Your Holiness!

Mr. Chairman of the Parliament!

I would like to welcome our guests, the delegations of various country's clergy!

The celebration here today is of incredible scales here in Mtskheta.

We are celebrating 1700 years anniversary of the foundation and one thousand years anniversary of the restoration of Svetitskhoveli.

I would like to greet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of our brotherly country Azerbaijan Eldar Mamediarov, who has come to attend this event together with his family. I would like to greet everyone, who is here in Mtskheta today and all those people who watch TVs and celebrates this festivity together with us.

It is impossible to be in Mtskheta and not start thinking about what the history taught us - who we are, where we come form, what is the way we passed until today and where are we moving to. The history of the millennium observes us from the walls of this city. The cradle of the Georgian statehood was rocked in this city.

All tornados of devastation and misfortune challenging the history of our nation blew over this city.

Almost every inch of this land is soaked with our ancestors' blood, who fell dead in hopeless, absolutely devoted, disproportionate battles, but were defending this city to the last drop of their blood. Georgia's heart used to bit and is beating here. It is impossible to describe the pain that this city went through during its existence.

It is beyond our imagination to think about those uncountable tears and hardship this city saw. But when you look at Mtskheta today, when you see Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta Acropolis and ruins of Pompeus Bridge, you realize that the first and the major lesson that this city teaches us is endurance, is urgency, none-adjustment, is an ability to overcome any hardship and still straighten up: if you slipped? - rise to your feet; - if you staggered? - still straighten up; if your enemy made you sick at heart - don't moan and don't show your back to him.   

Georgia is in hardship even today. The life of many our citizen is full of daily problems, still there are many people who have no jobs and stable income, plus increased prices on many products necessary for existence, caused by world economic crises.

The occupant still attacks Georgia and the occupational forces stand very close from here, in just about 30 kilometers. They are watching us from mountains and are threatening our statehood. We are fighting for our freedom and territorial integrity even today. But the fact that we still exist, we still develop and do not brake is a prove that we have learned very well the lesson of endurance and firmness that Mtskheta taught us.

I look at Svetitskhoveli ornaments, its fantastic architecture and I realize that Mtskheta is a symbol of our nation's permanent aspiration towards perfection and development. 

This is why the main mission of today is progress and modernization. This is why we are developing the infrastructure of our country. For example the biggest railway and station is being constructed in Akhalkalaki by the united efforts of Georgia and Azerbaijan. This forgotten and abandoned place of Georgia will revive after we open new roads during the upcoming weeks.

We are creating an economic model that aims not only at simplification of today's hard life, it serves not only the creation of new jobs, but it lays foundation, by which Georgia will overrun XXI century, in order to make our country a competitive country in modern world, that despite global economic challenges, we still maintained attraction for investors, for Georgia to be the most attractive island in the whole region and world for investors in regards of simplicity of doing business, low taxes and simple economic procedures. But progress and modernization is not reached only by the development of infrastructure and economic model. The main lever for advancement is our society and its intellectual potential. Mtskheta teaches us a lesson here as well - the plot of this lesson is following - our small nation has great national talent, great creative genii, that we are so proud of. The genii that no hardship could kill, which permanently created something better, which was always aspired by perfection. This is why our way towards perfection and modernization lays on education. This is why we carry out new programs that aim computerization of children from first graders and we are bringing English teachers in order to give a chance to our children to acquire the language of modern communication. To have a chance to become such members of world society that will be competitive in the modern world and will have chance and education to reach success in the XXI century world. I visited such a schools a couple of days ago and was thinking that all of these are like Khechechuri saplings. In several years we reach results, before we have the first harvest, but if we plant the saplings, we will take care of them and will not be pessimistic these saplings will bring us harvest.  

Our history shows us that Georgia during every stage of its history tried to come out of situation, being a province of a certain Empire. Look at this cathedral, at Bagrati, Ishkhani, Oshki, Gelati and others and we will see that before XII century we were developing as leading countries of the world, many of them failed to keep pace with us. Georgia received a Magna Carta Document earlier that England. Monuments built in Georgia, among them those that are on Turkish territory now, were better then the best monuments of the European civilization. Then the clock stopped. Our ancestors put incredible effort to make Georgia leave the orbit of one dominant country and turn Georgia into a part of world processes, but because of historic challenges, it never happened. 

Today we have a real chance to fulfill what our ancestors used to fight for without any results - to turn our society into the global instead of being provincial. It needs education, openness and permanent cognition of modern knowledge and technologies. If during the centuries the realization of our talent was only in separate carvings, incredible dancing, poetry, music - now we have a chance to realize our talent in the construction of modern state, in sciences and technologies, the Georgian state, our independence and freedom give us this chance.

Our generation has to built their Svetitskhoveli - Svetitskhoveli of our generation that we all have to build together is a modern, modernized, competitive XXI century's Georgia. These are new and old towns. New lives of Old Tbilisi, old Btumi, old Kutaisi, old Sighnaghi, old Mestia, old Telavi. These are new Universities, new standards in every sphere, we must not forget what Mtskheta gave us, what Svetitskhoveli tells us and what our country's history reads to us.

Firmness, endurance, urgency, none-adjustment to defeat, untiring aspiration towards advancement and modernization.   

This experience has followed us for the centuries. It has brought our nation to where we are and it will lead our country towards successful future. There is one more lesson that Mtskheeta teaches us - it is unity. The idea of united Georgia was born in this very city, in this place our country strengthened into one state and an absolute truth was legalized here - that if the whole Georgia, people of different origins living in Georgia stand together - there is no force that can defeat us. This truth was tested by the centuries. This is why I laugh when I see that occupants try to deceive us, that our inner traitor wears a hypocrite mask. Our people have a tremendous experience of relationship with occupants, we had so many bitter lessons of breaking the prison from inside that the attempt of deceiving us Murvan Khru, Temur Lang, Shakh Abass, Liparit Bagapsh or Bagvash, Sergo Ordjonikidze is predestined to bitter fiasco from the very start. 

This is why before Mtskheta still exists, before Svetitskhoveli still shines on us - it is our obligation to remember that the only thing that makes us stronger, the only thing that gives us life, the only thing that makes us think about tomorrow is our unity and standing firm together.

This is why here in this great place, where even stones are wise, on this grand day I want everyone to make a wish: let's get united, let's stand firm, not give up because of hardship, lets aspire towards progress and completeness. If we achieve it, we will by all means built our generation's Svetitskhoveli. 

If we do this, thousand years will pass and our grand-grand-grand children will gather here, as strong, proud Georgian people and will honor eternal Georgia and the greatness of eternal Svetitskhoveli.

God bless us!

Happy Svetitkhovloba to you all!