Kakha Bendukidze

Kakha Bendukidze ( _ka. კახა ბენდუქიძე, _ru. Каха Автандилович Бендукидзе, "Kakha Avtandilovich Bendukidze") (born April 20 1956 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian politician and the current head of the State Chancellery of Georgia since January 31 2008.

Studies

Bendukidze graduated from the Department of Biology of Tbilisi State University in 1977 and from the Postgraduate School of the Moscow State University in 1980. From 1981 to 1985, he worked for the "Institute of Biology and Physiology of Microorganisms" in Puschino. From 1985 to 1988, he worked as the head of the "Laboratory for Molecular Genetics" at "Institute of Biotechnology".

A Different Kind of Oligarch

With the onset of Perestroika he organized a small business that got the name "Bioprocess". In 1993 during the Voucher privatization campaign was bought a large stock of Uralmash. Bendukidze became a board member and later the Director-General of this company. After merging the Uralmash with the Izhora Plants in 1996 he became the Chairman and CEO (Director-General) of the merged company "Objedinennie Mashinostroitelnie Zavody" (OMZ). In early 2004 Bendukidze withdrew from active management of the company.

The Super Reformer

After the victory of the Rose Revolution in his native Georgia Bendukidze returned there. In March 2004 he left the position of Chairman of the "Objedinennie Mashinostroitelnie Zavody" and sold later his interest in the company. June 2, 2004 he became the Minister for Economics of Georgia and worked as a part of the Georgian Government ever since. From December 14, 2004 to January 31 2008, he served as the State Minister on reforms coordination and coordinated the government's efforts to improve economic situation in the country.

The Economist writes this about Bendukidze: "Mr Bendukidze made his name and fortune as an industrialist in neighbouring Russia, putting together the country's biggest heavy-engineering group, OMZ, before returning to his native Georgia in June of this year with a mandate to reverse more than a decade of post-Soviet decay. He insists that he was taken by surprise when Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, and prime minister, Zurab Zhvania, nobbled him for a chat in the course of a private visit he made to Tbilisi in May, and then offered him a ministerial job the same evening. But having said yes, he is cracking ahead, doing everything that businessmen must dream of making governments do. He says that Georgia should be ready to sell “everything that can be sold, except its conscience”. And that is just the start."

He is known as a strong supporter of market economy, deregulation and privatization stating the Georgian government shall sell all its properties except the honor. During 2004-2007, under his leadership, Georgia became the top-reforming country in the world, according to the World Bank's Doing Business report. In particular, Georgia jumped from 137 to 18 on the ease of doing business, ahead of Germany and France.

In the January 2008 cabinet reshuffle, he took the post of the head of the State Chancellery of Georgia.

References

* [http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=332&info_id=1215 Curriculum vitae]
* [http://www.polit.ru/analytics/2006/10/10/bendukidze.html Interview and biography] ru icon
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3769373.stm BBC: 'Russian tycoon to reform Georgia']
* [http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_NJGPNTG "The Economist": 'A different sort of oligarch']
* [http://www.reformersclub.org/documents/reform/Georgia2.pdf How to Cut 909 Licenses to 159]
* [http://www.omz.ru/eng/ OMZ official site]
* [http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=4646 Bendukidze giving a speech about economic reform in Georgia at the Cato Institute]