Adjara Government Head resigns
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Thursday, July 7
The head of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Archil Khabadze, left his post yesterday, claiming that his resignation was due to the upcoming October 8 parliamentary elections.
He will be replaced by the Ambassador of Georgia to Kazakhstan Zurab Pataridze.
According to Khabadze, he plans to participate in the upcoming parliamentary race and needed to be free from his post to run as a candidate.
Khabadze said that during the Georgian Dream (GD) governance period since 2012, the Adjara region had gone through fundamental changes.
“We were following all democratic principles. The Government of Adjara acted in a transparent and open manner. The most important steps were taken regarding the development of the region. In the period of 2013-2015, many important investments were attracted in the region,” stated Khabadze.
He also mentioned that the amount of invested money was more than 838 million dollars.
“Infrastructure was developed not only in Batumi, but in the whole region,” he added.
“The most successful agricultural projects in Georgia have been enhanced in our region. Tourism potential was increased and now we host record number of foreign visitors. Key investments were carried out in education and healthcare sectors. We provided significant support to social services and ensured better protection of the vulnerable population,” Khabadze said.
According to Khabadze, he made the decision to quit after consultations with his team. He also assessed the work done by the whole team of GD during the last four years.
“I want to note that after leaving the post, I will be involved in pre-election campaigning, so we can continue our development of the region, which we started in 2012. I want to thank all the people who were involved in the process,” state Khabadze.
Khabadze was consistently criticised by the United National Movement opposition party, who said that Khabadze slowed down the region’s development.
