Mikheil Saakashvili, the exiled former president of Georgia, is set to return to frontline politics in Ukraine as deputy prime minister in charge of the government’s reform efforts. The appointment, if confirmed by Ukraine’s parliament on Friday, would mark a spectacular rehabilitation for the ex-Georgian leader who was given Ukrainian citizenship in 2015 and installed as a regional governor before falling out with the then president Petro Poroshenko, EDNews.net reports citing Financial Times.
His appointment as deputy premier was proposed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and must be approved by parliament on Friday. Zelensky last year restored Ukrainian citizenship to Saakashvili who has made several, until now unsuccessful, attempts to return to Ukrainian politics.
“It is a great honour for me to receive a proposal from President Zelensky to become Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Ukraine for Reforms,” Saakashvili said in a Wednesday Facebook post.
“We must now, as never before, be bold in our decisions and reforms . . . in order for Ukraine to withstand the current global economic crisis with the least losses and to cope with all the challenges,” he added.