I welcome you all!

This year, we are funding the education abroad of some 90 young people. I am happy that this number is growing every year. Back when I and my friends went abroad to receive our education, we did so at the expense of the governments of France, the UK, the USA and other countries.

Back then I dreamt of a time when what is happening today would happen. My dream has come true. We have managed to send our own people abroad with our own resources so that they can receive an education. Our government has managed to pay this money itself after holding a competition to determine the best students. We are doing all of this so that you can worthily take part in the building of the Georgian state.

What is knowledge to us? Knowledge is the bricks with which you are building Georgia, knowledge is the weapon with which we are defeating our enemy and defending our country, knowledge is path to our future, knowledge is that with which we make our parents, children and loved ones happy and deprive our ill-wishers of joy, knowledge is our source of self confidence, our pride and a symbol of our country's victory and our responsibility before our homeland.

We cannot outdo anyone in terms of numbers because we are a small country. We must stand out with our intellect and exceptional nature and serve as a model for the whole world. Now Georgia has an entirely different reputation. A few days ago the Washington Post newspaper published an article which said that Georgia was a model country for the whole world in terms of the implementation of reforms. These are not our words. There are people who see what we are doing. According to last year's statistics, we were the number one economic reformer country in the world. This year will be in the top twenty in the world.

A few days ago I was watching footage of the Rose Revolution [in November 2003] together with my friends. Georgia was a different country back then. That footage showed a filthy city, dilapidated buildings and a police force which looked like the police force of a backward country.

If we recall the footage of a few days ago when Interior Ministry personnel dressed in white uniforms and driving modern vehicles visited the scene of the incident where a missile fell to the ground near the Tskhinvali region [South Ossetia], we will become assured that the Georgia of that time - a Georgia stuck in a swamp - and the Georgia of now - a Georgia which resembles a developed country - are polar opposites.

Now traffic violations in Georgia are captured on film by traffic cameras and people receive citations at their homes when they break the law. Ninety per cent of the world's countries cannot do this - they cannot build hospitals, schools, amusement parks and roads so fast.

Our domestic opponents are quite annoyed by our amusement parks, but in the evening, when they finish criticizing these parks, they go there themselves.

We are a different country and this country needs you! We need qualified workers.

I was recently in Sighnaghi, where 2,200 men are working round the clock to develop that town. I saw people who had not worked for many years and now had jobs again. I rejoiced when I saw qualified 60-70-year-old people working. I personally know a man who lives in Varketili who had kept his construction equipment in storage for 15 years. Now he is working in Sighnaghi and receiving a high salary.

We are sending some 100 people abroad, but this is just the beginning. This year we are spending 2m lari on this programme. At the same time we are also sending more than 100 people abroad so that they can study military sciences. We are also training people at the police academy. Together with my chief of staff Eka Sharashidze we are preparing a special programme that will allow several dozen young Georgian architects to improve their qualifications.

Georgia should have the finest architecture. All buildings must be of top quality. In previous years low-quality construction projects did great damage to our country. Only our generation can put an end to this.

I would also like to speak to you about the incident which occurred several days ago. An aircraft which came in from the large country up north dropped a missile-like device on Georgian territory which, thankfully, did not explode. I have been truly impressed by the resolute actions of our state apparatus in these past few days, as well as by the Georgian people's reaction and the answer of the entire world community. That first night all necessary measures were taken. Six months ago we did not even have the radar systems necessary to record this. All of this information was property transmitted, recorded, verified and presented to the world.

When in 1992 the most tragic city - Sukhumi - was being bombed, no-one in the world noticed. At that time Russian Defence Minister Grachov came out and said that the Georgians had repainted their own aircraft and bombed their own city. No-one covered this and no-one bothered to do anything about it.

In 2001-2002 they bombed the Pankisi Gorge and no-one raised their voice then either. Upper Abkhazia was also bombed [on 11-12 March 2007]. Despite the UN's resistance, we managed, through our active work, to confirm that the bombing did in fact take place. Now, however, the whole world has stood on its feet. Now, a large group of independent experts from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Sweden and the USA is on its way here. We have been in contact with the presidents of these countries several times. The whole world is providing coverage of this incident.

I often think that if our government had had the support of the international community in 1921 and if our armed forces had not been withdrawn and if we had reinforced security efforts and neutralized the Communist party, then Georgia would have remained independent.

We are accomplishing all of this now. Georgia is an exception in this region in that intelligence agents from that country simply cannot function anywhere, save for the separatist regions.

We have managed to assemble a functioning state machine.

Now the popular magazine The Economist has published an editorial article entitled "Why Georgia should be admitted into NATO". This has been the reaction to the rocket attack.

We have created an armed forces to be taken seriously.

Today society is divided into two parts. Fortunately, 99 per cent of our society is aware of the situation, patriotic and strives to ensure the country's well being. During the [Russian] embargo these people showed that they were mobilized, that they have pride and that they will not concede anything to anyone. We hold our honour and freedom above everything else.

I was recently in Kakheti Province, where I saw newly opened wineries and new businesses.

I was amazed when I went to the village of Tsitelubani, which is populated by ethnic Ossetians, and met locals there. A missile had fallen nearby, though they remained strong and optimistic. This truly astonished me.

There are stupid people who ask why the Georgian armed forces did not shoot down the Russians' plane. I want to tell everyone categorically that Georgia is not in a state of war with the Russian Federation. We do not intend to enter into armed confrontation with Russia. We are ready to defend our country. Our political goal is to have good relations with Russia. Our greater goal is integration with Euro-Atlantic structures, the country's development and the restoration of its territorial integrity.

We inherited an armed forces in shambles. We had 2,000 starving and disheartened soldiers who had neither clothes nor food. Now Georgia has a professional armed forces of 30,000 men and over 10,000 reservists. These people are Georgia's main source of strength.

We have created the best conditions for them and the best barracks. No-one could have imagined this to have been possible.

We have some 1,000 officers. Georgia's army now consists of representatives of all regions. These people are our main pillar of support. Many people from Tbilisi are now training as officers. They know three or four languages. We are buying the best equipment for them. A few months ago we introduced an air defence system like the one that existed in the Soviet Union, though the Soviet Union never used that system in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic because even then they did not trust Georgia.

We had obsolete systems. As soon as Georgia began its fight for independence, the Soviet Union's air defence system was taken out of Georgia and disassembled. Whatever was left was sold by subsequent governments. Fortunately, we now have our own air defence system.

We are trying to purchase anti-aircraft systems to defend the perimeter of our airspace. We are working on the principle of defending our territorial integrity. The Georgian armed forces now have the ability to counter any possible act of aggression. We are doing all of this in order to avert a wide-scale armed confrontation. Those people who once opposed strengthening the armed forces are now criticizing us for not using the weapons we have.

We are ready to defend Georgia's territory. This readiness is improving on a daily basis. Our task is to approach this matter with a sense of responsibility, work together with NATO countries, and act like we are a partner country that is accountable before European countries, the USA and North Atlantic structures. We must act like a country which in conditions of democracy can mobilize, protect itself and approach the matter with a sense of responsibility for the international obligations we have undertaken.

We are offering the Russian Federation total and transparent cooperation. We were the first to take steps to avert illegal border crossings at our northern frontier. We have done everything to help Russia ensure stability in the North Caucasus. We intend to further cooperate on security issues. We will not put up with anyone finding stability at the expense of someone else's instability.

We now have sufficient knowledge, commitment and the ability to protect our economic development without panicking. Our strength is not in the number of our weapons, but in our economic development.

It is clear that the economy is of top importance. If this year Georgia manages to achieve 12-14 per cent economic growth, attract more than 2bn dollars of investment and implement large infrastructure development projects, then I assure you that only crazy people could ever have the desire to attack and seek to destabilize this country.

It is easy to attack a country such as the one shown in that footage of the revolution. When a country that resembles, Hong Kong, Dubai or Singapore is attacked, however, the developed world views it as an attack on itself.

We will continue to reinforce security. We have ambitious plans and I would not recommend that anyone even think about adventurism. Georgia is not a country that is easy to devour. The past few days have confirmed this. I want to have a substantive meeting with President Putin so that we can overcome all problems and unresolved issues within the framework of constructive partnership relations.

We are a multiethnic country that is based on unity. The greatest Georgian kings and military commanders were Ossetians. As soon as our unity is undermined, we are defeated. No-one will be able to defeat Georgia if we are united and if we have a clear vision of our task. We must be a model country that others seek to imitate.

Thousands of Georgians living abroad are now returning to the country. Thousands of specialists are returning to Georgia.

My chief of staff, Eka Sharashidze, studied at the three best universities in the West - Harvard, MIT and Penn University. Now she is in Georgia. The same goes for [Economic Development Minister] Giorgi Arveladze, [Energy Minister] Nika Gilauri, [Agriculture Minister] Petre Tsiskarishvili, and countless other members of our government who received an education in the West and have returned to Georgia. I recall that in the beginning of 1996, when I returned to Georgia, there was only one hour of electricity each day.

Before I returned to Georgia I was working in a well heated office in New York. I had a good salary and good prospects. Had I continued in my career I would now have an income of 10m dollars a year. But my heart was troubled by what was happening in Georgia. That is why a decided to return to my homeland.

You should not return home because you are troubled by your country's fate, rather you should return home happy and ready to take part in the building on the country, you should return so that you can tell your children how you participated in the process of achieving victory and unity.

Georgia has a historical mission. Why has so much been written about Georgia in the past few days? Why is there so much arguing and why has there been such a positive response?

Georgia is not just an interesting country which has preformed a miracle over the past few years, it is a country which is a leader in terms of democratic transformation and peaceful revolution.

The real revolution took place not when the people took to the streets, but rather when we began our work. The work following the revolution was a true miracle which has brought us the results that everyone can see today and which will bring us ten times as many positive results in the coming years. We need all of you to return to Georgia so that we can further strengthen the country in the civic, military and business spheres. All of these areas are equally important.

May you have a good rest, study well and then return to your homeland.

Tomorrow I will take a holiday for a few days in Upper Abkhazia.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia