New Georgian Cabinet Sees No Quick Fix for Russian Ties

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 8, 2012) Maia Panjikidze, nominated on Monday as Georgia’s next foreign minister, vowed that the country’s foreign policy would not change and predicted that it would take years to normalize relations with Russia.

“This is the decision of the Georgian people: to integrate with European and Euro-Atlantic organizations; to continue and deepen the strategic partnership with the U.S., which remains our main partner; and to establish relations with Russia,” Panjikidze told reporters.

Panjikidze, who has 16 years of diplomatic experience, including stints as the ambassador to the Netherlands and Germany, said the restoration of ties with Russia “will take probably years,” Interfax reported from Tbilisi.

“What is clear is that our main issue ­ the restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity ­ cannot be solved without Russia’s participation,” she said.

Russia recognized two Georgian regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as independent countries following a brief war with Georgia in 2008.

Panjikidze is among a lineup of new faces named by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream coalition won last week’s parliamentary elections in Georgia, as part of his proposed Cabinet on Monday. Ivanishvili said he would take the stern as prime minister.

Ivanishvili named Irakly Alasania, a former ambassador to the United Nations, as defense minister and deputy prime minister, and his close ally Irakli Garibashvili as interior minister. Former AC Milan football star Kakha Kaladze got two posts: deputy prime minister and minister for regional development and infrastructure.

Among the other nominees are Teya Tsulukiani for justice minister, Paata Zakareishvili for state minister for reintegration, Alexei Petriashvili for state minister for European integration, Amiran Gamkrelidze for health minister, Sozar Subari for prisons minister, Levan Kipiani for sports minister, Guram Odisharia for culture minister, Konstantin Surguladze for state minister for diaspora issues, and David Kirvalidze for agriculture minister, Interfax reported.

Ivanishvili also nominated Archil Kbilashvili as the prosecutor general and David Usupashvili as the speaker of the parliament, which will convene on Oct. 21. Approval is needed from a simple majority of the 150-seat parliament to approve the new Cabinet.

The Cabinet should be approved easily, with Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream projected to hold 83 seats in the next parliament compared to 67 for President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement.

The current Cabinet will remain in place until the new government is approved.