Mayor of Batumi, George Abashidze

The new mayor of Batumi won a large popular vote, June 16, 2002.

George Abashidze was elected Mayor of the Adjarian capital city of Batumi on June 16, 2002. His public service continues the tradition of his father, Aslan, the President of the Region, and is in the spirit of the long history of leadership provided by the family down through the centuries.

Mayor Abashidze was born in 1976 and raised in Batumi which was also the homeland of his grandfather, the prominent Georgian political leader and public figure, Memed Abashidze. With this background it was natural George Abashidze would have a deep sense of love for his home country and his native region.

The Mayor, a product of Batumi public schools, attended Cambridge University in England from 1992 to 1997, where he read and mastered business, economics and law. Later he pursued a business career, becoming General Director of the Georgian-German Joint Venture Revival-M, an enterprise in building and construction. The building company continues today as a provider of high quality advanced buildings for residential, business and industrial users.

George Abashidze became involved in politics even as a university student, becoming a member of the Union of Democratic Revival of Georgia in 1996. He was chosen leader of the Youth Union of Democratic Revival in 1998, the same year he was elected as a member of Batumi City Council (Sakrebulo).

Since 2000, Abashidze has represented the City of Batumi at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

He has long expressed his political credo as “STRONG CITY, STRONG REGION, STRONG GEORGIA!”

In addressing regional problems Mayor Abashidze calls for democratic revival by the establishment of local and regional institutions, based on and guided by the principles of European Charter of Self-Government.

With regard to specific advancement of the City of Batumi, the Mayor says his first goal is to develop a strong Budget and provide for its dynamic growth and development. This calls for improvement of the tax and revenue system and for essential attention to the productivity of municipal workers and executives. This involves continuous training and the adoption of new technologies.

Mayor Abashidze has championed the building of Batumi Railway Station which is now in progress. He has been a supporter of expansion of the Sea Port, particularly new piers and extending the Port’s ability to serve supertankers.

The Mayor is a proponent of the European trade and telecommunications corridor connecting the Caucasus with Central Asia and Europe. His administration is developing the first yacht pier in Georgia and favors construction of a dual railway overpass which will double cargo capacity.