The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 29 2004

President visits Javakheti

President Mikheil Saakashvili visited the southern region of
Javakheti Tuesday, where he spoke with residents of the regional
center Akhalkalaki and attended a concert arranged for his arrival.
The president stepped on the stage and joined in on an Armenian folk
dance. The vast majority of the population of Javakheti is Armenian
and the region has witnessed certain ethnic tensions over the years.
Rustavi 2 reports that Saakashvili addressed the people in Georgian,
Russian and Armenian, telling them the Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki highway
would be repaired in 2005 and that they would no longer be isolated
from the capital. The president also dropped by the house of a local
pensioner to wish his family a happy New Year.