The President of Georgia and the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a briefing in the President's Chancellery.
Mikheil Saakashvili:
"It's great pleasure for me to host you here in Tbilisi. I think that your visit is a strong sign of existing firm partnership between Georgia and the United States. This partnership is based on our joint economic and security interests. Consequently United States is the number one investor in Georgia, but our relationship is based on values. These are important values that unite us. These values concern democracy, freedom and strengthening democracy and freedom all over the world. Georgia is a successful example of it all. We have an important place in democracy and freedom agenda. It is definitely a great achievement that Georgia is a successful country today. This is a country, which receives investments in the region of energy recourses. We have many foreign investments in our country and deriving from economic success incomes have been tripled since your last visit here. But besides this a lot has been done in the region regarding the transformation of democracy. We are grateful for your support. Thank you very much for your support regarding peaceful resolution of our conflicts. Besides you support the territorial integrity of Georgia and peaceful resolution of existing conflicts. Without this support it would be very difficult to do everything and everything would have become more difficult without your support.
Thank you once again for your visit!
Condoleezza Rice:
"Thank you very much mister President, many thanks that you welcome me in such a beautiful city - Tbilisi. This is really a fantastic city. Thank you for yesterday's dinner. We could view this beautiful city from a balcony. Yesterday, I listened to jazz-music performed by the best musician. He is a twelve-year-old boy. I heard the best jazz that I have ever heard anywhere. Today we had a very good conversation in the President's Chancellery and I want to say once again, that the United States of America remains devoted to the territorial integrity and democratic development of Georgia. It is very important to resolve conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. I have stated our concern about the violation that should not happen from any side in future. Everything must be done from the friendly countries to resolve these problems peacefully. You know that from time to time we are really very concerned by those actions that happen in the region. Some of the actions that are carried out by Russians do not anyhow assist in resolving the conflicts peacefully. The peace process must continue and we together with our colleagues will be really happy to work intensively on solving these problems. I want to express my gratitude for the share that Georgia globally puts into the successful development of democracy. Your militaries work side-by-side with our military forces in Iraq, where you had a loss. You must be proud of your brave steps. Georgian militaries fight very effectively. They are very well trained and are characterized by having high morale. Our militaries are really proud to work with them. I had a chance to meet the representatives of the civil society and opposition. As we have spoken it's important that Georgia continues the development of democratic institutes, effective parliament and strong media, as well as independent court. The fundament of democracy in Georgia is rather important. We are proud to have Georgia as our friendly country for many years already.
Communications Office
of the President of Georgia