TBILISI, July 30 – Georgia will abolish its Ministry of Regional Development in September, just over a year after it was created as a separate ministry.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on Wednesday that regional policy will instead be handled by a state minister. The post will go to Mamuka Mdinaradze, a former head of the State Security Service, Georgia’s domestic intelligence agency.
Until Parliament formally creates the new position, Mdinaradze will briefly serve as regional development minister. Current minister Kakhaber Guledani will move to the Infrastructure Ministry as first deputy minister.
The change partly reverts Georgia back to the system that existed in 2008, when the government created a combined Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure. This brought together regional administration, roads and transport under one ministry, which began operating in January 2009.
That ministry was split in 2025, creating separate ministries for regional development and infrastructure. Now, the regional ministry is being removed again, while the Infrastructure Ministry will remain.
Kobakhidze said the ministry would no longer be needed once the new state minister’s position was created.
The government has not yet explained in detail how the new arrangement will work or what powers Mdinaradze will have.
