First of all I would like to thank every speaker.
I am a veteran of several parliaments. I started my career in the parliament in a quite early age.
I want to say that the highest-level parliamentary debates that I have ever seen here before were held today.
This is the sign, that democracy is being refined in our country. This is the sign that we all were not mistaken when we started this road.
In my speech I did not try to boast with our achievements, neither I tried to promise and implement optimism in the society.
I am trying, as any responsible leader, whose country is in storm of the world economic crisis and at the same time operates in the conditions of aggression to be realistic to view each my word with full responsibility and tell the people the truth.
I want to follow questions that were given here.
Giorgi Akhvlediani from the "Christian Democrats" was talking about the development of several government entities.
I cannot agree with him, despite of great honor towards him. When we are talking about "tight up the belts" policy, and many people can say that since Kakha Bendukidze is not the head of the State Chancellery he helps the government in other spheres and it became easier to tight up the belts in Georgian government. It would be a controversial action to create new structures and new bureaucracy.
We listened to the highest level orators in the parliament today and I mean not only my political allies - Goka Gabashvili, who had an excellent speech, Petre Tsiskarishvili, but at the same time I mean Georgi Targamadze and others.
I want to recall the time, when anti-monopoly structure existed, it was called an office of employment, but in reality it was not employment.
We can not eliminate monopolies by means of monopoly structures, but it happens by freedom, by abolishing barriers and corruption. This is how we got rid of monopolies.
I want to share your concerns in regard of raised prices on the medications. I can tell you as well that I did not like how the medication agencies worked in this direction, the same can be said about the corresponding structures in the Ministry of Health.
Now according to my order, we adopted new norms, by means of which all the medication existing in the world market will automatically be admitted in the Georgian market and now official will decide whether this or that market is appropriate.
This is a step forward and if representatives of the parliamentary opposition have other ideas by means of which we will be able to cheapen the medication we will except and share them.
Several times energy and the Enguri were mentioned here.
Our biggest problem and headache would be darkened Georgia.
We have solved the problem of electricity and the energy sector operates well enough. This is the result of right energy policy.
Our enemy wants to see darkened Georgia most.
If we had given them even a tiny control lever to darken Georgia, this hall as well as the rest of Georgia wouldn't be lit.
We have to argue not by what this or that person says, but by the reality, how the bulbs light our houses.
When Putin had a control lever to darken Georgia, he did it in 2005, he exploded all our energy lines. He doesn't possess this lever today, we have achieved it all together and we have to take care of it.
Now about our commercial agreements, we have made this memorandum open for the opposition. This is not a final version and we are ready to include you in working process of this agreement.
The question on education sphere was raised here.
We promised our teachers in the period of elections and we fulfilled all the promises.
Not only we left the issue of attestation open, but we said that we had to retrain our people. You cannot ask teachers who you do not give anything, give you something back. I want to admit that we haven't invested enough money in retraining process. We have to work together on these issues.
Some revolutionary changes took place in the education system, but we had some excesses at the same time. No one makes mistakes without doing anything, but the people who work very intensively can make mistakes. Sure we had mistakes and later we made some conclusions, many of these were corrected. Many schools are destroyed in Georgia, many excesses took place in education system, but who doesn't do anything, they do not make any mistakes either.
Many schools in Tbilisi have no rosters and schoolchildren are not checked. In many schools children do not go to school at all. It is very good that we have abolished a lotto system for directors, but many directors chosen by this system still work pretty well.
Of course this was not right and we must work in this direction more.
George Tortladze raised a question regarding sports' academy. I don't think that such an institute can help us have any achievements.
You cannot require from an Olympic champion to get the same marks at the national exams as a regular entrant.
There are certain benefits for sportsmen in US or other countries. We must have the same benefits here, with the conditions that they participate in the University sports life. I have spoken on this issue to the Minister of Culture and Sports Nika Rurua. We will work out a system cooperating with the minister of education, according to which sportsmen will be integrated into high schools, and later when they stop active sports, none of them will have problems to find their place in the society.
By the way I would like to share many recommendations that were offered by the opposition.
I share the opinion of George Chakhvadze about creating the middle class and taking care of them.
I also agree with George - the newly created middle class already has some serious problems because of the crisis. But this class was created in the last several years and we must do everything not to damage the basis of our society.
Of course it is a great tragedy that some banks reduced the number of their employees by 10%, some by 20-30% even. Banks dismissed some qualified people.
We must find a way out. This middle class was created and it must be strengthened.
We all made a decision that there should be a representative of the opposition in the Council of Justice.
As far as I know Nick Laliashvili works actively. I want to remind you that I have never headed a session of this council as the President of Georgia. I do it on purpose, though my predecessor used to do it. Though I am really interested in the court reforms, because this was the biggest initiative in my entire life, still I consider that the President must not participate in it.
Mr. Kublashvili will agree with me, that when I had an obligation to receive an oath from the judges, I made this process longer. I didn't do it because of the laziness or any other reason, but because they didn't have to be in touch with the President. Nobody can blame me for calling Mr. Kublashvili or the head of the constitutional court on any special business.
Mr. Kublashvili is a very close friend of mine, as well as George Papuashvili, but since they were appointed we practically have no relations any more.
I will not be a President and this will happen in 2013, but I want to calm George Targamadze down, who together with the other perspective candidates thinks about 2013.
I will carry my obligations and then there will come a new President who will be elected in the democratic elections. But before that we have to create a system - whoever the President is, the system must have such guaranties, that will not allow anyone else to get involved.
I have never intruded in the work of court and I wish to create a system without a chance for anyone to be intruded.
This is the institutionalization of the government branches. I am ready to cooperate with you in this issue.
It's very important to give any citizen a chance to be defended and to have sense of justice. When we speak about disciplinary chasing of the court members I want to remind you that almost 30 Judges were arrested for bribing.
We do not forgive anything and it will take time before the tradition is established.
This is why we have adopted the institute of the Jury. I consider that our society is able to do it. Many European societies failed to do it. Georgians showed such an example of devotion in the hottest conditions of the war that this very society will be able to respond to this challenge.
There were some questions regarding prisoners liberation on conditional consent.
I really do not enjoy the fact of imprisoning people. We are a small society and have a small number of Georgian citizens, especially we do not wish to imprison them and keep them away from active life.
I want you to know that we are absolute champions and record holders in the number of pardons and in the liberation before the appointed time in the neighborhood and maybe in the world. This situation is not safe and I am the initiator of it.
However they can blame me I am the initiator and we have already liberated several thousands of prisoners. If compared with the Russian president he liberated 7 people last year, and how can you compare the number of the population of Russia and Georgia.
At the same time we have to understand that on the other side there stands a society who wish to have a quiet life, mothers who demand there children's safe life.
On one side there is the principle of the humanity, which gives a person a chance of improvement and the right to exist in freedom.
I signed the amnesty in 2007 and two days later I arrived in Tsalenjikha where a person who had been liberated according to amnesty I signed abused and killed a 72-year-old woman.
That's why I want to tell Gia Tortladzse and others - this is a very responsible decision to be made.
We have to be human, kind, that's why Dimitri Shashkin put the first condition and I accepted it was - the creation of the probation institute. It is important that such people come to the Georgian government, there is no practical change in the government if we do not consider the case of PM who left the job because of the illness.
So Shashkin's condition was the creation of probation institute. I welcome and support this idea.
I also want to speak on the initiatives that were absolutely acceptable for me.
For example the separation of the statistics department was an idea of the anti crisis council. I can also disagree with them in penitential policy, but regarding this issue the parliament and the government shared the same position. I wish to accept George Targamadze's proposal on the conception of the Security Counsel and security mechanisms.
I offered this post to one of the opposition leaders who is very often on TV channels, and he is not sitting in this hall, because he refused this mandate as well. I offered him to adopt a law, according to which no one would touch him after assignment and he would have chances to control our decisions. I have never discussed this matter with you. But I accept your proposal and I am ready to legalize it. I am ready to invite your representative in the decision making process. We do not have anything to hide and I do not want anyone to have a doubt that something is decided in behind your backs. In any most democratic country there are some moments when the President and the government have to take responsibility on making rapid decisions. Of course we acknowledge our responsibility before our country and history.
The same time we have to understand that when there is any chance and there is always a chance to be transparent and to get you all involved in the discussion.
I want to speak in a word or two about the war.
Here I heard a phrase "a lost war". When the war finishes then there appears a loser or winner.
Nothing has yet finished in Georgia and let us not tell a lie.
You can be a loser in the war when there is a winner. Do you want to tell me that Russia is a winner?
I can tell you that the people residing in Abkhazia now are real losers in everything - the occupation army surrounds them and they are turned into a stupid addition of the Russian aggressive military system.
Small nations can sometimes not stand it, but Georgia survived challenges during the millenniums. There is a question whether a nation of 45 thousand people can stand it.
If Russia won the war why does it spend 150 million on propaganda against us? Why does it fight against us in the international organizations the way USSR fought against Reagan?
Press Office
of the President of Georgia