Irakli Garibashvili

During his tenure the Security and Crisis Management Council was established, as stipulated by the new Constitution of Georgia.[21] In addition, the Unified Coordination Center for Crisis Management was created, with technical assistance from the US, the United Kingdom and Israel.[22] To coordinate the country's economic policy, Irakli Garibashvili established the Economic Council.[23]

The Georgian Government initiated, and the European Union directly supported, the development of the Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan.[24] A relevant statement was made by prime minister Garibashvili at the Human Rights Conference, on 4 December 2013. The Human Rights Strategy covers seven years and will not depend on the political cycle.[25]

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili meets Victoria Nuland, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, December 2013.

During his tenure, Garibashvili visited the neighboring countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, several European nations, the United States, Israel, the People's Republic of China, and participated in several international summits and forums. While relations to Russia improved, there was no state visits to and from Russia.[26]

Relations to the European Union were a priority, culminating in the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, initiated at the Vilnius summit and signed on 27 June 2014. This association agreement included a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement between Georgia and the European Union and paved the way for the abolition of visa for travel from Georgia to the Schengen area, planned for 2017.[27][28]

Garibashvili is making speech at Parliament of Georgia, June 2021

Nika Melia, chairman of the United National Movement party, was accused of organizing mass violence during the anti-government protests in 2019. When Melia declined to pay a $12,000 bail, a Georgian court ruled that Melia should be detained before his trial. In response, prime minister Giorgi Gakharia said the court's ruling was "unlawful", and on 18 February, Gakharia resigned over the decision to detain Melia.[30] The ruling Georgian Dream party supported Garibashvili to replace Gakharia, and the Parliament voted 89–2 to appoint Garibashvili on 22 February.[31] Melia was arrested while at United National Movement party headquarters on 23 February.[32]

In March 2021, the opposition TV Pirveli media outlet released alleged secret audio recordings involving Irakli Gharibashvili, head of the special state protection service of Georgia Anzor Chubinidze and Bera Ivanishvili, son of Georgian billionaire and founder of ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili. According to conversations, Bera Ivanishvili, who was a school student at that time, was discussing with Irakli Gharibashvili tasking Anzor Chubinidze to humiliate and punish youngsters for online posts insulting him. Garibashvili is heard encouraging the retributions on the covertly recorded tapes.[33] TV Pirveli placed the data of the recording in 2017. The Georgian Dream party released a statement that the convesation was fabricated and that audio recordings were illegally obtained by the United National Movement government (now opposition) during its rule in 2010–2011.[34] Gharibashvili denied the existence of the recordings made public by TV Pirveli and called them fake. The Georgian Chief Prosecutor's Office announced that the recordings were faked.[35]

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili, May 2022

Gharibashvili terminated the construction of Namakhvan HPP, agreed by the previous government headed by Giorgi Gakharia. On March 14, a large protest by the locals was held against construction of a power plant, including due to environmental concerns, at the central square of Kutaisi. At the end of March 2021, in accordance with the people's demand, Gharibashvili announced that he reached a compromise with the HPP construction company about the postponement of the deadline. In May 2021, a massive rally against the construction was held in Tbilisi. Garibashvili stated that the project would not continue under "current conditions" of the contract, which many activists described as "cabal" and "harming state interests". In March 2022, the private investor notified the government of Georgia that it had terminated the contract due to "violation of the terms of the contract and force majeure". Garibashvili stated that the state would build a plant on much favorable terms.[36]

On July 5, 2021, a first-ever gay parade was planned to be held on Tbilisi's main Rustaveli Avenue, organized by NGO Tbilisi Pride. An event was opposed by conservative and Christian organizations and activists. On July 5, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that holding a parade on Rustaveli Avenue posed serious security risks and asked the organizers to either choose one of the alternative locations suggested by the MIA, or not to go forward with the plan at all, calling it unreasonable. Gharibashvili warned that it would provoke negative reactions from a large segment of the Georgian population. The event was eventually cancelled because the Rustaveli Avenue was occupied by anti-parade protesters, who ransacked pro-LGBT NGO offices and clashed with journalists who were covering the events. Garibashvili later stated that Georgia is a conservative society with Christian values and such events are unacceptable to 95% of the Georgian population, so as an elected official was obliged to obey them. Garibashvili additionally said that "the only parade I know, that will be held in our country, is that of our army" and proclaimed that "minorities will no longer decide the fate of the majority in this country". He blamed the "radical opposition" and the ex-president in exile, Mikheil Saakashvili, for being behind the pride parade in order to destabilize the country and cause chaos.

The tension between the government and the opposition parties was followed by the brutal beating of the TV Pirveli journalist Lexo Laksharava, who later died on July 12. This was followed by a large-scale protest by journalists, representatives of several TV companies demanding Gharibashvili's resignation on July 13, but the Prime Minister did not resign, he said that he would not allow the situation in the country to be strained and rioted.

On October 1, 2021, the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who left Georgia in 2013 and was condemned by the Tbilisi City Court to six years in prison in absentia for abuse of power, embezzlement, and his implication in the attempted murder of an opposition MP, announced that he had returned to Georgia after 8 years of persecution, and published a video that, according to his description, was taken in Batumi. The ruling party, "Georgian Dream" denied the information and stated that Saakashvili is in Ukraine and has not left the territory of Ukraine, but later Irakli Gharibashvili announced at a briefing together with the Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri and the head of the State Security Service Grigol Liluashvili that Mikheil Saakashvili is under arrest. According to the investigation, Saakashvili entered the country secretly, hiding in a semi-trailer truck loaded with milk products. He illegally crossed the state border of Georgia, bypassing the customs control.[37] Saakashvili stated that he considered charges against him to be trumped-up and politically motivated, announcing a hunger strike in order to protest his detention. His health deteriorated during his time in prison, due to which the government of Georgia received criticism from European Parliament, alleging ill-treatment of Saakashvili and violation of his rights. The government said that Saakashvili was trying to evade prison through self-harm and was using international lobbyists to pressure the government to release him on medical grounds.[38][39]

In December 2021, the Parliament passed a new gambling law, which was initiated by the Garibashvili government. The law has tightened the regulations on gambling industry. It increased the age limit for gambling from 18 (for online gambling) and 21 (for casinos) to 25 and banned gambling for public employees, socially vulnerable persons or those included in the "addicts list". A list would be created by government and include everyone who voluntarly declares himself to be a gambling addicts or who will be declared as such by the court under the request of relatives. The law banned all kinds of advertisement (except sports sponsorship) and placed high fines for those companies which violate the rules about the age limit and advertisement. It also increased the taxes on the companies involved in the gambling sector.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili described gambling addiction as "one of the biggest problems" of the population, describing problem as especially widespread among young and vulnerable people.

On March 7, 2023, the Georgian parliament passed a foreign agents law in the first reading which would label any organization that has more than 20% of its profits be recorded from outside of Georgia as "agents of foreign influence."[40] Garibashvili has been a leading figure in trying to get the bill passed stating that the bill meets "European and global standards".[41] After parliament voted in favor of the bill, tens of thousands of protesters arrived at parliament to protest the bill, being met with riot police, tear gas, and water canons.[42] On March 9, the government announced that it would withdrew the bill due to protests and that all protesters who were arrested would be released from prison. On March 10 the bill was formally defeated in a second vote by the Parliament, while an alternative bill was retracted.[43][44]

On June 12, 2023, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that the government would draft a new surrogacy law which would ban commercial surrogacy. The law would also ban foreign nationals from ordering surrogacy services. Garibashvili said that the law was necessary to protect Georgian women from exploitation and to ensure child safety since foreigner nationals often took children abroad and sold them to same-sex couples.[45]

On February 24, just 2 days after being elected as the Prime Minister, Gharibashvili announced that most of the restrictions imposed due to Covid-19 would be removed, restaurants and bars opened, small and large-scale businesses woke up, in 2020 the country experienced a 6 percent decline, and Gharibashvili wanted to revive the economy. This brought results, after the removal of restrictions and the refreshing of the country's economy, the economy of Georgia grew by 45% in April 2021. The Prime Minister called this event an important economic progress at the government meeting.

On March 11, 2021, Irakli Gharibashvili presented a plan for the restoration of 63 municipalities of Georgia, 200 million GEL was allocated to it, the head of the government said that this would increase the country's tourism demand. This project was officially completed in 2023, on April 19, 2023, Gharibashvili presented a new stage of restoration, it includes 6 cities, the Prime Minister called the large-scale restoration of these cities and resorts the most important step forward for the development of the country. The budget of the project will be 1 billion GEL.

PM Garibashvili addresses the local population while introducing Otar Arbolashvili as the ruling party candidate for mayor in Borjomi, Samtskhe-Javakheti region, 2021

Gharibashvili held many meetings with representatives of economic organizations, Georgia received support from them many times. In 2021, the semi-revival of tourism and taking the right steps was followed by a significant growth of the Georgian economy. Imports and exports increased in 2021, and the country saw 10.5% growth at the end of the year, a record for the decade.

After the high economic growth, the country's budget increased in 2022, a number of events brought the country closer to European Union and increased the presence of European investors. Tourism has improved even more in 2022, about 2.6 billion GEL has entered the budget from tourism in 2022. The currency has strengthened. According to the data of 2023, the GEL has strengthened from 3.7 to 2.5 against the dollar.

In 2022, the economic growth in the country amounted to about 9.5%, and the gross domestic product became about 25 billion dollars, which is a significant increase compared to the data of 2020.

PM of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova met with President of the European Council Charles Michel, November 2021

Irakli Gharibashvili went on his first official visit to Brussels in March 2021, met with the President of the European Parliament and other important political figures, before that Charles Michel visited Georgia on March 1, 2021. the Prime Minister thanked his European colleague for his support in many ways.

During his term, Gharibashvili stated that his goal was to join Georgia to the European Union and bring peace to the country, that is why he visited many countries of the world and started bilateral relations with them, such as Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China.

The Prime Minister visited Ukraine on August 21–23, 2021, met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and talked with him about the deepening of relations between the countries, he called Ukraine a strategic partner and Zelensky's friend, this was still 7 months before beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine

In September 2021, Irakli Gharibashvili arrived in New York and addressed the 76th session of the United Nations, where he declared his readiness to be a moderator in the improvement of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and he also said that Georgia would take all possible steps to achieve peace in the South Caucasus.While in New York, he met many world leaders including the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Chancellor of Germany and others.

Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida at the 2022 Madrid summit.

On October 18, 2021, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Georgia. Gharibashvili met him personally, and they talked about the improvement of defense cooperation between the US and Georgia.

Meeting of Irakli Garibashvili with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Batumi, 2022

On October 24, 2022, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited Georgia, the Prime Minister and the President of Azerbaijan held a briefing with journalists in Mtskheta, the parties announced that they will deepen the relationship and Georgia will transport an even larger amount of oil from Azerbaijan through the Black Sea.

On December 17, a decision was made in Davos to build a new oil terminal. between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary. Billions of dollars will be spent on it and all parties will win. At the briefing held after signing the contract, it was announced that the project should be ready by 2027.

On May 4, 2023, Irakli Garibashvili attended the Conservative Political Action Conference in Hungary. He was second acting Prime Minister along with Hungarian Prime Minister to attend the event. Garibashvili was a keynote speech giver at the conference. In his speech, he announced his support for traditional and conservative values and denounced LGBT propaganda and the attempts to legislate gender-affirming procedures for the children. He also lauded Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his wise and visionary leadership.

In July 2023, Garibashvili hosted Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov in Georgia, and afterwards, visited China and Kazakhstan. During Garibashvili's meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the parties pledged to enhance cooperation and announced "strategic partnership" between China and Georgia.

Also in July, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili visited Croatia and met Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. This was the first visit of a Georgian Prime Minister to Croatia. During the joint press conference, the Croatian Prime Minister reaffirmed his support for Georgia's territorial integrity and Georgia's bid to join the European Union. The parties pledged to enhance the economic cooperation and it was announced that the Georgian embassy would be opened in Zagreb.

In response to the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and fears that Russia might once again invade Georgia as it did in 2008, on 3 March 2022 Prime Minister Garibashvili signed the country's application for membership of the European Union (EU).[46] The same day, Moldova (which experiences troubles regarding the Russian-backed separatist state Transnistria) also applied for EU membership.[47]

In June 2022, the European Council expressed readiness to grant Georgia the status of a candidate after completing a set of reforms recommended by the commission.[48]