Mikheil Saakashvili met with the population of the Gordi Village in the Khoni area and addressed them. The President congratulated local residents on the beginning of the tourism project which envisions developing infrastructure around the Okatse Canyon. The President symbolically laid a capsule in the foundation of the project, and noted that this project will create employment opportunities for the population of Khoni.

“We are beginning construction of the Gordi Canyon today. This will create new jobs and I am sure it will find its place on the map of Georgia, the Caucasus, Europe, and the entire world. We had a lot of miracles in Georgia but we could not use them for the benefit of the people. Our people need assistance. Of course, there are still a lot of families in poverty and unemployment but when I became President around 120 thousand tourists were arriving in Georgia. Two years ago the number of tourists reached 2 million, and last year we had 3 million tourists. This indicator will pass 4 million this year and we will have even more tourists next year. We must distribute the income gained from tourism over the entire country.

According to him, a lot of new places have appeared on the Georgian map. In the past, nobody knew where Anaklia or Akhaltsikhe was, but nowadays a lot of Georgian and foreign tourists visit these places. As the President stated, foreign investments bring prosperity to the Georgian people.

Mikheil Saakashvili focused attention on Russian-Georgian relations and noted that a lot of Russian tourists visited Georgia this year.

“These persons are arriving into a free country. We do not want to have a connection to conquerors, but we have a great desire to communicate with people. We want them to perceive us as a successful country, and not something that they have conquered. I am convinced that we will restore a relationship with Russia by communication with people. Those who say that Georgia’s road to a better life goes through diminishing our self respect do not know our history. We will win the heart of everyone with self respect, development and dignity, by overcoming poverty and unemployment, by decreasing the number of socially unprotected persons; we will also win the heart of the population of the conqueror, which is creating a lot of problems for Georgia and the people of our region in general” – noted Mikheil Saakashvili .

The Head of State also noted that Gordi will be one of the most interesting and attractive places for the tourists very soon.

Okatse Canyon is the highest and the most unreachable place in Europe where there is going to be an up to one kilometer in length walking path and platform. A visitor center, exhibition hall, and an internet café will be built there. There will also be an eco-education amphitheater, stone paths, an ethnographic exposition square, and etc.