The President of Georgia addressed the South Caucasus Forum in Baku. Mikheil Saakashvili spoke about obligations and responsibilities of political leaders while focusing on an important role of the civil society in this process. The Head of State reviewed Georgian examples and touched on the changes made during the last 10 years in the country.

“It is unfortunate that some still consider ethnic cleansing a way of dealing with problems in the 21^st century. Our region is often an object of old hatred and a victim of cynical games by a large empire which remains faithful to its slogan – knock down and rule” – stated the President of Georgia.

He spoke about the approach of the previous government based on which each citizen regardless of ethnic, religious and cultural background had a feeling that the country belonged to them and that they had an important role in terms of retaining statehood and rehabilitating the country.

“Today, our region is at crossroads. Political orientation has changed in the recent years. Our region has shifted to the direction of the West by the desire of our population and will of our politicians. But we see a historical change of direction today. It is very importance to realize the difficulties that may arise in the Caucasus. However my attitude is optimistic. South Caucasus will be a united region in the future. Armenia will need modern communications. It will not be able stay isolated. I am sure we will be able to integrate Armenia into our stable and secure zone. This should not happen by unilateral steps but by a common decision. For example, not by the fact that we will open the Georgian Railway once again and destroy the strategic Karsi-Akhalkalaki project, which is very important for us. It’s in the world’s interest that Azerbaijan’s course is kept the same so that destabilization does not happen, because we have already seen how an independent force worked in our country. Nobody expected the processes to go this way but this happened anyway.  Georgia seemed like a solid and stable country. Azerbaijan is also like that, and we want it to go by the chosen course. If we consider our region in global terms we will see that it is a hope giving region, and a door to central Asia and the entire Middle East. – stated the President of Georgia.