Georgia needs participation in the mission in Afghanistan for military experience. The corresponding statement has been made by President Mikheil Saakashvili at the opening ceremony of the new military school in Kutaisi. According to the President, the fight of Georgian soldiers in Afghanistan is a joint fight of Georgia and its partners.

‘Some people may say we should not fight in other country when our territories are occupied. However, we need military experience because of the problems in our country. It is a unique military experience. It is a possibility to integrate with best troops of the world’, Mikheil Saakashvili said. We should defeat the country, creating problems to us, by our intellect. The President made the consequent statement the same day in Kutaisi, where he awarded Tsotne Tabidze, winner of the International Informatics Olympiad in Canada.
‘A small country may create huge intellectual potential. Tsotne Tabidze and similar young people are the future of Georgia’, Saakashvili said.
* Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili rules out danger of an open aggression against Georgia in the nearest future. According to him, Russia tries to discredit Georgia and spreads wrong information regarding trainings of ‘Boeviks’ in Pankisi Gorge.
‘Georgia has the best criminal situation not only in the region but throughout the Eastern Europe’, the Interior Minister said.
Mikheil Saakashvili met with Georgian diplomats within the framework of the ambassadorial that took place in Tbilisi last week.

* Georgia has taken the 61st place among the best countries for business. The list was published by the Forbes magazine. The fourth annual Best Countries for Business ranking includes 128 countries. Denmark, for a third straight year, takes the No. 1 spot. It is followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand.
In the list Georgia is ahead of 67 countries, including Russia (97), Ukraine (98), Greece, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan (79), Moldova, China and Armenia (96).
The last place in the list was taken by Venezuela.

* The US marked the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York.
The September 11, attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the towers. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed the third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. There were no survivors from any of the flights.
The death toll of the attacks was 2,996, including the 19 hijackers. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries.

* The US friends’ club held an exhibition ‘Peace Tree’ on Peace Bridge in Tbilisi on 11 September.
The exhibition was dedicated to the 9/11 tragedy, which killed thousands of civilians in the USA. Photos, depicting the tragedy, were exhibited on the bridge. Presentation of monument entitled ‘Crying Angel’ also took place. The monument will be later handed over to the US Embassy in Georgia.
High officials of the diplomatic corps as well as Georgian MPs and members of the Georgian government were invited to the exhibition.
The event was to be attended by US Ambassador to Georgia John Bass too, though he was unable to arrive. Instead, the head of the Culture and Education Department of the US Embassy attended the exhibition.
She thanked the Georgian people for support and emphasized the Georgian role in the battle against terrorism.

* President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, met with President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in the Presidential Palace in Baku. The meeting lasted more than it was scheduled by protocol. Saakashvili and Aliyev discussed joint strategy. Saakashvili attended Baku Energy Summit.
The Summit was also attended by the President of Romania. The three presidents signed the corresponding declaration as well.

*Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, denies information on possible creation of Georgia-Azerbaijani Confederation.
President Mikheil Saakashvili’s initiation regarding Georgia-Azerbaijani confederation emphasized the special good neighborly relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
‘We should carefully listen to the President. He said relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan goes beyond the strategic relations and looks like relations between countries in a single confederation. It does not mean that we will create a single legislative body and constitution. We are only talking about the close and coordinated work of Georgia and Azerbaijan’, Grigol Vashadze said.

*Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II preached to the congregation about the importance of love for their motherland.
‘God’s grace is immeasurable. God’s love outnumbers our sins. Our great ancestor, Ilia Chavchavadze, left to us the following motto: ‘Language, motherland and faith’. We shall adhere to these three concepts. We transformed this motto according to modern needs and today we say: ‘God, motherland and human being’, the Patriarch said.
‘Georgian people have always been devoted believers. We are happy that more and more young people come to the church’, the Patriarch added.
‘It is neither my merit nor our clergy’s. It is the church, it is the live church. God called on you, not I. I am one of you, a member of our church. Let’s praise God for everything,’ he said.