President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili

Mr Vice-President,

Distinguished guests,

Dear friends,

It's a great pleasure and an immense honor to welcome you here, to Georgia, in this beautiful new building.

It's a special honor to welcome the Vice-President of the United States and my personal pleasure to welcome such a long friend of Georgia.

Mr Vice President, few people in the world understand the challenges we have faced. And few, if any, have been stronger and wiser supporters than you.

Let me take this opportunity to extend my gratitude for all your help, for all your advice and assistance, for all your belief in us and in our cause.

Joe, my dear friend, it's so great to have you back as Vice-President.

Especially at this very moment, when our country is at a crossroads.

- You know that we managed to build here something that had never existed in this region: a modern State.

We managed, in a very short period of time, to tackle corruption, to open our economy and to create strong and efficient institutions.

We inherited from one of the most corrupted State in the world and transformed it in one of the less corrupted one, equal to Norway, Denmark or Finland according to Transparency International.

We've built a new State despite pressures, provocations, embargos, and even invasion and occupation.

We can be proud of having done that, but we know that there is still a lot to be done.

That's why I announced last Monday in my address to the Parliament a new phase of democratic reforms.

But let us all remember that we are building a democracy at a gunpoint. Occupiers' artillery is pointed on this new dome, this palace, this city at this very moment, less than 40 kilometers from here.

Of course, I don't tell it to scare you, Joe, because I know how difficult it is to scare you.

I will always remember this moment, last year, when we were sitting at a restaurant terrace very close from this building.

Russian aircraft was flying above us, but you refused to let the waiter turn off the lights.

My distinguished guests, right now, more than 20% of our territory and the 2/3rd of our seacoasts are occupied.

In a country of less than 5 million people, 500 000 persons were forced to flee from their houses, villages, towns.

Ethnic cleansing in Georgia led to one of the biggest refugee crisis per capita that the world has seen in decades.

Mr. Vice-President, we were invaded last summer by the same number of troops that invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 or Afghanistan in 1979.

We were invaded and right now a big part of our country is occupied.

But still, Georgian people stand proudly and resist. And we will never surrender.

Mr Vice-President, as one my European friends recently said: "We should never underestimate Georgian people, they went through so many and so brutal occupations and invasions, and this proud 3000 years old nation will live also through this occupation."

It is important for the world to understand that we will never surrender, that we will continue, with the help of our natural friends, to resist peacefully to the imperialists who aim at destroying our territorial integrity, canceling our independence and reversing our History.

It is important to understand that Georgia will not be defeated till this wonderful flag flying over this building, till we have in our heart this love for freedom that define Georgian identity.

And I can promise you, Joe, that this flag and this love will stay forever. And that the Russian troops will one day leave our country.

My dear friends, when countries are invaded and occupied, they usually close themselves.

We did the opposite.

While we are at gunpoint, we believe that democracy is more needed than ever.

Let me be clear on this point: for us, there is no trade-off between democracy and security.

Our security environment can only be addressed by investing in our democracy.

We know it will be a long and difficult road and that we will need the help of our Western friends.

It will be long and difficult, but in November 2003 we took a fundamental decision.

We took the decision of joining the family of western democracies.

This decision cannot be reversed. History cannot be reversed.

20 years ago, the Berliner Wall fell. When I saw this event, I thought Europe would be reunited and freedom of movement would triumph forever.

And as we speak, new bags of cement, new barbwires, new stones are brought in my country and a new Berliner Wall is being built.

But, as I said, History cannot be reversed and those who are building this new Berliner Wall must be and will be defeated.

Mr. Vice-President, your visit here will encourage us to move on and to pursue our democratic dreams.

Our partnership, based on shared values and common interests, will, I am sure, get deeper and stronger in the years to come under the umbrella of this Strategic Partnership that links our countries.

I would like to seize this opportunity to thank President Obama for his strong attitude and his very impressive statements in Moscow.

I would like to thank him also for the fresh leadership he brings to the free world.

I would like, Joe, to thank you for being here, with us, for what you have done, what you are doing and what you will do, I am sure.

I remember your call, last year, when first Russian tanks came in. Lots of western leaders were calling to express their sympathy. But you did more than that, you gave me concrete advice and defined a program for Georgian recovery.

I remember also what you told me in September, right in the middle of your brilliant campaign. You told me : « Listen Misha, lots of people are calling you now, but later many will stop doing it. But I will never abandon you, I will always be there for your country. »

You were always there for us and will always be.

I have lived long enough, Joe, to know that in America as everywhere else on earth, you can find lots of cynicisms and realpolitics followers. But like in no other country in the world, in America, ideas and values ultimately run the show.

Thanks to people like you and President Obama, the United States has been through History a model for freedom lovers and fighters.

Thanks to people like you, America has always kept and will always keep its promise of being the heaven of freedom seekers from each part of the globe.

Joe, it's my pleasure and my honor to give you this book, published by Magnum, the most prestigious photo agency, created more than 60 years ago in New York by some refugees who fled a totalitarian and devastated Europe.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:

Well, thank you very much, Mr. President.

What a great honor. We say, Mr. President, the greatest honor is to be back in the presence of all of you -- and under not ideal circumstance, but better circumstances than when I was here last.

Mr. President, friends, colleagues -- particularly to your grandmother and to your mother and your beautiful wife -- I say thank you for the hospitality you extended to me when I was here last. And thank you today.

I accept this honor bestowed on me. Quite frankly, I accept it not only with a great deal of gratitude, but on behalf of my country, because my ability to give any consequence -- any help to you is a

direct consequence of the willingness of the American people to stand up and support freedom. And as you know, Mr. President, that's a bipartisan sentiment in my country.

Let me say that one year ago, when I came to Georgia, it was under very different and difficult circumstances. I was proud to stand with you then. And the reason I'm back, and the reason President Obama asked me to come back, was to send an unequivocal, clear, simple message to all who will listen, and those who even don't want to listen, that America stands with you at this moment and will continue to stand with you. Ladies and gentlemen, Georgians, Mikheil, I want to be clear why we stand with you. We stand with you because we were, first and foremost, inspired by your quest for independence. The Rose Revolution, as it's become -- referred to from the outset -- and the voice of the Georgian people were a clarion call to freedom-loving people around the globe -- everyone who loves freedom and democracy, and even more importantly, those who yearn for it, those who yearn for it and do not have it. In fact, I heard that call, and they heard it very clearly.

So what you did, what your people did, extended well beyond the borders of Georgia. Look today when you see people amassed in squares, where their freedom is not at hand, but to continue to strive for it -- the reference to your Rose Revolution. And it continues to be spoken of. The Rose Revolution was a clear signal to the world that we have entered the 21st century, and the shackles of the 20th century have been shed.

And it's our collective responsibility to make sure that they are not once again put upon you or any other freedom-loving people. We're committed to Georgia, as well, as a vital partner in the progress that we seek in Europe and beyond. The United States wants to build a multi-partner world in which nations make common cause of common concerns.

With Georgia, our partnership involves meeting security challenges. Because we are grateful, as well, I might add, to Georgia's soldiers who stand next to ours, and are being trained now to stand with ours in Afghanistan. It includes our commitment to your energy-security you're providing for many others. We welcome Georgia's role, literally as a bridge for natural resources flowing from east to west. Our partnership rests on a foundation of shared democratic ideals, and we will continue to support your work and deepen democracy. And our partnership includes a determination to build even stronger bonds, not only between our governments, but equally as important, among our people: to welcome Georgian students in larger and larger numbers to American universities and to encourage American students to study here in Georgia; to help American and Georgian entrepreneurs forge new paths of economic progress; to nurture the life blood of any democracy, is civil society, that holds all governments, including yours and mine accountable.

Georgia may be small as you referenced, Mr. President, but I have learned it has a very, very big heart. And even more, the power of your example brings with it responsibilities to continue

to inspire others in their quest for democracy, and securing an independence against all odds.

There a famous letter that an American President, Thomas Jefferson, wrote to one of his political rivals, John Adams. John Adams is our second President and one of our founders, and Jefferson our third. In

their aging -- after they both had no longer been President, they had a long, long correspondence until each of them died, coincidentally on the same day. And in one of those letters, Thomas Jefferson said, and I'm paraphrasing, that those who bring about revolutions seldom see them come to fruition -- seldom see the democracy take root.

This is going to be different. You all know that your Declaration of Independence and your Rose Revolution were the beginning of the process. In a sense, some of the real hard part is now left. You mentioned protestors -- welcome to democracy. Welcome to democracy.

We are very accustomed to protestors.

But you are in the process of building those institutional attributes that a country needs to maintain a democracy. And I am not exaggerating when I say many other people in the world are looking to you to see whether or not you can bring the revolution to full fruition and dig those roots -- plants those roots of democracy very deep.

Every progressive nation has a stake in your success. Every progressive nation in the world has a stake in your success, particularly nations in this region, and that makes Georgia a very important nation for the future of this region, this continent, and the world.

So I would like to -- if I had a glass in my hand, which I'm going to get -- with your permission, raise my glass in a toast to Georgia's success and to your fierce determination to be independent, sovereign, democratic, and free. Thank you very much. To Georgia.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia