An award ceremony was held in Rome before the beginning of the FAO International Conference. The event was opened by granting an award to Georgia. A special award “For success achieved in fighting hunger” was given to the President of Georgia by Jose Graziano Da Silva. By decision of the FAO, such an award was given to leaders of UN member nations which achieved important progress and reforms in this direction. While giving this award, the organization considers successful reforms and politics in the same sense as safety of food in the country.

During his address Mikheil Saakashvili spoke about the next provocation from the Russian side which resulted in limiting innocent people’s rights and illegal occupation of part of the Georgian territories. By the President’s assessment it is an unacceptable policy by Russia in the 21st century, at a time when the civilized part of the world is trying to improve people’s conditions.

“20 % of our territory remains occupied by the Russian Federation. Thousands of families do not have access to water and their homes. We are seeing new barbwire in our country behind which there are more and more homes since the initial occupation by Russia in 2008. Absurd things that are not supposed to happen in the 21st century are happening at a time when we are talking about the will of the international community to improve people’s conditions” – noted Mikheil Saakashvili.

In addition, he spoke about changes since the Rose Revolution and the fact that poverty has diminished in the country in the recent years.

“It is for me a pleasure and an honor to address you today, to represent my beloved country in this crucial assembly, and to receive the acknowledgment of the progress made by Georgia in this crucial fight against undernourishment and poverty during the past years.

For any elected government, for any government in the world I would say, the effort and the results in fighting poverty and especially the most extreme form of poverty, the hunger, should be both the ultimate objective and the ultimate test of success.

In Georgia, a combination of corrupt bureaucracy, lawlessness and catastrophic economic parameters was condemning a huge part of our people to misery and lack of the very basic means of survival.