Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili today opened a newly refurbished training and exercise facility for a special purpose detachment in Tbilisi's Vashlijvari district that is designed to hold 500 servicemen. Saakashvili pointed out that under Shevardnadze the president's personal security force trained on the territory of the facility and said that in today's Georgia, "protecting the country is more important than protecting one person, even the president."

The site will now house a new, well equipped, high-level training and exercise centre for a special purpose rapid reaction detachment of the Defence Ministry.

"This facility will not only provide reliable security for our capital city, but also prepare our troops for the fulfilment of any kind of task. I would like to add that in the near future we will finish construction on the biggest military base in Gori, at the turnoff to Tskhinvali; everyone can see how construction is going there. The Vaziani base is also intensely undergoing modernization. We have also decided to upgrade the Kutaisi base and build a new base in Khoni. Large reservist bases have been built in Telavi and other places. The Defence Ministry's material base has increased severalfold.

"Of course I like very much to see money invested in schools, roads, and infrastructure development, but this, too, is money invested in ensuring a bright future for our country. Therefore we are increasing funding and, more importantly, improving quality. All of this is clear based on the example of this building, which was built very well and very quickly - over the span of a few months," the Georgian president said.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia