City officials in the capital of ex-Soviet Georgia voted to rename a street after United States President George Bush, an official statement released on Thursday said.
The decision to rename the rundown residential street was taken at a council meeting on Wednesday, against objections from opposition councillors who considered it a ruse to influence forthcoming city-council elections.
The move is a tribute to Bush’s ”contribution to the development of friendly relations between the US and Georgia”, a statement from the city council read.
Already by Thursday morning, a new billboard-style sign for ”President George Bush Street”, written in Georgian and English, had appeared, bearing a large photo portrait of a waving Bush.
Rose bushes, symbolising the ”rose revolution” that shot the Caucasus country to prominence in November 2003, had been planted in front of the sign.
Bush became the first standing US president to visit the Caucasus when he came to Georgia on May 9 to lend support to its new pro-US President Mikhail Saakashvili, who had pushed out veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze’s government in a popular uprising in 2003.
The newly named street, formerly known as Melaani Road, crosses the route travelled by Bush from the city’s airport.
Georgian media commented that city officials are at least likely to pay more attention to keeping the road clean and in good condition. — Sapa-AFP