Mr. Speaker of Parliament, honorable Members of Parliament, dear guests:

I greet you and I greet every citizen of Georgia along with you.

I greet everyone who is in Georgia or abroad.

I send special greetings to those fighters, who are defending humanity and their country in one of the hottest spots on the earth.

Several days ago we lost three more of them. I would like to ask you to respect their memory and the memory of those 15 heroes, who have fallen in Afghanistan with a moment of silence.

(A moment of silence)

Their names will be written with golden letters on the pages of the history of our country because with their devotion they were protecting our homeland, giving it new prospects for success, and strengthening our armed forces.

(Pause)

It is a great honor for me to stand before you once again and give you a report about the state of the country. 8 years ago, when I gave you the first report as the President of Georgia, we had only just begun the revolution, which envisioned to replace a clan dictatorship with a true democracy and equality, to replace total corruption with the rule of law, to return the country that had fallen into the abyss back on the road of development and most importantly, somehow disintegrate the black cloud, related to the lack of prospects and light the future with the rays of hope.

The revolution which began back then is still going on; our aspiration towards changes, reforms, and modernization is still our top priority. We still have to complete a lot of affairs. Many of the needs of our people still have not been satisfied.

In spite of this, like never before - during the centuries, today we see that the ice has started moving, and ill luck is starting to brake. Of course we have not reached a state where we want to be, but we all have together created a moment, a moment of opportunity, which we have to use together now.

The new point of origin is connected to the fact that Georgia is starting to advance again. We have left the war and economic crisis in the past. Now, in spite of many problems and the recent increase in oil prices, our economy is gradually gaining strength and speed in a stable manner. Last year it grew by almost 7%, which is of course less than desired, but it was more than the growth rate of the western countries and the most in our region and twice as much as that of Russia.

We caught the attention of the world as one of the best countries in the planet in terms of simplicity of doing business and simply for tourists to come here to rest. More than 100 thousand businesses have been registered in Georgia within the previous two years and the number of visitors reached 3 million. All of this means more opportunities for our people and more jobs.

When I addressed you from this platform last year, I introduced the vision of development of Georgia by the year 2015. 3 years are left until this date and many of the parts of this plan still need to be completed, but the progress of last year in terms of achieving the goals we have set is visible already.

I am not emphasizing this progress to get your kind will nor am I doing it because I want to look good and self-satisfied before you.

It is vital for our democracy and advancement that you constantly demand the completion of all the promises we have made to our citizens – this is regarding the promises given in the past and also the ones that I am going to give today.

I promised you last year that we would double the agriculture of Georgia by 2015. As of today, the agriculture sector has already grown by 35%.

Last year I promised you that more than 70% of the population will have gasification by 2015. As of today, 55% of the population already has natural gas. This year 80 thousand families will be gasified, which will increase the percentage to 65%.

I promised you last year that in total there will be 10 new hydro electric power plants built in Georgia by 2015 with a total capacity of 300 megawatts. As of today, the construction of 15 plants has already begun and we are planning to begin the construction of 10 new plants in 2012. The sum of investments in the hydro electric power plants will surpass 2.5 billion USD and most importantly, these constructions will employ over 13,000 of our citizens.

According to the vision we introduced last year, there will be over 100 modern clinics in Georgia by 2015. The skeptics (some of them in this hall) made a lot of noise about this program back then. They claimed that the “100 Hospitals Program” would be the largest failure of the government. This year every Georgian sees the pace by which the program of building new hospitals is going on. We have already opened 90 clinics equipped with modern technology. By the end of this year we will have 130 new hospitals functioning, instead of the promised 100.

We already have formidable progress in all of the parts of the 2015 plan. None of the programs will be implemented later than scheduled. On the contrary, most of them are being implemented faster than planned.

Every small result within our plan strengthens our faith in the fact that Georgia is advancing. But it is a fact that a lot of citizens of our country, in the cities and villages of Georgia, still do not feel this advancement in terms of their family conditions.

Today, we have tens of thousands of hardworking and educated compatriots, who want to have jobs but cannot find them and ask the following question fairly: What good does the increased percentage of economic growth or an attractive business climate do to me personally if I still cannot find a job?

We opened dozens of modern clinics over the past few months but a lot of our citizens keep asking: Why have modern clinics at all if we still do not have the money to get medical care in them?

We have been seeing over the past years that more and more tourists are arriving in Tbilisi, Batumi, various tourist centers of Georgia, but a lot of village residents ask: What good do the tourists arriving in Batumi and Mestia do for me – a person living in the village of Ipnari or Samgereti?

Each one of these questions is being asked fairly and I understand the people who are asking these questions. Their condition underscores the importance of our chief obligation – not only to develop the country, but also expand the circle of people who are benefiting from this development.

Not only create a richer country, but expand the circle of the people who will benefit from these riches; a wider circle of developed villages, accessibility of healthcare, citizen involvement, optimism, and success.

The chief question, which is asked today, is to what extent will the individual members of society share in the general development of the country? To what extent will each Georgian benefit from the new opportunities created in our country?

My answer to this question is very specific. I refuse to get used to a country divided into two parts…of which one part will achieve merited success while a larger part is left behind unfairly.

The 2015 plan which I introduced to you will of course remain on our agenda, but today I would like to talk to you about the additional plans that will  benefit more of our citizens by the ongoing development of our country by the government. This is the plan of turning the advancement of our country into advancement of more families; helping each citizen to achieve personal success from the overall success of the country. This plan is based on 5 main aspects.

(Employment)

First and foremost is employment. The primary reason that one part of the society does not think that the progress of our country can be felt in terms of the example of their family – is of course unemployment.

There is no greater challenge for me and our government than employment of each person, who can work, has the desire to work and cannot find a stable job.

I understand very well that in the end, the success of a country is not measured based on numbers, ratings, percentages, and articles published in foreign newspapers, but is based on the prosperity of the entire society and each one of its members.

The economy is not only numbers – it is how a person feels, how stable their income is, how protected that person is and how much hope that person has for tomorrow.

I understand the person who does not have a job, has to send their children to school or to a university. I understand the person who does not know what he will be able to bring home today or tomorrow and who is moreover, scared of tomorrow, because he does not have the feeling of stability or of having prospects. Loud statements from the platform of the parliament have no value at all in terms of the percentage rate of the growth of the national product…

But I would like to address each such person from this platform: don’t be afraid, have hope for tomorrow. Our country is already advancing today; our country is already developing today and the time when you will feel it in your own life is not far from now.

Don’t be afraid; have hope for tomorrow because the full efforts of our government are devoted to turning the success of our country into your personal success.

Don’t be afraid and have hope for tomorrow since I, as the President of Georgia understand you and feel your pain in the most sensitive way.

I would like you to know that I am not going to summarize my service in an Excel file. The only way for me to assess my life as successful or otherwise is to what extent I can return the feeling of having a perspective and better tomorrow to our citizens, who are suffering today; to what extent we can make their lives better, create new opportunities for them and new prospects; to what extent we will provide them with social protection and honorable jobs.

The fact that our country is advancing is our common achievement, but the chief challenge for us is to turn this success into a success of every individual citizen; to turn this into a success of each family rather than into numbers and statistics.

Our country has already overcome the most important challenges. Our economy has already endured the hardest test. The process of advancement that we now have at hand will involve the families of Georgia at a faster and faster pace. What seems like stats to many people today will turn into real income for their families a lot sooner than it is possible to imagine.

The fact that investors and tourists are actively visiting our country is a statistic, but every million tourists means 15,000 new jobs in our country.

By 2015 we will increase the number of tourists in Georgia by two million, which will create additional 30,000 jobs. This means that 30,000 families will actually feel that the current popularization of Georgia, developing of our country as a tourist center, construction of roads, hotels and resorts, rehabilitation of our towns (for what we often get criticized) means a new job and a stable income for 30,000 new families.

And these are not only the jobs created in the service sector. These are jobs in the agriculture sphere, because as the number of visitors grows, the demand for food products also increases. This means jobs in the construction sector because increased tourism creates demand for constructing more tourism infrastructure and the necessity of appropriate development. This means jobs in the production sector because the visitors and investors will need a lot of locally produced things in order to live here and do business.

This also concerns projects of huge national significance that we are implementing now. New hydro electric power plants, new roads, new cities, new districts, new resorts, new economic zones…we are building a new Georgia with their help, but our major result will be those thousands of families, whose lives will be a lot more stable, protected and successful because of these projects.

But creating a job does not always mean employing a person. There are instances when a job is accessible but one cannot reach it because of the lack of qualifications. Because of this, sometimes a citizen of Georgia cannot compete with foreigners even in their own country. In such cases whining that jobs are going to only those who can do the work is not a solution. Closing the borders of the country and isolation is also not a right way. In such cases the only solution is to increase our competitive potential ourselves, acquire more education ourselves, and be better equipped than others in terms of doing work to be better constructors, engineers, and financial servicemen...

We should understand that increasing the number of employed people will be much more difficult if we don’t constantly improve our competitiveness.

In this sense, retraining and learning new skills demanded in the job market is very important.

I deeply believe that a state is obligated to create relevant conditions for all the people who need to raise their qualification and learn new professions.

That is why we are starting an important reform of the profession retraining system and building learning centers of a high quality on one hand. We are going to open 5 new profession schools.

On the other hand, starting in 2012 every citizen of Georgia, who wants to learn a new profession in private or public schools, will receive a 1000 GEL state vouchers, which will completely cover their retraining course tuition.

Aside from this, we are going to start a program of “Profession Retraining and Profession Orientation” within the scope of which 20,000 persons will have free training in the English language, computer skills, and profession orientation.

This summer we will also start a one-month student employment program, which will employ 25 thousand students in the territory of Georgia. This will help the students get new skills and experience as well as earn money for summer vacation and tuition.

But expanding the circle of employed citizens won’t be easy only through profession retraining and student employment. Education is vital in terms of long term success of our society.

Education is the key to our future success. The evolvement our society and the education of our future generations will be crucial in terms of deciding whether our country can build its economy based on high technologies; whether we will be able to attract intellectual jobs to Georgia from the entire world.

Education is the most crucial, most decisive priority of our government.

Today, when we are living in the epoch of communications, the world has become smaller and the jobs based on intelligence no longer recognize state borders. Globalization has long created one principle: the place which has education also has employment.

That is why we will increase our efforts more and more in terms of developing the education system in Georgia.

That is why 23 new schools will be built in Georgia this year, up to 600 schools renovated and by 2015, every school of Georgia will be equal to those of Germany, Netherlands, and the United States.

This is why all of the public and private schools are already connected to the internet.

This is why we are going to bring 11 thousand new computers to the schools and have 1 computer per every 7 students in Georgia. By 2015, 90% of all students will have a personal computer.

This is why we are going to open ultramodern “Classrooms of Future” in 100 schools this year as well as chemistry, physics and biology labs of the highest quality.

This is why every first grader and their mentor teachers will receive personal computers as gifts.

This is why we are increasing teacher salaries and bringing thousands of fluent English speaking teachers for our children.

The goal is simple – we want for our children to have a better life, safer and more successful, with more opportunities. So that their knowledge and motivation is properly valued and they find desired jobs based on merit and education.

This is the dream of every parent and the goal of our reforms.

(Agriculture)

The second important element of our plan is agriculture. Village is the heart and soul of our country. It is hard to find a person, whose roots do not come from a village.

I am sure a person, who thinks that Georgia can be strong in the future without a strong village, cannot be found in our country.

The development of our country will bring nothing if it is not shared by a farmer. It is one of our main obligations to expand the circle of farmers across the country. The first resource for this is plowed and watered soil.

This is why I am announcing a common national irrigation program development of Georgia today, within the scope of which 18,000 hectares of land will have irrigation and 3,800 hectares will have the drainage systems rehabilitated.

Aside from irrigation, the current insufficient mechanization interferes with expanding the circle of farmers. The modern village cannot develop without a high tech mechanization.

This is why 12 centers of mechanization will be opened in Georgia this year, the main purpose of which will be serving the population and informing them regarding every issue of agriculture.

This is why we will purchase 250 new tractors and 400 tractor extension aggregates within the next 3 weeks.

This is why by June 1 all of the centers of mechanization in sum will be equipped with 563 tractors, 50 units of combines, 22 units of special technology, 1,470 units of ploughs and other types of tractor extensions, and most importantly – all of this will be accessible for interested farmers. The consultations of mechanization specialists will also be accessible.

Of course technology and irrigated land are very important for agriculture and farming but this will not be enough in the current age if farmers are not capable of grasping the meaning and ways of using new technologies and learn the important information regarding contemporary farming and agriculture.

This is why 6 mechanization centers will also have the function of fertility centers.

Every farmer will have a chance to get necessary information and consultation at these centers; use the special laboratory to test soil, plant and water samples.

The centers will have hydro-meteorological stations installed. All 6 centers will be equipped with an education infrastructure of modern standards. They will retrain farmers and the local population in terms of using technology and provide information on productivity of various seeds.

Various types of pesticides will be accessible to farmers at these centers as well as consultation by  highly qualified agriculture specialists.

All six fertility centers will be equipped with demonstrative lands worked on through the use of modern technologies. The farmers will get all of the information about using technology, breeding and fertility of various crops.

It is our goal to create an agriculture system, which will give an opportunity to every hard working farmer to feel advancement of the country in their own back yard.

Our goal is the success of the village, not for statistics, for a better life of each farmer.

(Healthcare)

Healthcare is the third element of our plan. We have achieved within a few months what was considered unachievable just a while ago.

We opened 30 new hospitals in 30 days and as of today; we have 90 new clinics functioning in various regions and cities of Georgia. We are planning to open over 40 new clinics during the current year. As a result, there will be 130 new medical centers in Georgia in 2012; equipped with the latest technology and modern infrastructure necessary for healthcare procedures.

This is a real breakthrough in the healthcare system of Georgia. It is safe to say that this is a new point of origin, because before we built the new hospitals there was practically no healthcare in Georgia. There were only a few hospitals in the capital and it was impossible to get medical care there for the residents of the regions for various reasons.

Additionally, we will create new opportunities in terms of adopting the leading high tech services of the world. For example, stem cell transplant operations; curing such deceases as leukemia and cirrhosis.

We have been able to expand not only the geography of healthcare but create a powerful mechanism of social equality.  I personally visit the opening of almost every new clinic and I can read it in the eyes of local residents – a feeling of pride, because such things did not exist for those persons before. That which was the privilege of the few elite of Tbilisi can now be enjoyed across the entire country, by every citizen.

We are creating a new European level healthcare system in Georgia, but our chief goal is to increase the number of people for whom this healthcare is accessible.

First class healthcare is still considered a luxury by many Georgians and something that their pockets cannot afford.

Health insurance is the main instrument of increasing accessibility – this is why our goal is to greatly increase the number of insured citizens.

Less than 4,000 persons in Georgia had health insurance prior to 2006. Compared to that time period, the number of the insured citizens grew almost 40 times in 2011 and will grow 60 times in 2012.

In 2012 every second citizen of Georgia will have insurance which means that about 2.5 million Georgians will be insured.

Up to 650,000 pensioners and up to 300,000 children will be added to this number this year.

This will be a huge change for hundreds of thousands of families.

You all know what kind of conditions many pensioners and their family members live in today; especially at the time when they need intensive medical care. Based on today’s conditions it is impossible to insure pensioners, because the insurance companies are avoiding the risks related to this.

Consequently, the whole burden of treatment is on their family members, which, if we consider the increased prices and unemployment, often relates to a tragic reality. Many of our citizens helplessly look on as a disease takes away their parent, grandmother or grandfather, and because of the lack of finances they cannot do anything to help them. There are far worse cases as well, when there is no one to look after and take care of the pensioners and they are left alone with their disease on the mercy of God.

That is why we did everything possible to include insurance in terms of the most important healthcare component in the promised 100 USD pension package. As a result, every pensioner will have insurance beginning in September.

If the pensioners would only use the limited services of the healthcare system – e.g. in case of the chemotherapy the program would not provide more than 500 GEL – but with the insurance package the insurance limit increases to 12 thousand.

Similarly, if they needed non-emergency surgery, e.g. that of legs and cataract, which is very common in elderly people, it was never covered. The elderly this year will, for the first time, be covered by insurance not only for this but other non-emergency surgeries as well.

Likewise, if any pensioner will be in need of intensive immediate therapy, which as everyone knows can result in significant financial costs –the state program would only cover the first three days through the urgent program– this service will be limitless from September and our elderly citizens will be able to use this opportunity as long as they need the urgent treatment and it will not burden their family – everything will be covered by insurance. 

 The biggest problem for pensioners has always been the medications – especially for the patients with chronic diseases. The insurance plan would only cover half of 50 GEL up until today. This limit will increase 4 times as of September and will be 200 GEL and the medicine worth 100 GEL will be compensated by the insurance voucher.

I would like to also propose a new initiative today. Starting from January 1, 2013 every single family will receive a onetime aid of 1000 GEL for every new born third child, while for bearing every fourth and additional child they will receive 2000 GEL. Likewise, we will additionally insure all of those children and youngsters from January 1, 2013 who live in families with many children. This concerns those families in which four or more children are being raised.

This kind of initiative, I think will promote the recent years’ birthrate increase tendency in our country.  Hereby, I would like to thank his holiness for the efforts the Georgian church puts into solving the demographic situation. I think that our joint efforts will yield concrete results. 

I would like to go back to the issue of insurance. As regards the insurance of children – the state program of stationary assistance for children that existed before would only cover the children below 3 years and with limits

According to my plan, every pre-school age child will have insurance starting from September.

Hence, we will make the highest quality healthcare accessible this year to more citizens than ever before.

But besides this there is another important outcome – that there will be two and a half million citizens insured in total – that gives us an opportunity to make insurance more accessible for those citizens that are not yet insured and establish the new rules of the game which will make sure that insurance companies and clinics improve the quality of their service as well.  

Our task is to increase the number of insured people on the one hand, and on the other protect the rights of those insured to the maximum as with respect to the insurance companies, as well as with respect to the clinics.

For this purpose, we are on the one hand unprecedentedly imposing fines and punitive sanctions with regard to the medical facilities – for those cases when the interests of the patients are being hurt as a result of their breach.

While on the other hand we are creating new rules of the game, based on which the insurance companies will be obliged to protect the interests of the insured citizen and not lie to them . Still there are problems in this sphere:

There are cases when citizens encounter injustice from insurance companies while being offered insurance products. As the result of the dishonest manipulations, often the insured citizens do no actually know what they are entitled to or not, what will the insurance covers and what it will not – or thinks that he knows, but he will discover in the most critical moment that he was badly mistaken.

The new rules make sure that the citizens do not have the feeling of inequality and of not being protected. The terms should clearly define what will be compensated and the exceptions should enable the insurance companies to refuse the insured services exactly when he needs it the most.

The insurance of citizens by the state at such a scale has made it possible to create an atmosphere of cooperation between the state and the insurance companies. I welcome the willingness of insurance companies, either by cooperation with the state, or under its supervision if you like, to eradicate all existing difficulties and give primacy to the interests of the citizens. The insurance companies have it well comprehended that we are not widening the circle of people insured, so that later these people feel cheated and abandoned. We will not allow this to happen and this is my promise to each one of our citizens.

We are declaring 2012 as the breakthrough year in healthcare accessibility – the year when every second Georgian will be insured and that high quality healthcare will actually be accessible for them.

I would also like to report to you today, in my opinion, about one of the most important successes in the fight for the health of the future generation. We vigorously fought the drug mafia for years, the drug dealers and those who spread it. This had a tangible outcome – drug related crimes decreased by 53% since 2007, i.e. the chief threat for our future generation has been halved.

This fight has a second side – this is the care for treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. I would like to come up with the initiative that certain shares of funds that come from the fines of drug related criminals, to be spent on the drug addicts rehabilitation.

Similarly, we will also be ruthless in the future in the fight against drug dealers and this fight will remain a priority for law enforcement agencies.

(Politics)

Yet, it is not enough to only expand the circle of material successes and social protection – our task is to expand the circle of political and civil successes as well.

One of the main reasons our country is becoming more and more attractive for tourists and investors is that we all together managed to create a successful model of a country’s democratic development. We have to take even bigger steps in the coming years to develop the democratic process in Georgia.

When I presented to you with the vision for 2015 from this platform last year – my promises covered not only the social sphere and economic development, but the improvement of our country’s political system and democracy as well.

I have promised you that we would carry out the reform of the election system in cooperation with the opposition – and we have managed it by joint efforts – by the active participation of the opposition and the positive assessment of constitutional experts from Europe. Yet, I know that certain disagreements remain between us which in itself is normal for a democratic society – and we are ready to continue dialogue in this direction.

Together we have increased the financing of parties – so that parties are not dependent on special interests – so that they have an opportunity for independent development and influence of the political processes.

We have adopted and already made functional the law that has made the issue of ownership of televisions more transparent – so that interested citizens know who and which force stands behind the TV channels and hence have more means to draw an objective conclusion.    

We have enhanced the rights of minorities – because the freedom and the equality among people notwithstanding their race, ethnicity, religious or other affiliation is fundamental for our country, because the freedom of any minorities is the freedom of each one of us and because our equality is the strength of Georgia.

We have also made a promise that we would strengthen the reform of judiciary to create a more independent and just judicial system and towards this aim, the institute of grand jury would start functioning – this promise has also been kept – Georgia belongs to the citizens of Georgia and we, all together, are creating such a judicial system, where citizens are taking part in the process of serving justice. The gradual expansion of the grand jury practice will also continue in the future.

The past months have shown to us all that our political system is entirely open to innovations and new political actors. There are new political movements being established and the new coalitions emerging. Political discussions are unfolding with even more fresh enthusiasm between the different political forces.

I welcome all of this.

Our democracy is open to every voice and group that acts within the frames of the Georgian constitution and legal system. Our political system welcomes the existence of any opinion in the political discussion, regardless if part of the society finds it entirely unacceptable. 

And I am convinced that only this kind of pluralism creates the atmosphere of healthy competition, which is based not on aggression and extremism, but instead on grand ideas, grand visions for our country and society. 

Only this kind of competition strengthens our democracy and hence our state.

The current year is the year of parliamentary elections. My goal is, and I know that every one of you share this, is for this election to be the freest, the most transparent and democratic election we have had so far.

For this we are inviting all local and international observers, so that they are maximally engaged in the monitoring process. This is a matter of national security. The primary guarantor of this is the democratic system created by our joint efforts, which equips every political force with adequate resources and free access to media in order for them to uninterruptedly deliver their message to the entire population of Georgia.

For the maximum fairness of the political processes, we should ensure the maximum transparency of financing of political parties, so that it should not be secret to any of the voters what material resource stands behind this or that political force so that our society can make the most correct and the best informed decision.     

Throughout the upcoming election campaigns different political actors will present numerous visions and concepts. This should be like this. But I would like to propose to everyone – let us agree on just rules of the game – agree that as state parties, as well as opposition parties we will do our best so that our citizens can make a genuinely free choice;  So that every party will act within the frames of parliamentary and civil principles. Let us together continue the transformation of Georgia into an exemplary democracy and with this let all of us create a better, more attractive environment for the development of our country’s credibility, investments, tourism and economy – consequently, for creation of more jobs and more international partners.

(Security)

In the end, in order to share the successes of the country with more citizens we should continue to create such a secure environment for Georgia that allows this progress.

Towards no other country does Georgia have hostile intentions or territorial claims.

But we will never say no to protect our sovereign rights.

We will never kneel in the fight for unification and de-occupation of our country.

We will never rest in protecting the interest of each our citizen who had been kicked out from their own homes.

We will never succumb to the empire limiting our free choice.

That is why we keep on going towards the west. This choice is our national consensus. This road is the road towards our actual security and freedom.

That is why we spare no efforts in our aspirations to become a full-fledged member of NATO and the European Union and we will continue to do so. Certainly, this will take several years, but by rejecting this now, we will lose many generations.

That is why we are building ties with Europe, and negotiations over the Free Trade Agreement with the EU have moved onto the active phase. This is why we have postponed the debates for two hours. The European Commissioner for Trade has arrived in Georgia and we have begun the negotiations regarding free trade and we hope we will complete the negotiation process within one year. If everything goes well we will have free trade with the European Union. We are also planning to start the next stage in visa negotiations, the final goal of which is visa free travel with the EU; so that our citizens can proudly enter the countries of Europe with their passports. By the way, The Council of Europe declared yesterday that this is an issue of mutual interests. 

That is why, we should further enhance our intense, strategic cooperation with the United States of America – and the clear demonstration of this has been my recent meeting with President Obama.

President Obama particularly underscored the importance of our successful democratic reforms not only for our country, but for the whole region. Georgia will continue cooperating with the United States of America in the process of further reforming our country.

It is overly important that we have moved to a new stage of cooperation in terms of defense and security so that the defense capabilities of Georgia are advanced and compatibility of the Georgian armed forces to those of NATO is increased.

President Obama also expressed readiness to start a dialogue between Georgia and the USA on the idea of free trade.

When the United States and Europe expressed such confidence and backing towards Georgia and so actively expressed the desire for cooperation and partnership with us, this means that the civilized world is first of all expressing confidence in the entire Georgian nation.

This means that Georgia has established itself as a respectable place in the civilized and democratic universe; that we are part of the West.

There are forces which get irritated by this. This is why we need to be cautious so that we don’t give an opportunity to deliberately or otherwise cause the loss of our national achievement.

The West is the historic choice of Georgia, but Caucasus is our region and we should not forget that the long term security of Georgia cannot be discussed through excluding the security of the Caucasus region. This is why we will continue to work towards the common development of the Caucasus region and friendship with the peoples of the Caucasus.  Georgia firmly supports the principle of inviolability of borders, however we see the Caucasus as one region and Georgia is a locomotive in this region in terms of peace, stopping violence, and efforts in terms of development. Georgia is a window to Europe for the Caucasian nations.

We are developing close ties with the West but at the same time we are interested in bettering relations with Russia.  Russia has been and will continue to be a neighbor of Georgia. That is the reason of our aspiration to achieve peace with Russia. But this can be a peace with Russia, which recognizes and complies with every internationally accepted norm of relations among sovereign countries.

This is exactly why; as a result of a lot of work and effort we let Russia become a full member of the World Trade Organization.

We welcome economic relations with Russia. We have never closed Georgia for Russian investors and tourists. On the contrary, we believe there is no place for tank cannons in a place where business is active.

This is why we are ready to give a chance for freedom and bilaterally abolish a visa regime with Russia. Let every Russian businessmen know that Georgia is as attractive of a country for any citizen or Russia as for citizens of any other country; free of corruption, lawlessness, bureaucratic pressure. Let the Russian tourists know that they can visit Georgia any time and everyone will meet them with famous Georgian hospitality here. Nobody will prohibit them from enjoying wine and Borjomi they miss.

(The End)

We still need to make great effort to establish our personal place in the international security system – a place that will be a guarantee for the sovereignty and integrity of our country for our future generations.

But at the same time, we are establishing our place in the international economic system. We are building Georgia together, which we want to be the model of development, the most open economy in the region with low taxes, with the best business climate and free of bureaucratic pressure. This is our big goal and very soon achieving it will turn our country into an economic hub of the region.

We are building Georgia together, the goal and obligation of the bureaucratic machine of which is offering its citizens a more transparent service. A country where Public Service Halls created by us will be functioning, so that it is maximally simple to get documents, register property, register a company and etc.

Together we are building a country where we are constantly looking for new ways of sophisticating, making more transparent, and accelerating the relationship between the state and the individual.

We are not competing with anyone in violence and aggression, but we are ready to compete with anyone in terms of economic partnership, development, and building a successful society.

We need to keep the stable indicators of economic growth in order to achieve victory through peace and not war. This is why our economy should be growing twice as fast as that of the country occupying our lands. That’s how it is today and that’s how it has to be in the future.

We have a small population but we are a great nation, because the size of a nation is not assessed based on the size of its population. The greatness of a nation is assessed by its love of the homeland; loyalties, responsibility, pride, love of freedom, relentless instinct of advancement, and ambitions to aspire towards great goals.

This is what kind of a nation we are and this is why we are building a great country from our small Georgia.

This is why it is the chief goal of ours to turn the success of a country into a success of every citizen. Every step forward by the country should be turned into a step forward for every family.

This is the most important challenge for me and for every one of you.

This is why it is important that the development of Georgia is comprehensive geographically across the entire country.  This is why we are constructing wherever it is possible; from Shuakhevi to Mestia, from Akhatsikhe to Dusheti, from Dedoplistskaro to Lanchkhuti.

We have to equally involve every region, every city, every village of Georgia in the development of our country. If a country is advancing it has to be felt by the people in all of its parts.

This is why the construction of Lazika has special importance. This is why creating special economic zones is especially important and a resolution about it will soon enter the Parliament.

This is why it is especially important that I address you from the platform of the Parliament in Kutaisi the next time – from the second capital of Georgia.

This is the road of just development of our country, the road of modernization.  This is the opportunity to turn more Georgians into participants and sharers of the success of our country.

This is the road through which we will turn small Georgia into a great, strong, and a free state.

We must all travel this road together; this is our only route towards the future. It has long been chosen by the Georgian nation and there is no power which will be able to force us off this road.