The new head of Odesa Regional Administration, former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has promised to fully improve the regional authorities thanks to the involvement of young people who will be appointed at open tenders.

"I ask all the residents of Odesa region to give me a chance to start changes here… First what Odesa residents would see that authorities have new people. We [will] select new people honestly. We [will] select among local people… Second, we would start [to] toughly control how the budget is spent. There are many gaps there and they should be patched," Saakashvili said at a briefing in Odesa on Saturday.

He added that most high-ranking officials in Odesa region will not retain their posts.

Saakashvili also promised to fight corruption, first of all in the customs agency.

"I have the mandate of the president for doing this," he said.

Saakashvili said he studied the situation in Odesa region in depth and believes that the top-priority task for the districts in the region is roads repair.

"They have awful roads. I drove these roads. They have bad infrastructure there. Of course, it is impossible to overcome the decades of ruining in a month or two. However, I think that soon people would feel the difference," he said.

As for fighting against separatist sentiments in the region, Saakashvili said that his top priority in this area is paying attention to the people.

"When people feel that the state is taking care of them, these moods will disappear on their own," he said.