First of all, I congratulate you on St. Mary’s Day!
I also congratulate you on the opening of this runway, while in few weeks I will congratulate you with the opening of this airport.
You know that flights will operate from here towards Moscow, Kiev, Frankfurt, Brussels, Tel-Aviv and many other destinations.
Of course, this airport belongs to Kutaisi, but it is not only a Kutaisi airport, as it will also serve Baghdati, Khoni, Tskaltubo, Samtredia, Vani…in a nutshell, all districts around here.
It will be the most important airport of Georgia, including because the flights will be the cheapest from here, it will transport people from the east too and will compete with the Tbilisi Airport as well.
It is also significant in terms of the regulation of prices in Tbilisi. Not only 3-4 percent of the population should be able to travel and fly, but people of all economic circumstances.
We are doing everything so that it is accessible to everyone and not only for some particular groups.
I would like to remind you that Russians had bombed this runway so that we found the remnants of bombs even during the construction.
This is the best runway in the whole Caucasus, whereas we will start the building of a new runway in the next few days.
We are building an airport in Poti, the airport is already functional in Mestia.
It has already become a tradition for us that I test the new runway.
A huge airplane landed here a few minutes ago, on which it says: “Kutaisi the Parliamentary Capital”.
Everything that you see here is real.
Kutaisi and the whole country need such an airport, as people need to travel towards all directions and lots of tourists have to arrive here.
A grand reconstruction has begun in Tskaltubo. We have huge plans in terms of the development of resort zones, including the Sataplia and Vani natural projects, as well as Sataplia and the Prometheus Cave.
Kutaisi, as the parliamentary city had to surely have such a hub.
Hence, we are planning to continue the implementation of the planned projects, through which jobs will be created.
They often say: everything is interlinked.
First of all, it was important to establish security and eradicate criminals in Georgia. We would not have developed anything without it. No one will ever get these criminals back into power.
The second is that we have to develop tourism, which requires a good communications system.
Precisely because of that we come here with the best autobahn; we are building the best water system and other communications in Tskaltubo and Kutaisi.
And now we have come here through an airport.
Everything is going according to that long-term strategic plan, by which every family living around here will see much more benefit.
The first flight will take place towards Kiev on September 27th, 2012, and the price will be 22 Euros one way, if I am not wrong.
Just think about it, how far a taxi will take you from Kutaisi for 22 Euros, while this airplane will take you to the European capitals for that price, in this case - to Ukraine and from there to all over Europe.
Apart from this, we will need to create Georgian airline companies; it is necessary to introduce foreign companies who have affordable rates.
Our goal is to create jobs for people, and that everyone has access to these opportunities. This airport serves both purposes.
Such a runway and terminal is needed so that people can benefit from this, so that the population sees the benefit in this.
Today is a great day. No one would believe that we would do this so fast.
I would like to thank Giorgi Karbelashvili, who is the very creator and organizer of the whole thing, as well as the Aviation Department, naturally the Ministry of Economy, the Mayor of Kutaisi and especially, those people, who had worked day and night on the construction of this airport.
I know well that it is indeed a lot of work, but people need this.
We have a lot to build and we have to build very fast, so that it all happens during our generation.
We are all very satisfied by your work.
The Kutaisi monitoring tower is the highest in Europe, while the runway of this airport is the best in the entire Caucasus.