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Georgia’s New Leaders Deliver New Year Addresses

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said in his New Year address to the nation that 2013 was important for consolidation of democracy and 2014 will be marked by “drawing closer to Europe” and President Margvelashvili said in his address that foundation for building of “a modern, European state” has been laid.

PM Garibashvili said 2013 was “very important” for Georgia, “full of emotions and events”, when, as he put it, “process of establishing justice started”.

“The era of fear and terror is over,” the PM said. “Thousands of people, unjustly detained in unbearable conditions by the previous government, are celebrating the New Year at home. I know that people still remain who are waiting for the justice. I assure you that this process will be in full conformity to the law and no one will doubt its fairness.”

Garibashvili said that his government “takes into account and reckons with voice” of the people.

He said that “economic development is our main challenge” and vowed that “numerous new enterprises” will be opened in 2014.

"2014 will be one of the most important years in terms of drawing closer to Europe. In August, 2014 Georgia will sign the Association Agreement with the European Union," the PM said, adding that travel to the EU without visa "is not an overly long-term prospect" for the Georgian citizens either.

He also congratulated “Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers and sisters.”

“I am convinced that we will surely come to an understanding, restore our relations and work to ensure our shared future,” the PM said.

President Margvelashvili mentioned “Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers” in his address too, saying: “We should manage to overcome the pain of the past and build a new Georgia with a new vision.”

“Last year, through a free and democratic process, we succeeded in consolidating democracy, closing the post-Soviet era and starting to build a modern, European state,” President Margvelashvili said. “However, the process of building a modern Georgia must be based on Georgian values and Georgian traditions.”

“There is no need to think about something new – we just have to return to ourselves,” Margvelashvili said. “Georgian people are oriented to freedom. Georgian culture is a culture of diversity and tolerance. Georgian people are individualists by nature, but at the same time, our slogan is – ‘Strength is in Unity’. Based on these very values, with new inspiration we should form a new, modern, European Georgia. With this tireless work, devotion to those values, which connect us to the past and establish bridges to the future, we should make a modern Georgian state – the one of which our ancestors dreamed.”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)

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