PM Nika Gilauri appointed Georgia’s ambassador to Spain, Zurab Pololikashvili, as new Economy Minister on August 26.

Pololikashvili, 32, was appointed as deputy foreign minister in 2005 and then became ambassador to Spain in 2006. Before joining the Foreign Ministry in 2005, he had worked for Georgia’s TBC Bank on various position, including on senior managerial posts, for seven years. 

“He knows very well how to work with the private sector and understands the problems concerning the private sector,” PM Gilauri said. “I think and we think – in agreement with the President – that he [Pololikashvili] is the best person to tackle problems facing our economy.”

PM Gilauri tasked the new Economy Minister to boost revenues from the privatization process; to attract foreign investors; “to actively work” with foreign investors and to tackle problems of those businesses, which have already invested in Georgia and to work “in close and active coordination” with other ministries and state agencies.

Failure to handle these tasks was named by the Prime Minister as a reason behind his decision to sack Lasha Zhvania from the post of Economy Minister last week. Zhvania denied the allegations and called Gilauri “a weak Prime Minister”.