Minister of Georgia on 14 June 2018 when Kvirikashvili stepped down from the position due to having differences with Bidzina Ivanishvili, the President of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The current Infrastructure Minister Maia Tskitishvili and the current Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia are considered as favourites to take Bakhtadze’s post.
