The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili had his most important meeting with the President of the United States George Bush today. Presidents discussed political issues during the meeting. They have focused on major subjects - economic, conflict regions and the next step of Georgian integration into NATO. Mikheil Saakashvili and George Bush held a joint press conference after the meeting was over. The President of the United States once again underlined the fact that Georgia made a very important step forward in enhancing the democracy and the expectation of Georgia in getting MAP during the Bucharest summit is absolutely fair.

The President of the United States recalled his visit to Georgia and spoke about Georgian dance and cuisine.

"Mr. President, welcome back to Washington. I was just reminiscing with the President about my trip to Georgia, about the unbelievably good food, and about the dancing. He was wondering whether I'd come back and start my dancing career there. And I told him I probably better quit while I'm ahead. We had a good discussion. I admire the President. I admire what Georgia has gone through and what Georgia is doing. We had an interesting talk about a couple of subjects, one of which is the economic opportunities in Georgia. This is a country which has adopted a very simplified tax code; it's easy for people to understand. I told the American people I tried to simplify our tax code. It's difficult to do. I congratulate you on simplifying yours and I congratulate you about your rates of growth. We talked about Georgia's contribution to democracy movements -- not only her own, but to democracy and freedom movements in places like Iraq. The citizens of Georgia must know that the troops that have been provided there are brave, courageous professionals, and have made a significant difference. And we want to thank you for that, Mr. President. We talked about the need for there to be peaceful resolutions of conflicts, while recognizing the territorial integrity and sovereign borders of Georgia. And finally, we, of course, talked about NATO. The Bucharest summit is coming up. Georgia's aspirations will be decided at the Bucharest summit. MAP application, of course, as the President full well knows, is not membership. MAP is a process that will enable NATO members to be comfortable with their country eventually joining. I believe that NATO benefits with a Georgian membership. I believe Georgia benefits from being a part of NATO. And I told the President it's a message I'll be taking to Bucharest soon", stated George Bush and added that he will meet the President of Georgia in Bucharest again.

The President of Georgia recalled the speech made by George Bush, when he was not the President of Georgia. He noted that, the President of the United States spoke about Baltic countries, he spoke about the Black Sea region, when nobody wanted to look in that direction.

"Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm incredibly thrilled to be back in the Oval Office. And, you know, we've been essential part of your freedom agenda. I was not President when I heard your speech in Warsaw, when you spoke about freedom between Baltics and the Black Sea. And that was an extremely visionary speech, because you spoke about the Black Sea at the moment when nobody wanted to look in our direction. And I think we are -- what we are up to now is to implement this freedom agenda -- for the sake of our people, for the sake of our values, for the sake of what the United States means for all of us, because the U.S. is exporting idealism to the rest of the world.

And we believe that, you know, we have very, very strong partnerships. We have a very, very strong partnership in democracy building. We have a very strong partnership in our military cooperation, because I'm very proud the Georgian troops in Iraq are not just controlling and are present there, protecting people, but are having success in doing so. And certainly this is something that we will state over generations.

I have to thank you, Mr. President, for your unwavering support for our freedom, for our democracy, for our territorial sovereignty, and for protecting Georgia's borders, and for Georgia's NATO aspirations. I think this is a very unequivocal support we're getting from you", - stated the President of Georgia.

The meetings with the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates are planned on March 20.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia