KYIV, May 7 – Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, on Thursday was appointed to a position coordinating reforms in Ukraine as the country is struggling in securing loans from the International Monetary Fund.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed Saakashvili as the head of the executive committee at the National Reform Council, an agency that is tasked with coordinating reforms between different government ministries.

The appointment comes after Saakashvili has failed to secure political support from parliamentary groups, including from Zelenskiy’s own party, the Servant of the People, for the position of deputy prime minister for reforms.

The new role will not have much executive power, but he will report directly to Zelenskiy and will be able to promote reform agenda by deploying the executive power of the president.

Saakashvili, after a several-hour meeting with Zelenskiy on Thursday, said he had the feeling that Zelenskiy is committed to the reforms.

"Today I had a long and interesting meeting with President Zelenskiy… I really liked his mood,” Saakashvili said in a Facebook post, adding that the president “is ready to take extraordinary steps.”

“Ukraine needs to be pulled out of the swamp, and this can only be done by a president who has never been a thief and will never become one,” Saakashvili said.

Zelenskiy has an “ambition to be recorded in the history of Ukraine as a man who could do something for his people and for every Ukrainian,” Saakashvili said.

Foreign analysts praised the appointment.

“Let us hope this will mean that reform gets a new start in Ukraine!” Anders Aslund, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.

The National Reform Council was created in 2014 to carry out strategic planning and coordinate reforms.

Saakashvili, 52, served as Georgia’s president from 2004 until 2013.

In 2015-2016, Saakashvili served as governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region. When he resigned, he accused Zelenskiy’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, of corruption. Poroshenko, in turn, stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship.

As one of his first acts as president last year, Zelenskiy restored Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship, facilitating Saakshvili’s return to Ukraine.

Last month, Saakashvili said he had been offered the post of deputy prime minister in charge of reform. But it was unclear if parliament would confirm him.

Georgia called the possible appointment “unacceptable” in view of Saakashvili’s convictions there and threatened to withdraw its ambassador to Kyiv for consultations. (tl/rt/ez)