Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili inaugurated the newly reconstructed east Georgian town of Sighnaghi on 27 October and said that work will continue to further develop and reform the country no matter what sceptics say.

Georgian Public Television Channel 1 showed Saakashvili addressing a crowd at a concert in Sighnaghi's centre: "There were so many sceptics in Georgia. There will be many people who will say that all this is PR, they will tell you not to believe your eyes, that this is just a flight of your imagination, that all these simply do not exist, that it will go up in smoke tomorrow. There are many people telling you not to believe your eyes. But I would like to tell everybody, those of us who are willing to see and believe, let us pass and come to Sighnaghi, let us come to Kutaisi, Batumi, our military bases, Senaki and now Gori, let us come to our renewed villages, step on our new roads, go to our new schools, our new universities. And I would like to tell you this most important thing, that Sighnaghi is not only our, our generation's gift to the entire Georgia. This is our gift to the eternal Georgia. This is a gift to Georgia's future. This is a gift to our great grandchildren. This is a gift to the 30th century Georgia from the 21st century Georgia. This is the legacy we have received from our ancestors which, now tenfold more beautiful, tenfold more distinguished, we will pass on to our future generations, to the future Georgia. What is a greater honour for our generation? What is a greater honour for modern Georgians? What is a greater reward for each of us? It is not the orders of merit that matters, all these is the chief reward. And I would like to tell you, you heard this song here. Sighnaghi today will continue not only in Kutaisi, not only in Batumi, not only in Qvareli, Telavi, Zugdidi, Senaki, Ozurgeti, Gori and many other places, in all the cities we are working to improve and develop. Sighnaghi today will inevitably be Sukhumi tomorrow. Sighnaghi today, this miracle, will be a united Georgia tomorrow. Sighnaghi today will be a happy future tomorrow and from today on forever, for our country and our people. Long live Sighnaghi. Long live Georgia. May god protect us and lead us forever to victory."

Prepared by BBC Monitoring