GEORGIAN PRESIDENT VOWS TO END “ISOLATION” OF ETHNIC ARMENIAN REGION

Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
7 Sep 05

[Presenter] President Saakashvili has returned to Tbilisi after a visit
to the village of Gandza in Ninotsminda District of the [southern
Georgian] Samtskhe-Javakheti province. The president attended the
opening ceremony of a new school in the village. The construction of
the school, named after the Armenian poet Vahan Teryan, started three
months ago. [Passage omitted: Saakashvili chatting with schoolchildren]

[Saakashvili] This region was almost completely forgotten, it was
ridden with problems, and now you can see how many things have changed
in a short time. Education facilities are being built. This school is
the best, but other schools are being repaired too. The construction
of roads has begun in Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda. The facades of
buildings are being repainted, just like in Tbilisi.

Now we are going to enrol 100 [local] young people in the school of
[public] administration of Georgia so they can be employed in various
state agencies later. The region’s best new people should be employed
throughout Georgia in order to end its isolation.

Also, as we have promised [changes tack] Russian troops, 2,000 Russian
soldiers are getting their food supplies here. Our army needs a lot
more calories. About 20,000 servicemen of our armed forces will be
getting all their [food] supplies from Javakheti.