It took us a year and five months to rid the system of fundamental problems under direction of Ivanishvili, PM

It took the Georgian government and the ruling team a year and five months to “completely rid the system of fundamental problems” under the direction of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Monday.

Speaking to journalists, Kobakhidze said Ivanishvili had made a “clear indication” concerning corruption at a Georgian Dream party congress, shortly before Kobakhidze became prime minister.

“After I took office as prime minister, there was a very clear indication from Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili regarding corruption. It took me and the team a year and five months, under Bidzina Ivanishvili’s leadership, to eliminate the problems related to the governance system,” Kobakhidze said.

He added the government had identified accumulated problems within the system and worked to eliminate them, adding that Ivanishvili’s remarks at the party congress had been taken as a key direction for the team.

“We took this as the main line and followed it through to the end. In a year and five months, we managed to completely clean the system of the problems that had accumulated,” Kobakhidze said.

The prime minister stressed that he was highlighting Ivanishvili as the author of the key indication on corruption.

“Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili came out at the party congress and made one of the most important indications, which was related to corruption. A month later, I took office as prime minister, and under Bidzina Ivanishvili’s leadership, the team managed to fundamentally rid the system of the accumulated problems,” he said.