I would like to welcome you all.

Today is a very important day for me. We are still working this summer and despite the fact that we are at a resort, we have come here to do work. This place needs this more than any other place in Georgia.

Today one of my most important plans and dreams is coming to fruition: we are opening one of the first so-called American technical schools. This will train qualified staff for the country's business, production and service sectors, which is all of vital importance for Georgia. Will alone is not enough to accomplish this.

Today Georgia is faced with an unemployment problem, and yet there is an enormous deficit of qualified specialists. This has created a paradox: there are very many unemployed people but at the same time there are many job vacancies.

It is our duty as the state to bring together employers and employable people.

This school is a brilliant example of that. Along with implementing various programmes, we must train more highly qualified specialists and put them in the workforce. The era of non-prestigious Soviet-style vocational schools is over. As a rule bad students and disadvantaged children would get sent to such institutions.

You have been selected according to the very opposite criteria: you are the most successful part of our young population. You are the people who must create the new Georgian economy.

This year 11 such schools will open in Georgia. The Education Ministry is actively working on this issue.

All organizations should support us in this endeavour. I thank all business representatives in attendance.

Temur Chqonia is here with us today. He has concluded contracts with the 250 people who will receive training at this school. This is very important, because this school is supposed to respond to the needs of the business community.

We will train construction workers, hotel administrators, guides and specialists in other fields. When business representatives give us orders for specialists in this or that field, it means that people who receive relevant training will find employment after they finish their studies. This is very important.

Georgia needs not only development, but also highly qualified workers.

There is a construction boom under way in Ajaria and throughout Georgia, but we have practically no qualified labourers.

The existing service in bars, hotels and restaurants cannot stand up to any criticism. Graduates of this school will help us overcome this problem in a matter of months.

Both Georgians and foreigners are entitled to the best service in this country. We must become a top-class country, the kind that befits us.

We must be strong in all fields - we must have the best hotels, so we will hire the best architects to design them. The best buildings in the world will be built here. We will have good roads and a superior transport system.

We are creating all of this , but we still need people to make these new facilities work. Without the relevant personnel, we will not have the spirit or the necessary level of quality. For example, Marco, who came here on my request, is a colleague of mine. He is a doctor of law. He had a very successful career abroad, but he decided to come to Georgia. He opened Italian, French and Greek restaurants, learned Georgian cuisine, found a Georgian wife and received Georgian citizenship. Now he is selflessly sharing his experience with you. It is from people like him that we must learn.

Georgian cuisine is among the best in the world, if not the best. I believe that Georgian cuisine is the best in the world - and this is not only my opinion. Not long ago the president of Croatia visited Georgia and said: Until now I thought French cuisine was the best in the world, now I think that Georgian food is the best.

We have the best resorts and natural conditions and we have great prospects in all areas. But now we need to learn from people with experience working abroad in order to package all of this in such a way that we can outdo everyone else and gain a competitive advantage.

We have experienced Canadian, Estonian, Turkish, French, German, American and Georgian instructors working at these schools.

Not long ago we opened a pharmaceutical plant in Batumi. The factory's investor said of one woman who works there that she was more valuable than the whole factory. This woman received a pharmaceutical education in Leningrad and worked in Georgia for 40 years thereafter, but she had been unemployed for the past 15 years. We still have such specialists and we must use them. We must employ such specialists who can still work, who can share their experience with others and enthusiastically teach young people.

There are many such people in Georgia; they must receive high salaries.

I want to congratulate you on the opening of this school. This is a good beginning. Georgia will show everyone what it means to develop, be successful and have qualified workers.

Today I saw 16- and 17-year-old boys and girls here. I want to commend these young people. You should be proud that you are not living off your parents and that you can support yourselves and your families. You will be independent and you will achieve success in all areas. You may be young, but this is a very good start for your future career and life.

Thank you very much.

Once again I wish you success.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia