Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili today visited the Patriot camp in Vartsikhe, where he congratulated Georgian and Ukrainian teenagers staying at the camp on the start of the school year. The young people gave the president a special plaque commemorating the friendship between the Georgian and Ukrainian peoples.

The president spoke to the Georgian and Ukrainian teens, checked to see how ready they were for the start of school and inspected the camp where they have been staying.

Also today Saakashvili visited Public School No 1 in Samtredia, which has now been renamed in honour of Tbilisi patrol police officer Irakli Kutateladze, who died in the line of duty trying to save a drowning woman this past June.

Later, the president travelled to Tsageri, Lechkhumi region, together with Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze and Education Minister Kakha Lomaia and visited a newly refurbished public school there. His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II blessed first graders and congratulated them on the start of the school year. As part of the refurbishment project, the school was fitted with new desks and chalkboards and equipped with twelve computers with internet access. Saakashvili instructed the education minister to open a vocational training centre in Tsageri in 2008.

"We must set up an American style technical vocational education centre in this building so that young people here have the means to develop the construction and tourist service businesses because very many tourists will start coming here to Lechkhumi," Saakashvili said.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia