The Executive Director of LINKS, Dennis Sammut has issued the following statement following the death in Tbilisi last night of the Prime Minister of Georgia.
"I heard with great sadness and shock of the tragic death of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr Zurab Zhvania, in Tbilisi last night. I knew Zurab Zhvania since 1992 and over the years we worked together on many issues connected with the political future of Georgia and the South Caucasus. He was a true friend to me, as well as to LINKS over many years.
I always considered Zurab Zhvania to be an outstanding politician and one of the most enlightened and visionary personalities to emerge out of the collapse of the USSR. He was in the vanguard of the reformist wing of Georgian politics throughout his political life. He believed passionately in modernising Georgian society and in the building of a strong, peaceful Georgia. He valued tolerance and believed in the peaceful solution of problems.
In this sad and difficult moment on behalf of all the Directors, Staff and collaborators of LINKS I would like to extend my sincere condolences to his wife and children, his mother, as well as to his colleagues in the Georgian government."
