Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili expressed regret following the Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze’s decision to resign. “I’d like to say that, of course, we expected that [Alexi] Petriashvili and Panjikidze will leave their offices,” Garibashvili said Nov. 5 at the State Chancellery of Georgia while presenting the new defense minister, Mindia Janelidze.
Earlier, the PM Garibashvili dismissed the Defense Minister Irakli Alasania. In this regard, the Georgian State Minister for Integration into European and Euro-Atlantic Structures Alexi Petriashvili announced his resignation.
Petriashvili is a member of Alasania’s party ‘Our Georgia – Free Democrats’.
“It is to be regretted that Maia Panjikidze preferred family to the country and the state,” the PM Garibashvili said.
He went on to add that he will soon introduce new members of the Cabinet of Ministers, namely the foreign minister and the state minister for integration into European and euro-Atlantic structures.
Maia Panjikidze is the sister of Natia Panjikidze, who is the wife of the former defense minister, Irakli Alasania.
The Georgian FM Maia Panjikidze and her three deputies declared about their resignation and withdrawal from the ruling coalition, the ‘Georgian Dream’ on Nov. 5.