Govt Plans ‘Modest’ Presidential Inauguration

Members of the state commission in charge of organizing inauguration of president-elect Giorgi Margvelashvili, planned for November 17, say ceremony will be “modest” and “simple” in an attempt to minimize cost.

The oath-taking ceremony will be held in a courtyard of Parliament’s old building on the Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi center, Maia Panjikidze, the foreign minister and a member of the commission, said on November 4.

She said that invitations have been sent out to foreign dignitaries from about 70 countries and international organizations.

Russia with whom Georgia has diplomatic ties severed since 2008 war is not among them, Panjikidze said.

Lawmakers, outgoing President Saakashvili and ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze will also be invited.

After the oath-taking ceremony, Margvelashvili will lay a wreath at a memorial of fallen Georgian soldiers on Hero’s Square, followed by a concert of a Georgian folk troupe and a reception for the invited foreign guests.

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