Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has opened a newly refurbished school in the western Georgia town of Samtredia and rechristened it in the name of a fallen Tbilisi police officer native to the town. Irakli Kutateladze jumped into the Mtkvari River to save a drowning woman in June 2007. He managed to save her with the help of rescue workers, but drowned himself. Afterwards, the president posthumously awarded him the Order of St George, one of the country's highest civilian honours.
Welcome!
I want to congratulate you on the start of the new school year.
Many schools opened in Georgia today, many schools which have been recently built or renovated, but I decided to come here, to this school in Samtredia, which brought up a remarkable hero of modern Georgian history, the late Irakli Kutateladze.
I wanted to meet his wife, children and teachers...
In a few months your school will be as good as any school in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway.
It was important for me to visit the place where the true policeman Irakli Kutateladze was from. I would like to speak to you about his heroism. Much lies ahead for those of you just starting out your lives. I want you to remember Irakli Kutateladze and the story of his heroism.
It should serve as a textbook on how to become a worthy builder of the new Georgia. For me personally, Irakli is a symbol of responsibility, self-sacrifice, bravery, humanity, professionalism and patriotism. It is these qualities that a true patriot must have. I want Irakli Kutateladze to serve as a model for you. Each one of you should think about your homeland as he did and be worthy of the title of Georgian citizen, as he was.
In order for you to be a worthy son or daughter of Georgia, you must be loyal and have a sense of responsibility before your homeland. Everything that is happening in Georgia is our common endeavour. We must understand that Georgia's advancement is the advancement of each and every one of us.
Only our enemy can take pleasure at our failure. Only those who do not look past their own noses and do not realize what their country stands for could take pleasure in our retreat and the failure of our endeavour. Everything that is being built is a chance for our common success.
We must understand that each metre of newly-laid asphalt is a step towards a better future. We must understand that each new hospital is an important aspect of our health and long life. This is necessary so that we can be a healthier people and live a better life. We must understand that all renovated schools and sports halls are an important part of improving education in Georgia and becoming more competitive. We must understand that each job created in Georgia's regions is a chance to better our future. We must understand that each new investment is an opportunity for the future, for enrichment and for living in a better country. We must understand that the increased budget expenditures will be used for our advancement and for making a better life for each and every one of us.
Georgia is a single organism and each one of us is a cell in that organism. If the organism gets sick or if a cell dies, it will no longer have a future. But if the organism is healthy, then each of its cells will develop and feel good.
Since we are moving forward, this means that Georgia is becoming a better country.
The main thing that we must recall is that our house is not only that specific place where we live, but rather the whole country - our Georgia.
Our house is Kartli, Imereti, Ajaria, Lanchkhuti, Svaneti and all of Georgia's other regions without exception, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali.
Therefore, I want everyone to comprehend the lesson of Irakli Kutateladze and those like him. These are the people who have realized that Georgia is theirs and that their job is to build the country.
There are people who do not break the law, but do not consider fighting crime to be their job and do not speak out against lawlessness. These people believe that speaking out is equivalent to ratting someone out.
I have seen laureates of various prizes and awards on television who do not have a sense of citizenship or patriotism. They say that it is impossible to work with the government. I believe that their prizes and awards are not worth one hundredth of what Irakli Kutateladze did.
There comes a moment in everyone's life where we all have to say: we must stand by our people, stand by justice and stand by our future no matter what the cost. A person who keeps to himself and doesn't raise his voice against injustice is a coward. A person who says that corruption does not concern him is a fully fledged participant in this corruption. A person who is not concerned about the fact that someone is being killed or raped beside them is just as guilty as the perpetrator of that crime.
This is the greatest problem a society can have. Everyone who speaks about "ratting people out" and whose world view is coloured by a criminal mentality is a coward and is of no use in the process of building Georgia. These people need to change their attitude.
In order to be a worthy son or daughter of Georgia, you need to have knowledge, professionalism and a heart full of fire.
Today knowledge in Georgia is being appreciated more than ever before. If you want riches, you have to have a lot of knowledge. It has never been easy to become rich, and this is the case in today's modern world.
It doesn't matter what region of Georgia you live in: if you have knowledge I am confident that you will outdo everyone in Kuala Lumpur, New York, Los Angeles or Paris. We Georgians are a very talented people - all Georgian citizens are talented, irrespective of ethnic origin.
We all must manage be the best in this competitive environment in today's world.
We have made a great leap forward. In the 1990s my beloved Ukraine helped Georgia, which was a devastated and impoverished country. We went to them with our palms open and asked for medicines or money.
But this year, Georgia has nearly caught up to Ukraine in terms of per capita income and next year, when we will achieve 15 per cent economic growth, we may even pull ahead of them.
I believe very much in our country, but even I could not have imagined that we would overcome our former backwardness like this. Not only Saakashvili said this, Irakli and all people who are labouring to rebuild Georgia said this. All of you must do this together.
In general, there is no such thing as an unattainable goal. Everyone's goal should be to make a difference for his or her country.
When Irakli jumped into the water to save that girl, he was doing it because it was his duty, not because he wanted to score points with someone.
Remember three or four years ago when pot-bellied police officers would just stand in the street with their whistles and batons? Would they have lifted a finger to rescue someone?
A friend of mine got in an accident and some pot-bellied cop didn't even put him in his car because he would have got blood on him. Of course taking my friend to the hospital was out of the question!
That is the kind of police that we used to have.
This man did not wait for backup or the rescue team. He jumped in the water and gave his life to save someone else's.
This means that we have become an absolutely different kind of people.
Previously, only President Bush and presidential candidate John McCain had been given the Order of St George.
We gave this award to Irakli Kutateladze. Why? Because St George is a symbol of victory. Irakli was victorious in various ways - he overcame his fear and showed everyone that despite his death, he left this world victorious. Many people should imitate that man.
Today we are building a new country. Two days ago I watched the rugby match between Georgia and Ireland. This should serve as an example to those who refuse to play on their own country's national team. It is a great honour to play on your country's team and our rugby players know this. This is why they nearly beat one of the strongest teams in the world. These people believe in their flag and national anthem. These people are proud of Georgia.
This is precisely why the whole of France was supporting Georgia and chanting: Georgia, Georgia!
When you show the world that you can sacrifice yourself even in the most unequal conditions and fight to the end, then everyone supports you. Our main strength is confidence in our abilities. If you are not confident in your own abilities, then you won't be able to achieve anything.
If you give in to the psychology of failure, then no matter what strength our merit you may have, in the end you will certainly fail. We have rid ourselves of the psychology of failure. We have believed in our own abilities and this is precisely Georgia's main source of strength today.
Children, I want you to remember that here, at Irakli Kutateladze School, there is no such thing as an unattainable goal or an insurmountable enemy; there is nothing that cannot be accomplished if you are committed. Even if when you think the battle is lost, you must not leave the field of battle.
I assure you that those who do not leave the field of battle will ultimately emerge victorious. This is the most important thing which all of us must keep in mind. I want all of us to take this view and to have faith. The main thing is that we all achieve success.
You will be capable of anything as long as you study, have faith and not forget the example of Irakli Kutateladze, which I have just spoken to you about.
When I heard about Irakli's heroism, I was shocked. Such a thing was unimaginable. One the one hand I felt sympathy and human compassion for his family and on the other hand I was overcome by an amazing sense of pride. We are a different country. People like Irakli are growing up in this country. No-one will ever be able to defeat us.
I congratulate you on the start of the new school year and I wish you success!
Press Office
of the President of Georgia