Zurab Nogaideli | |
|---|---|
ზურაბ ნოღაიდელი | |
 Nogaideli in 2006 | |
| 5thPrime Minister of Georgia | |
| In office 17 February 2005 – 16 November 2007 | |
| President | Mikheil Saakashvili |
| Preceded by | Mikheil Saakashvili (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Giorgi Baramidze (Acting) |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 27 November 2003 – February 2005 | |
| President | Mikheil Saakashvili |
| Preceded by | Mirian Gogiashvili |
| Succeeded by | Valeriy Chechelashvili |
| In office May 2000 – November 2001 | |
| President | Eduard Shevardnadze |
| Preceded by | David Onoproshvili |
| Succeeded by | Mirian Gogiashvili |
| Member of theParliament of Georgia | |
| In office 1992 – 30 May 2000 | |
| President | Eduard Shevardnadze |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1964-10-22)22 October 1964 (age 60) Kobuleti,Adjaria,Georgian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Movement for a Fair Georgia (2008–?) United National Movement (2002–2008) Union of Citizens of Georgia (1995–2002) Green Party of Georgia (1992–1995) |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Physicist |
| Signature | .svg) |
Zurab Nogaideli (Georgian:ზურაბ ნოღაიდელი; born 22 October 1964) is aGeorgian businessman and a politician who served as thePrime Minister of Georgia from February 2005 until he resigned, citing health problems, on 16 November 2007. In December 2008, Nogaideli withdrew into opposition, setting up theMovement for a Fair Georgia party.[1]
Born inKobuleti,Ajaria,Georgia, Nogaideli graduated from theMoscow State University with a diploma inPhysics in 1988. Before entering into national politics, he worked for theInstitute ofGeography of theGeorgian Academy of Sciences between 1988 and 1992. In 1989–1990, he was also trained at the Institute ofGeology of theAcademy of Sciences of Estonia.
He started his political career together with his friend,Zurab Zhvania, in theGreen Party of Georgia in early 1990s. Nogaideli became a deputy in theParliament of Georgia in 1992, elected following the overthrow of PresidentZviad Gamsakhurdia, and chaired the Parliamentary Committee on Environment Protection and Natural Resources during 1992–1995. He was again member of the successor Parliaments in 1995–1999 and 1999–2000, when he chaired the Parliamentary Tax and Income Committee.
He joined the government ofEduard Shevardnadze in the capacity ofMinister of Finance in May 2000. During these years, he was considered a member of a political team of young reformists headed by Zurab Zhvania andMikheil Saakashvili and proved to be quite an effective minister.
In 2001, he left the President-runUnion of Citizens of Georgia party which he had joined in 1995. He was sacked, in 2002, without explanation, though it appears that he had intended to resign in protest against the policies of Shevardnadze's increasingly corrupted government (as the Minister of Justice Mikheil Saakashvili did a year before).
In a brief period of 2002–2003, he was involved in banking and investment ventures.
After Shevardnadze was ousted in theRose Revolution of 21–23 November 2003, Nogaideli returned to government as the economic adviser to the acting president,Nino Burjanadze. He was re-appointed to his old post as Minister of Finance in February 2004 in the government of Prime MinisterZurab Zhvania.
PresidentMikhail Saakashvili nominated Nogaideli for the post of Prime Minister on 11 February 2005 following the untimely death of Zhvania. He was confirmed by the Georgian Parliament on 17 February 2005 by a vote of 175 to 24, and was sworn in immediately. Nogaideli is not a member of any party and is regarded as atechnocrat with a tough approach to the corruption that plagues Georgia's economy.
According toFinancial weekly Georgian newspaper The World Bank Group and the U.S. Agency for International Development has honored Zurab Nogaideli, Prime Minister of Georgia, as top business environment reformer of the year 2007. The Prime Minister has led reforms which have catapulted Georgia from a ranking of 112 to 37th place in the World Bank Group's 2007 global rankings on the regulatory ease of doing business.
Nogaideli is married with one son.
Nogaideli announced his resignation on 16 November 2007 due to his poor health condition. In April 2007, Nogaideli underwent electiveopen-heart surgery atSt. Luke's Episcopal Hospital inHouston, U.S.[2] The operation, led by leading USsurgeon Dr. Charles Frazier, lasted for 8 hours and involved transplanting onemitral valve of the PM's heart.[citation needed]
After his resignation, Nogaideli said he would retire from politics and later joined the Kala Capital company – owned by the soccer starKakha Kaladze – as its chairman.
Since June 2008, he has also been a chairman of theInternational School of Economics at Tbilisi State University Business Council.[3]
After theRussian-Georgian war, in September 2008, Nogaideli appeared in the Georgian press, unleashing heavy criticism of foreign and domestic policies of Mikheil Saakashvili. On 3 December 2008, he set up a new opposition party, theMovement for Fair Georgia.[1]
In 2009, Nogaideli traveled several times inRussia, meeting top Russian officials, includingPrime MinisterVladimir Putin (23 December 2009).[4] In December 2009, he also metEduard Kokoity, the breakawaySouth Ossetian leader, ostensibly to help release of the Georgian teenagers detained by the South Ossetian military.[5] Nogaideli's rapprochement with Moscow met with a negative response from the Georgian government. President Saakashvili described Nogaideli's Russian stance as a "sin".[6]
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Georgia 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |