01 June 2004 05:56
Bendukidze vows to carry out ultra-liberal reforms in Georgia (Part 2)
MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - Russian entrepreneur Kakha Bendukidze, who was recently appointed Georgian economics
minister, has promised to carry out ultra-liberal reforms in Georgia and said he is not afraid of being called an agent
of the Kremlin.
"Deregulating the economy should be a priority of any economic policy, and in Georgia, it is ultra-liberalism,
because if Georgia wants to build a normal country, its economy will have to grow very quickly," Bendukidze told a
press conference in Moscow.
replied: "No, I am not afraid! It is a mistake to think that
conspiracies exist. It is a specific quality of the human brain to
Bendukidze was asked if he was concerned that he may be called an agent of the Kremlin since he is a well-known
Russian businessman. He
think that only conspiracies are woven around a single country."
Commenting on the reason he decided to become the Georgian economics minister, Bendukidze said that he "has to
do something good."
He said that "the people's trust is needed to conduct some economic reforms, and today's situation
[relations between the Georgian government and the people] is more suitable for reforms than it was a year
ago."
Bendukidze said that the economic reforms would help unite Georgia. "Developing the transport infrastructure
could unite Georgia in a different way," Bendukidze said in reply to a question about Georgia's scattered
territory.
Bendukidze also said that he would try to convince the Georgian government to "make several large deals, selling
objects of transport and energy infrastructure."
"I will try to prove that selling objects of infrastructure at a high price does not weaken the country's
security, but strengthens it," he said.
Bendukidze noted that he has already spoken to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: "We discussed very
radical economic reforms. I saw a man with an adequate understanding of everything, but, of course, we argued about
certain issues." [GG EUROPE EEU EMRG ECI RU POL] aa tj <>
[Interfax] |
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