Georgia Appoints Tycoon As Economy Minister

1 June 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania has announced that one of Russia's richest tycoons has been appointed to be Georgia's economy minister.

Zhvania said today that Kakha Bendukidze, a Georgian-born businessman working in Russia, is due in Tbilisi on 2 June to take up the post.

Zhvania described Bendukidze as an "innovator" and "world-class economist" with extensive international contacts.

Bendukidze heads Russia's biggest heavy engineering corporation, United Machine Building Works.

(AFP/dpa/ITAR-TASS)