PM Bidzina Ivanishvili (left) and Interior Minister Irakli Garibashvili (right) at a celebration of Police Day on May 19, 2013. Interior Ministry photo

31-year-old Interior Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, has been named as next Prime Minister of Georgia to replace Bidzina Ivanishvili, who will step down this month.

Ivanishvili announced about the nomination of Garibashvili, who is his long-time close associate, after a meeting with GD coalition leadership and GD parliamentary majority members on November 2.

Before becoming the youngest cabinet member in PM Ivanishvili’s government in October, 2012, Garibashvili spent his entire eight-year working career (not counting one-year internship at the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs) with entities affiliated with Ivanishvili and his family.

He was head of the billionaire’s charitable foundation Cartu before entering politics together with Ivanishvili in October, 2011. Garibashvili studied international relations and law at the Tbilisi State University, before graduating University of Paris-I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

It is not yet decided who will replace Garibashvili on the post of the interior minister, Ivanishvili and Garibashvili said.

The sitting cabinet, according to the new constitution, has to resign after the inauguration of president-elect Giorgi Margvelashvili on November 17; the new PM and the cabinet has to be formally named by GD parliamentary majority and nominated by the new president and then approved by the Parliament.

New PM will have much more powers at the expense of cutting those of the president, according to the new constitution, which will go into force after the inauguration of president-elect Margvelashvili.

Praising Garibashvili as a “very practical”, “very honest” person and “good manager”, Ivanishvili said that prime ministerial nominee was accepted by GD coalition leadership and then by the GD parliamentary majority members “unanimously” and “with ovations”. He said that anyone within the team had an opportunity to voice “dissent opinion”, but there was not any.

“I am very glad that the right choice has been made,” Ivanishvili said and hailed Garibashvili for, as he put it, “transforming police, which had its trust within public completely lost” into the “European-type of police”. 

“This man,” Ivanishvili said pointing at Garibashvili, “managed to do a miracle in one year… He proved that he deserves to be the Prime Minister.”

Ivanishvili also said: “The Georgian society can be proud of the government I am leaving behind.”

Garibashvili, who was standing next to Ivanishvili, said: “I promise everyone – to the population, you [referring to Ivanishvili], to the government and the [GD] coalition, that I will spare no efforts to successfully continue what you [referring to Ivanishvili] have started and to continue your policy.”