I would like to greet everyone.

I appreciate the fact that the World Bank brought tens of young leaders from all around the world to familiarize them with Georgian experience.

We know and the rest of Georgia knows that the World Bank nominated Georgia as number one reformer country in the world. The surveys carried out in every country in regards of fulfilled economic reforms, showed that none of the countries fulfilled so many reforms as Georgia did in the last five years. None of other countries reached so much economic progress as Georgia did in regards of improving and developing business climate. Of course this fact puts Georgia into special conditions. We are a country that operates in very special conditions indeed - 20 percent of our population lives beyond the poverty edge. These are families for whom it is a great blow when bread, butter, buckwheat or in general any other elementary product get one tetry expensive. These people fight for existence daily. It is very difficult for them to reach minimal comfort and impossible to create future for their children.

But at the same time I would like to remind everyone that the indicator of poverty in Georgia five years ago was 50 percent; now it is less than twenty percent and people beyond the edge of poverty compare to the previous period are insured. Almost all of them are getting social aids - I am using the word "almost", because everyone possibly are not registered in a right way. In the past, when poverty rate was 50 percent people, lived without any social aids and assistance.

We are a country 20 percents of which is occupied by a former superpower armed with nuclear weapons. 10 percent of our population are IDPs and have no possibility to return to their houses. We are a country that experienced incredible destruction, infrastructure of which was fully destroyed; the major part of our most creative and most business-oriented population left our country after a decade of demolition and went abroad. Though, despite all of this Georgia had 8 percent growth rate after the Rose Revolution. We even reached two-digit indicator. Though, this year according to the last 9 months, we have 6 percent of growth rate and all this happens in such circumstances, when the most of countries around the world fight for any type of growth.

We are a country that will not obtain natural resources, because a very heavy inheritance was left for us, but despite this fact Georgia is progressing.

Georgia became an exemplary model for the whole world - people from all around the world come to visit us. It is already a well-implemented and clear truth that Georgia is a pattern in this region in respect of economic reforms. 98 percent of Georgians used to say six years ago that they were dealing with corruption. Now this percentage has lowered to half of percent and it happens when we are considered to be skeptics and in general it is hard for us to believe in something good - in changes for good. So, our country reached very important progress, but we are still facing very important challenges.

First of all I want to say that this is a conference that is connected to the world leadership. For example we say that we are European, democratic Singapore. Singapore was the success of only one leader. In respect of Georgia this is not the success of a separate leader - Georgia is a constellation of leaders. Everybody is very important in his or her own spheres. I often ask a question: why the patrol that is a part of Police is not taking bribes? By the way patrol is only a tip of an iceberg, it has daily relations with the population and this is why everyone says that it is very successful. Though, the whole state apparatus works the same way. Every one is not dealing with state apparatus on the daily bases, but in reality, in every ministry, in every office of local administration, people of minimum the same qualification, in certain places maybe better - work hard and are creating new Georgia.

I often ask that for example if some leading specialist or employee of some ministry or city hall is involved in nepotism or in generating his own group or clan? Because everyone looks at one another and everyone depends on one another, they have a sense that they are creating one common country.

I have received UN Ambassadors delegation from New York not long ago. The delegation consisted of different country representatives. They were from Surinam, Latin America, Oceania etc. After three days spent in Georgia the general question they asked, was - how have we managed to create such an excitement and feeling of special climate in every state agency. Worshiping one leader that they think is most beautiful, clever and brilliant guy does not create this. Absolutely not - Georgians are individualists and they would not let anyone to sit on their heads. they will never think that someone is a God and a person of special features. All representatives of Georgian multiethnic nation believe that he or she is the best. We have generated a climate that we are the best and we all have will to create a new and exemplary country in the region. For sure of course is related to the serious changes in mentality. Change of mentality is a very hard process. We were in the period of hopelessness and whether we reach or not the success depends on many factors. The next source of our development is infrastructure, tourism and agriculture. This is what was happening in regards of tourism: Soviet Union told us that Georgia is a country that has tourism potential (this is why Russia doesn't give up Georgia for such a long time). It determined and enumerated tourism spots for us.

For example this place was a bath of Soviet industry, where the locals were booking this place two weeks prior to arrival, but no one else knew about this place. One sight here is Alazani Valley, where endemic sorts of vine grew - there are only five countries around the world where endemic sorts of vine grow. It is France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Georgia. On the other side is "Switzerland". Don't forget please that this place was a bath in Soviet times, because this place was not marked on the world map. I was in western Georgia three days ago I saw incredibly beautiful place.

The hole gorge is consisting of dinosaurs' bones. There is no such a beautiful place even in Indiana Jones movie like it is there - cliffs, waterfalls, incredible limpid color sky, green river... This gorge is not mark on that map either.  

I feel myself like Indiana Jones that discovers something new - more precisely, those scholars and locals that discover something new.

We are changing our mentality - we are now in the process of discovering our country. We have discovered that not only two or three regions that were dictated by the political bureau, but every region of Georgia has tourism potential. They used to have summerhouses on those places, also unforgettable Stalin and his brothers-in-arms - Molotov, Mikoian and other. Or maybe the representatives of Tsarist Russia, for example brother of a King that had TB, came to Georgia and founded resort Borjomi.

This is why it is the change of mentality. Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava came up with a brilliant initiative: to introduce ecological transport to Tbilisi - speed street-tramway. We had street-tramway that were in past were loudly moving on rails in the city and we have destroyed it several years ago. All the opposition was shouting: why have you destroyed tramways if you were bringing them back. Old fashioned and new tramways have only the name in common; in reality they differ from each other like cart and aero bus 380. "Probably they sold old tramways and put money in their pockets", this was their first reaction on this modernistic proposal.

Our next major stage is education.

No matter what type of conditions we would create for business, if Georgians will not be able to innovate, invent and implement their inventions, we will never have breakthrough in respect of economy. This is our major challenge. 

We are now bringing ten thousand English language teachers. About 1500 will come by the end of these weeks, another 3000 will come to Georgia in next year. Finally, we will have ten thousand English language teachers in 3-4 years. We are implementing teaching methods in the frames of which every first-grader will get a computer. Though, the representatives of opposition came up with an idea to prohibit children less than 10 years learning computers... 12^th graders came up with a request: "we don't want to pass exams".

We have democracy; they can express their protest on everything, some 12^th graders are 18 years-old and are married, some already have families and they can protest constitutional changes... It is no problem, but the protest - "we don't want to study" and parent's initiative - "do not teach our children" - is unacceptable for us. Such a parents do not think that they are destroying the future of their children. Youngster that thinks that he will get enlisted without passing exams at the university will say in future that has diploma and is not able to find a job. In the global economy his competitor will be a person with diploma in Singapore, California and Shanghai.

This is why it is a change of mentality. 

Today we have Georgians that cooperate with "Motorolla" in inventing new scheme, it means that Georgians can invent.

A large group of Georgians work on a very difficult experiment in CERN, Geneva. This is a very important experiment in the sphere of physics. 

Not long ago I was visiting one village that is located in occupied Gali region; one resident there exports his invented tools to Germany. This must happen in Georgia, because Georgians have ability to invent something new.

Invention, innovation is the next stage if we want development. All of us together will fulfill this. 

We have incredible nature, fantastic climate, (look how light am I dressed in mid-November), sun that shines, but this is not a basis for laziness, we must invent much more than we already have.

We don't want to become alike those nations that are warming in the tropics and haven't created anything valuable for the mankind. 

Georgia has to invent much for the mankind during their multi-millennium history.

Finally, a word "medicine" comes from our queen Medea; first wines were made here, on the valleys right behind you or near by. Georgia produced first biggest amount of oil and gold in the history of mankind; so Georgia must make many new inventions in this epoch as well.   Georgians used to create many things in foreign countries: one of the first flying apparatus was invented by Kartvelishvili in the United States, first video player was invented by Rcheulishvili in France, Nadiradze invented the most successful ballistic rockets in Russia, they bombed Georgia with several hundreds of these rockets in August 2008.

We need Georgians of 21 century that will invent many better things than ballistic rockets and will create in the name of Georgia, in Georgia and will share them with the rest of the world. We need to have well-developed economy and education system in Georgia to fulfill all of this.

This is mainly, what I wanted to share with you.