Leaders from the opposition National Forum met with billionaire-turned-politician, Bidzina Ivanishvili, on October 17.

After the meeting Gubaz Sanikidze of the National Forum said without elaborating details that his party and Ivanishvili had agreed on cooperation. Ivanishvili’s press office has not yet commented on the meeting.

It also emerged on October 17, that Nodar Javakhishvili of the National Forum was picked by Ivanishvili as a president of his Cartu Group, which unites Ivanishvili’s Tbilisi-based Cartu Bank. Javakhishvili was president of Georgian National Bank in 1993-98 and was an MP in 1999-2004 from the party of ex-leader of Adjara Aslan Abashidze. Previous president of the Cartu Group was sacked by Ivanishvili after publicly accusing him of being the government’s “agent”.

Before the National Forum, Ivanishvili met with Irakli Alasania, leader of Our Georgia-Free Democrats (OGFD) and representatives from the Republican Party, led by Davit Usupashvili.

All three – National Forum, Republican Party and OGFD – were part of an opposition coalition, which collapsed three months after it was created and just a day before it emerged on October 5, that Ivanishvili was intending going into politics.