PM will make speech at UN General Assembly
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, July 10
The Prime Minister's Press Service released a statement on July 8 saying that Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili will deliver a speech at the 69th UN general assembly in New York on September 26. In addition to his speech at the general assembly, Garibashvili will attend joint meetings with US officials. A face-to-face meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is already planned. The PM will also attend the summit on climate changes and the plenary meeting World Conference on Indigenous People.
Within the UN general assembly, the prime minister's wife was invited to the conference “First Ladies' Global Call to Action Conference on Women and Girls' Financial Health”.
It has also been stressed that during the visit in New York, Garibashvili will also attend the ceremony for the opening of the Georgian Film Festival at the Contemporary Art Museum and will deliver a speech there.
This fact caused more speculation over whether the President’s rights have been restricted again. Some believe that the president and not the prime minister should attend such events, as the president’s duties have already been seriously restricted in different fields.
The ex-advisor of President Vano Macharashvili accuses the government and the Prime Minister of attempting to limit the president's authority. He said that the president's constitutional duties are not fully refined and it must be determined exactly what duties are left for the President.
“Such issues will always be problematic until the rights of both institutions are determined. In my opinion the government believes that the president should be silent and should not be seen," Machavariani stated.
The president's current Advisor on Foreign Affairs Tengiz Pkhaladze states that there are lots of facts when such events are attended by the president or prime minister, or sometimes by both of them. It should be noted that the president will attend the climate change summit there.
Constitutionalist Irakli Kobakhidze says that the rights and duties of the president have been reduced with regard to international policy.
Policy expert Vakhtang Dzabiradze thinks that such issues are solved through joint decisions made by the president and the government, but it is obvious that the prime minister makes decisions and claims to control the foreign policy of the country.
The prime minister and the government delegation will go to New York on September 22.
