‘Less Foreign Trips, More Local Focus’ – Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili, who according to the Central Election Commission has been re-elected as president, said he would spend much less time on foreign trips during his “second and final term in office” than he did during his first term.

“I want to make it clear that I will spend less time during my second and final presidential term on traveling abroad and most of the time I will spend on traveling to [the village of] Choporti to foster the development of local tomato production there; traveling to Kakheti to develop winery; traveling to Poti to develop the free economic zone there,” Saakashvili told journalists on January 12. “Our diplomacy – except for some global issues – will be mainly our economy: the attraction of investment. On global issues we will send [on foreign visits] Lado Gurgenidze [the prime minister] and Nino Burjanadze [the parliamentary chairperson, who currently is the acting president], who is a master of these kinds of issues. Saakashvili’s second term in office will focused more on Georgia’s regions and less on global issues. I have already introduced Georgia to the world [during the first presidential term]. [The January 5] election has solidified Georgia’s [positive international] reputation.”

Saakashvili, however, suggested that he would travel to Strasbourg in late January, where, as he said, he was invited to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

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