Good evening.

First of all, considering the fact that many people are waiting for you at home, I would like to thank you for coming here in order to meet me after a very busy workday.

It is often mentioned that we have a 2015 Modernization Plan of Georgia. Of course, this is an on-going process and will continue, but Georgia will be a modernized country by 2015, with a low unemployment rate and with a level of education (secondary schools at least) like those in developed countries.

By 2015 every generation will have prospects in Georgia. Agriculture will be developed…Georgia will strengthen its position in the modern world in terms of modern infrastructure, industry and the service sector.

This building is the face of modern Georgia.

It was designed by a Georgian architect, but the most important thing about this building is its story. The main condition of the Modernization Plan and our main task is to form a modern education system and an educated society in Georgia.

Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Estonia and many other countries have reached development in a similar way – they first of all created strong education systems.

Generally, we have educated, thoughtful and literate people and most importantly they have a desire to learn new things, which in turn makes future development possible.

This means that training specialists are in demand in today’s market. Georgia should find its niche in terms of the job market distribution in the world.

I am tired of importing everything from abroad. Even if we need small machinery for relocating cargo from one place to another, inevitably it is imported from abroad. We are importing elementary industrial goods from our neighboring Turkey. Also small parts… for example, if we need an installation of a small size, which is not special in any way, we have to buy it from other countries.

By the way, I was interested and I took apart some of the technical parts bought abroad with the help of some specialists in our facilities. We analyzed them and I was wondering what kind of complicated details they had that we are unable to produce – I was convinced that there isn’t anything very complicated about them.

We can produce everything in Georgia. We just need to work a little harder on such issues.

In short, we need to do this together.

The size of the population of Singapore is similar to that of Georgia – 5 million and they are creating a lot for the world industry. They may not produce much in quantity, but whatever they produce is of the best quality.

That’s the way Georgia should be.

It is very important that our teachers have a chance to constantly sharpen their skills.

I am a parent and I want my children to get a good education at school. Every parent in Georgia, with no exception, has a similar desire.

Beginning from ancient times, Georgians have been spending the most money on education. A Georgian family will pay their last Tetri in order to give their children a good education.

Every family knows unmistakably that education is the fastest way to overcoming poverty; Education is the best way of creating a better future.

As you know, we distributed computers to schools and created “Geocell” classrooms.  Some criticized this project – they didn’t like the color of these classrooms. They said that the white rooms look like hospital rooms. Some didn’t like the program that envisions adopting computers in schools.

Let them criticize us on these types of issues – nobody will be able to criticize the results.

Such classrooms will be opened in every school of Georgia.

Last year, Dima and I were watching television and we saw an ad for Geocell, where the future of Georgia was described. I have already seen the things shown in the ad in many countries and there was nothing in it from the 22^nd century or the second part of the 21^st century.

Such classrooms can be created today and we should create them for those who need them the most – our children.

These children are coming from poor families.

We have recently opened several schools in Kakheti, Samegrelo, Imereti…Some of them look like philharmonic halls with glass, elevators, and modern labs. There is incredible poverty around. In some places children are living in dug-outs, where they have no water or natural gas.

It is true that gasification is going on in the entire country and we are also working on water systems, but time is needed in order to complete everything.

The first thing we brought to these villages was new schools.

When a child is growing up in a poor family, poor environment, and practically survives on aid, when that child has a free computer and free books, he/she can get the most modern education and bring themselves and their whole family out of poverty very quickly. That child will never again live in a dug-out or experience poverty.

First of all, this is the essence of education for Georgia.

Second, a huge power is against us.

As you know, a few days ago this power declared its intentions regarding the restoration of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, which they now call the Eurasia Union, is the most uncivilized idea of Russian nationalists and they want to implement this idea.

The Soviet Union is first of all a system of values based on stereotypes, ethnic groups and the clash among various religious groups, people in an information vacuum, manipulation of societal mentality and the killing of initiatives and talents.

As a rule, the most untalented people have successful careers in this system.

We are creating a different system in Georgia and that is why so many forces have turned against us.

We are creating a system in which a person will have more income if he works hard, and have a better career if he studies hard.

Everything is open today: the selection of specialists happens through a competition in every governmental body, every auction is electronic, and no one is accepted at the Universities as a result of patronage.

All of this means that you can make a successful career while following certain rules.

The same applies to teachers.

You know, that we have established 1000 GEL salaries for teachers. However, considering bonuses some even received more than 1000 GEL.

It is also a fact that not every teacher receives such a salary and this is not a lottery for someone to win.

The teachers are given a 1000 GEL salary as a result of very hard examinations. Many of you have already passed these examinations.

A week ago, I met young teachers who went to various regions to teach the Georgian language to representatives of ethnic minorities. These young people are the best part of our society.

They may not have as much experience as many of you, but they have a very special thing: idealism and fire in their eyes.

They have been in Ninotsminda and Marneuli for a month in very hard conditions, in 8-10 person families in small houses, but none of them ran away from this.

They live in a place where no one but them speaks Georgian, where there are no roads, and there may not even be electricity. You may be surprised, but there are still a couple of such places in Georgia.

These young people are representing the new Georgia there and are already very popular. They will gain more experience in the future.

If I were to start a new career today, I would not hesitate for one moment and become such a teacher, because there is nothing better than being the main bearer of the values of your country, and as well as its freedom and the idea of unity.

That’s why, as a parent of two children, I am saying one more time: Our main task today is to work as hard as possible in order for our children to have a good education, which will be among the best in the world.

In order to do this, our teachers should have a chance to constantly improve their knowledge base, which is possible with modern technologies.

Accordingly, as a state we should create conditions so that every teacher is clear and knowledgeable about modern standards.

We often distribute free textbooks, but in many cases the textbook becomes outdated even before it is printed.

We have many talented people. Jimsher Gurtskaia, whom I met today, is already here. I first heard his name in the Shamgoni School.

The Shamgoni School directly borders the occupied region. When I arrived there I saw that there are curtains covering windows, but from which it is still possible to see the Russian patrol - how the occupants are ramming our soil.

Our children witness this every day, but in spite of this fact you should see their passion for life. Every one of them travels a risky road on their way to school. They walk through an occupied territory and do not hesitate to cross when they see a swollen river.

This should be an example for everyone.

When the exams became required for 12^th graders, many children of wealthy families hit the streets to protest it, saying that they don’t want education.

The children of Shamgoni will turn into exemplary adults and they will achieve everything when they grow up; if their parents support and imitate their children, the parents will also have success.

Mr. Jimsheri is from that school. He went to Germany, achieved a successful career and came back to establish the best laboratory for his school.

He is also building a school equipped with similar modern technologies in Zugdidi. He equipped this center with the same technologies as in Shamgoni School.

When I saw the children of the Shamgoni School and this laboratory and then looked at those who are trampling our soil and don’t even know who left them here or why, I was assured that they cannot take our soil away again.

Our people will definitely go back to their homes.

We will defeat them with our talent, intelligence, education, organization, and most importantly with relentless love of freedom and the idea of our country – the idea of unified Georgia with our multi-ethnicity and multi-culturalism, the idea which should set the standards for the rest of the world.

I am truly impressed by this building and by what I have seen inside. I also talked to the students of several grades online, through the use of the internet.

I want to congratulate you on the fact that such a center was created by the Georgian education system.

It is wrong only to say that we have adopted a very fair examination system and we have already achieved everything.

It is not to be concealed, there was a time when we were saying that the exams are administered in a fair way, nobody is paying money anymore, many smart children are admitted and we can now enjoy the fact that we did a good thing, but this approach is wrong.

Every system needs constant development. Reforms are a relentless process. It is a good thing that reforms are not associated with something bad in Georgia because basically all the reforms have been successful here.

These reforms were first of all oriented on people, their prosperity and improving their living conditions.

I have walked around every part of Tbilisi. I was the Head of Tbilisi City Council and I know that Gldani was the most hopeless part of not only Tbilisi but the rest of Georgia as well.

There was no road leading to Gldani and if Gldanians are here they will agree with me.

They covered garbage piles with asphalt…there were no lights, no electricity, no infrastructure and absolute hopelessness dominated the place.

By the way, despite the high poverty and unemployment in Tbilisi, Gldani is the most dynamically developing part of the city.

Buildings similar to this one will be erected in the most hopeless parts of Gldani.

This means that we are not doing it because we want somebody to like us. We didn’t build the MIA building, the Presidential Palace and the Batumi buildings close to the central highway because of this.

Even in Kutaisi, the Parliamentary Capital and the new Parliamentary Center is being built in the most abandoned neighborhood.

We are going to announce the construction of a new center in a similarly abandoned neighborhood of Tbilisi and I will talk about this issue later.

We should first of all go to the places where people have the fewest chances to develop, because I have observed that people are the most motivated to learn, to work and to develop exactly in such places.

In the end, Georgia is like that – nobody had hope that our country would achieve success. Everybody thought that we were clinically dead and that our heart would stop any minute.

Georgia always stands up.

That’s what our education system should be like.

Go to places where there is dark and always bring light there, bring new ideas, learn innovations ourselves, let’s learn and if we cannot do it let’s form a system in which the society will constantly have the ability to broaden its knowledge and improve its capacity.

Today the problem is the fact that there are generations that are on deserved pension, however the amount of pension is not as much as it should be.

There are generations that are learning now and a very good prospect will soon open for them.

There should be no lost generations in Georgia.

There was a catastrophic failure in 80-90s and I am also a product of these years.

The collapse of the education system resulted in the collapse of the job market, followed by the collapse of the state and the technological processes. We were practically left alone and empty.

We are continuing step by step every day. A construction laboratory has been created in the Technical University which I will visit in a few days. We are also building a hydro technical lab so that we can construct our hydro electric power plants on our own.

We are working on a project to build a new Technological University in Batumi and the construction will start in the next few months.

With all of these innovations we should not have a lost generation and in order for that to happen we should create a massive improvement of education, raising qualifications and adjusting to the job market. This will give opportunities even to people who are 40, 50, and 60 to regroup and use their education and experience, which is a great advantage, to adjust to the market.

Of course it’s a tragedy when a person, who had been working for 20-30 years, is suddenly fired without ceremonies and sent to the street.

It appeared that nobody needs a person who had been working all of their life honestly serving one job any more. These kind of drastic discharges are no longer necessary.

Last year was the first which unemployment in Georgia was increased and not because the jobs were not being created but because too many people were left without jobs as a result of restructuring.

Such centers will assist in the process of readjusting these people. This specific center will first of all serve the teachers but it will give us an opportunity to create constant labor cycles for citizens of all ages around the entire country.

This is a matter of principals – we should not have any ineffective persons.

We are a small nation and when we become very successful, we will have a shortage of qualified experts.

At some point the work force will come from abroad, which is the experience of many developed nations, but before this happens our people should be employed.

We as a state should help everyone who can work, has energy and elementary basis for adjusting to the modern life.

Dimitri Shashkin and I recently met with the 10 top scoring students of the national exams. 8 of them were boys.

Generally, I consider girls to be smarter than boys in Georgia but boys were always at a disadvantage.

By the way, boys were an absolute majority among the top 50 applicants.

In the past, boys were standing in the streets, they were involved in criminal actions and they considered education shameful.

The boys, disadvantaged for years, having social and silly stereotypes, are now trying to be competitive. That’s why the majority of first 50 applicants are boys.

Many of them chose technical degrees because the technical sphere is the top priority today.

I am a lawyer myself but we may need lawyers or we may not anymore.

The economists are needed but have fewer opportunities than engineers.

Engineers can create things that are not subject to appraisal and are sold on the international market.

For example, Estonians invented Skype and this small innovation has brought them billions of dollars.

Let’s create our “Skypes,” our Steve Jobs’, our Zukerbergs and inventors of new technologies.

All of this is possible because Georgians are very talented people.

One of the military aircrafts was invented by Georgians as well as the first Video Cassette player and the first Russian Soviet rocket. So, we can do and invent things.

Now we should invent aircraft, informational technologies and rockets for the new Georgia, because we already have a state, and our genes and talents as well as our advanced and interesting society give us an opportunity to do so.

This is the purpose of everything we are doing today.

Thank you.