The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili delivered a speech at Harvard Kennedy Institute of Politics. The main topic of this speech was Georgia and Black Sea Security. The members of the former Administration, experts and students attended the session. The number of people wishing to attend the session was so high that the lottery draw was held in order to get to the hall for attendance. Mikheil Saakashvili stressed his attention on the development of democracy in Georgia, on August war, Russia-Georgian relations, on the ongoing economic reforms in Georgia, on our country's NATO aspirations and on the existing situation on the occupied territories. He as well recalled the President of Poland and spoke about him as about a hero. The President of Georgia once again expressed his condolences to Polish people in his speech.

"They tried to destroy our statehood and diplomacy in August 2008, but the process of development in Georgia is so strong that it is impossible to defeat it. We are speaking about a long-term process that requires patience. I hope that the foreign army will never get on our way by their intervention. Our people will never return to corruption, authoritarian regime and nihilism. They got used to meritocracy, individual freedom and democratic values. This is our main success today. You can find this success in every street, at every lesson, University or school, in the Police, the Army units, in every private or state institute. We managed to demonstrate that the election of government in Georgia is not brought down to unpredicted situation or chaos.

It is possible to build a normal, democratic society in our region, where the population is protected and has future. Not the authoritarian leaders or security services but they themselves manage their lives. We are still in a testing period, on the background the Kremlin is trying to influence our nation. It has to be underlined that none of the post Soviet governments has recognized the illegal occupation of the Georgian regions. The development of democracy requires our and our allies' permanent involvement", the President of Georgia stated.

Mikheil Saakashvili answered the students' questions in Harvard. The questions mainly concerned the relations with the new administration and President Obama's policy towards Georgia.

"I have received a very strong support from President Obama not only during Nuclear Security Summit - we had several conversations before that as well. We listened to many statements of strong support from the US side. We have signed Strategic Partnership Charter with this country. The fulfillment of this Charter started in the beginning of President Obama's presidency term. The US Administration supported us on every level. We have never had so many friends, we have never had so many working visits. People got familiar with the existing situation in Georgia. But this also happened because the President of the United States is a very good leader. He reacts very quickly on the events. I believe in the future relations between our countries.

I think that the International Society stated pretty clearly that the occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is illegal. No one recognizes these regions except the bandit leaders of several countries like Chaves and the leader of Nicaragua. Nobody takes it seriously. We can recall analogies in history - we can think of the united Germany, after World War Two, Germany was divided into two parts. One part was forced to get oriented towards the East; the other part was willingly oriented towards the West. This separation lasted for almost half a century. Later a historical context developed in the unification of Germany. The same is happening in Georgia. It is not an identical case, but it is alike. The Russian army separates our country. One part of our country is oriented towards Russia by force; the other part has chosen the Western orientation. I am sure that the same will happen in Georgia - Western Germany got attracted for the other part of the country and the unification became inevitable", Mikheil Saakashvili noted.

The President of Georgia stressed his attention on the upcoming elections and finished his speech with Lech Kaczynski's words.

"I want to finish my speech with Lech Kaczynski's words that he told me during hard times of war: "There is no reason for Georgia not to achieve what was achieved by the rest of Europe, what was achieved by Poland. Poland was occupied many times. It defeated the Communism heritage and it happened due to the brevity of the citizens and the devotion of the leaders". This is my dream for my country and for the whole region. This dream is still alive and this is the only wise policy for us, because there is no way back to the Soviet Union. There is no other way out of post Soviet chaos other than social transformation and integration into Western society. One US journalist asked me about upcoming elections and I responded that the Georgian government would do everything in order to hold these elections well. This is an issue of our national security as well. It is necessary to hold good elections and enforce a democratic process. This makes Georgia more secure and the society more protected", the President of Georgia stated.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia