Welcome, everybody!

It is an historic day. I would like to congratulate all of you on the opening of the Zurab Zhvania School of Public Administration in Kutaisi. It is not accidental that this school has been named after Zurab Zhvania. He played an enormous role in helping Georgia leave the Soviet Union and transform into a full-fledged and exemplary country. Mr. Zhvania was a prominent public figure of our time.

It was Mr Zhvania who brought the post-nomenklatura generation, who had never served in government and who with their consciousness and mentality knew that we needed to build a new independent state, into Georgian politics.

In 1994 Zurab Zhvania visited Sandra and me in New York. We were talking a lot about ongoing events in Georgia and hoped that Georgia would leave behind the chaos and humiliation and have a bright future.

What is now going on in Georgia is the continuation and development of our previous talks.

I am very happy that today we are opening Zurab Zhvania School of Public Administration. Georgia is a multiethnic country where the representatives of many religious convictions live. Georgia is distinguished for its religious tolerance, which is one of the main strengths of our country.

The Georgian state belongs to everyone and everybody who lives here should take care of its development.

In this view this very school is of crucial importance.

For the first time we are giving special opportunities to some people to study the Georgian language and administrative law, because these people will be employed at various levels in the Georgian government.

We are creating a new state apparatus. These people must establish a new Georgian State; this is an historic moment.

I can't help mentioning education reform under the leadership of Kakha Lomaia [Minister of Education and Science of Georgia]. This reform is not only historic for Georgia but an unprecedented success for the whole post-Soviet space.

Recently, we opened a cinema in Kutaisi where I saw many children's exited faces. This is a very exiting and pleasing moment.

Since the break up of the Soviet Union not a single new university with a dorm has been built. Here we have seen a European standard dorm, which is similar to the ones I used to live in in Strasbourg and the US.

We are getting back the elements of modern life and I am proud of it. I am proud that we are starting a school-repairing program. Next year, half of the existing schools in Kutaisi will be fully repaired and will meet European standards.

I want Georgian schools with their canteens, bathrooms, gyms, education level and computerization to resemble standard European schools.

If we desire to be a successful country we must do it. The main problem that persists in Georgia is unemployment.

Next year over USD 500-700 million in capital investments will be made in Georgia. In fact, there are not enough qualified personnel in Georgia. Today, Turks and Germans are building roads in Georgia. We must rebuild vocational training centers.

Under the previous government vocational training centers were made into academies. Such centers lost their function, which resulted in the fact that we do not have professionals today.

We will establish more that ten vocational training centers where we will train and give professions to people. In these training centers students will receive scholarships and will be trained in those fields which are most necessary for Georgia today. Lots of new working places have been created in Poti, Agara and Adjara. In order to continue this process we have to prepare the labor market for it.

A new type of civil service has been created in Georgia which is based on three principles: competency, fighting against corruption and dismissing those people who are not able to fulfill the assumed responsibilities.

These are the three pillars of civil service in Georgia. As soon as any one of the principles is violated our statehood will be destroyed.

We are not rich enough in oil to feel carefree; however, we have strength and an inner ability to organize. There are many debates about staff reshuffling. If a person is not able to fulfil the assumed responsibility we will move him to another place. We must get an optimal outcome.

However, there should be stability in the state apparatus. As soon as we pass the budget the staff will be cut and the process will be stabilized. Staff in the civil service should be small so that it would not become a heavy burden for our people. We are not going to retreat in this respect.

We want a bureaucracy. When a new minister is appointed the main staff has to remain unchanged. Everyone has to fulfill those three principles.

When we came into power there were talks that we took a revenge on the officials of Shevardnadze's period. Everyone knows the classic history of a local governor of Vake-Saburtalo district and where this governor is now. This is the strength of our government. Everybody also remembers the MPs who were brought to justice for every crime they committed.

We do not compromise. No one can say that the Georgian government is corrupt. We have achieved this after permanent controls and intensive pressure.

People are not the servants of the civil service; on the contrary, the civil service has the honor to serve the people. We need thousands of decent administrators in the civil service. Otherwise, professions are meaningless.

Those career-minded people who are swearing at us think that being a president is luxury.

Presidency is simply a profession. The day when I don't see an actual outcome is a very bad day for me and that day I am in a very bad mood. If a person is not results-oriented it does not matter whether he is a president or the UN Secretary-General or the owner of a car park; that person has no value. This is the principle of every governor.

Today I am very happy because we opened a school, which we promised to open two months ago. We fulfill our promises.

You are a fortunate generation. People of different ethnicities are here. I am satisfied with the way the admissions competition was held at this school. Each of you was selected very carefully. After you have graduated from this School each of you will become a public official in the new Georgian government, in the tradition of development created by Davit Aghmashenebeli which we are taking care to continue. You will work in the country where everybody together will build a Georgian state and where everybody will have equal opportunities.

I congratulate you on this significant day, December 9, when the Zurab Zhvania School of Public Administration has been opened in Kutaisi.

This day will enter Georgia's, and our, history.

I believe we will all have a bright future.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia