Georgia’s Embassy to Malta states it continues to communicate with the country regarding vaccine
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, January 28
Following the statement of the third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia has released the explanation of the Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of Malta (with residence in Rome) Kote Surguladze.
According to the ambassador, the relevant Maltese authorities are communicating with the Georgian Embassy on the issue of vaccines, and reports from other sources on this issue are not credible.
“Regarding the vaccines of Covid19, the Embassy of Georgia in In Rome (which covers the Republic of Malta), began consultations with the relevant Maltese authorities in December 2020 on the issue of receiving appropriate doses of the vaccine for Georgia from Malta. It is noteworthy that vaccines were not yet available for Malta in December. The embassy, obviously, continues to consult with the Maltese side even today,” said Kote Surguladze, adding that the Honorary Consul of Georgia in Malta was involved in the negotiations from the very beginning, trying to get the appropriate number of vaccines from Malta through his channels as well.
According to him, Maltese side is in communication with the Embassy of Georgia on the issue of supply of vaccines to Georgia, and therefore the decision will be communicated first of all to the Embassy and the Government of Georgia. “Therefore, all kinds of information that is spread on this issue through various information sources is speculation,” Surguladze reiterated.
Mikheil Saakashvili addressed the Georgian government on 27th of January.
"I offer a concrete proposal to the Georgian government, I hope they will listen. There is a EU member, the island of Malta, which the EU distributed vaccines to, they have one million more vaccines than they needed,” Saakashvili announced, adding that Maltese government has decided to redistribute this vaccine to poorer countries, among which is Georgia. The UNM leader said, that if he had this information, it should be known to the government as well - “why do not you apply to the Maltese government and why do not you ask for even a part of these vaccines of Georgia?! Why don't you do something ?!” Later on, the Georgian government announced that it has been negotiating with Malta since December.
The national vaccination plan was presented on January 21 by the Deputy Minister of Health Tamar Gabunia. According to the plan, by the end of 2021, 60% of the population should be vaccinated with the coronavirus vaccine. By 2022, 1.7 million people in the country will be vaccinated as stated in the government’s calculations.
The minimum cost of the plan is GEL 64 million, the maximum - 158 million. The difference in budget is related to the difference in the price of vaccines. Georgia has already paid GEL17 million from the budget to purchase the first stage vaccines (to evacuate 700 thousand people). As for the rest of the finances, as Gabunia says, this amount is envisaged in the loan agreement of the European Investment Bank.
