President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili awarded Zaza Pachulia the Order of Honor for special contribution to the development of basketball and popularization of Georgia on the international arena, President’s press service reported.

The award ceremony took place at the Presidential Palace of Georgia today and the Head of President’s Administration Giorgi Abaishvili, Zaza Pachulia’s family members, representatives of the administration, Georgian national team, coaches and representatives of “Golden State” attended it.

“Zaza Pachulia is the first Georgian basketball player who has won the NBA Cup and decided to celebrate this victory in his homeland. Success is very important but the most important is to share it with the community. Zaza Pachulia does not forget his homeland. He was with us when Tbilisi was in a difficult situation after inundation. I want to thank him for such patriotic spirit”, - said the President at the award ceremony.

Zaza Pachulia thanked the President of Georgia for awarding him.

“What I have done in my life I have done with my heart and I did not expect such thing. It is a special day for me, because the president appreciates the work I have done and I am grateful for everything. I will try to keep this Order of Honor worthy”, said Pachulia.

Recall that Pachulia brought the NBA Champion Cup to his homeland yesterday and today, 20:00 pm, it will be represented at the Sports Palace.

The Parliament invites the President of Georgia to participate in public consideration of the Constitutional Changes, as stated by the First Vice Speaker, Tamar Chugoshvili.
“Regarding the public consideration of the Constitutional Changes, we have offer to the President – we want to invite him to participate in public considerations. I would hail the fact if the Speaker of the Parliament and the President of Georgia jointly introduce the Constitutional Changes to the population, especially that the President and his Administration have already started this process for a certain period and we start it now deriving from the requirements of the Rules of Procedure. However, we can consolidate these two processes”.

The President of Georgia, H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili has addressed former and current leaders of more than 50 countries at the 5th Baku Global Forum: “It is an honor and pleasure to be here at this great gathering, to have an opportunity to address this distinguished audience and to meet with lots of our friends. Let me thank the organizers of this meeting for this opportunity. I have been hearing numerous, very interesting presentations and ideas and we share basically the same concern. We share concerns about security, stability, and efficiency of international institutions that are put in place for the reason to prevent tensions and conflicts. In a way, we go around 30 years back and reflect what we were thinking about the future of the world when the Cold War was finishing. We thought our prospects were much more optimistic. We were thinking that the end of the Cold War would bring more peace and prosperity and globalization of the world would bring more contacts and opportunities for trade, friendship and dialogue of cultures, but our very optimistic hopes have been only partially fulfilled and we are seeing the world where we see terrorism, suffering of people, mass destructions, wars and we are thinking how to make the process more stable and peaceful. My country has been an actor and a factor in global security and stability, participating practically in majority of international missions that have been undertaken for the last 25 years, since Georgia became independent. We believe in international cooperation among the nations to solicit stability not only of your own country, but the global stability which, in this globalized world, is reflected on the stability of your homeland. Right now we are active in international missions in Afghanistan and Africa and we believe that contributing to this process makes Georgia more stable, but at the same time Georgia is an unfortunate example of hypocrisy of international relationships that is built around the concept of privileged interest areas. Georgia has been occupied by its neighboring, very strong nuclear country, Russia. Georgia was occupied in 2008 by the regular Russian army, but Georgia has been occupied before with something that we are calling hybrid war, in the beginning of 1990’s, when we stated our independence. This is a fact that a country, contributing to global security and stability is suffering when it comes to its neighbor. This is a fact that we all have to face and we have to acknowledge that facing this fact should bring us to clearer solutions and visions. Russia has declared its foreign policy, basically stating that international relations, international global order is somehow twisted when it comes to Russian neighborhood. And as a result of this twist, as a result of the belief that Russia has a right to police its neighbors, parts of my country are occupied. But one thing is what Russia has declared and the other thing is how clear, how blunt were the nations that believed in global security and international relationships in disapproving Russian policy. I do not think that we all were exactly blunt at that point when in 2008 Georgia was occupied and we got crisis in Crimea in six years in Ukraine. So, facing the challenges of terrorism, facing the challenges of hybrid war, facing the challenges of big powers, disregarding rules of the game, we should be very clear that in this globalized world wherever it is happening, it is a threat to security and stability for each and every country around the world which plans to build a more secure future. In this respect, I think we have to be very blunt and not hypocritical in condemning any type of aggression, being it from a strong neighbor, or relatively strong neighbor, or maybe just a strong party towards its neighbors and allies. Yesterday, with the decision of the Russian government, the so-called army of the occupied Tskhinvali region has been implanted and gone under the Russian military control. This is the issue that shows that Russians are trying to create a mockery of international relations by creating a precedent of cooperation between the occupied territories and their nation. So, I believe that future stability is in very sincere reactions to cases like this, in being very critical, precise, blunt, and believing that if we want to keep the future of our world stable and secure, we have to be devoted to the concept of international relationships and international law, which should be the basis of cooperation. That is what Georgia is doing in our region. We are open and embracing partners of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and other countries in the region, opening up Georgia’s opportunities of cooperation and future prosperity projects”, - stated the President.

Conducting the so-called elections in the occupied Abkhazia is another attempt to legitimize the occupation regime. This attempt does not have a legal power and cannot have any legal outcomes. Under the current circumstances, when a large part of the Abkhazian population is refugees and internally displaced persons, who are still not allowed to return to their homeland and when the supervisory mechanism in the occupied territory is implemented by the foreign state, the Russian Federation, it is impossible to discuss the populations’ free will of expression. I call on the international community not to allow legitimization of the occupation regime. We once again call on the Russian Federation to fulfill its obligations, imposed under the agreement of August 12, 2008 and to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.

The President of Georgia, H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili has made a statement on the introduction of a visa-free regime for the citizens of Georgia in the EU member states: “I would like to congratulate our citizens on this important step taken toward the European integration. This is a mutual achievement of the Georgian society, the Georgian state, and the friendly nations of our country. As a result of this step, we are presented with more opportunities of integration with Europe in order to achieve the main goal for which our state and society collaborate – the full integration with Europe", - stated the President.

The official visit of the President of Georgia, H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili and the Georgian delegation to the Republic of Belarus has begun. The President was greeted at the National Airport by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Mr. Mikhail Rusyi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Mr. Vladimir Makei, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Georgia Mr. Mikhail Miatlikov, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Republic of Belarus Mr. Davit Kotaria. As a part of the visit, the President will hold official meetings tomorrow. He will meet with the President of the Republic of Belarus, H.E. Aleksandr Lukashenko both in tête–à–tête and extended formats. Following the extended meeting, the two presidents will sign a joint document and hold a joint press conference. President Margvelashvili will also take part in a tree planting ceremony at the Independence Palace and lay a wreath at the Victory Monument. As a part of the visit, President Margvelashvili, together with the Georgian delegation, will hold meetings with the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Mr. Mikhail Myasnikovich and the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Mr. Vladimir Andreichenko. The President will also meet with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, Mr. Andrey Kobyakov, both in tête–à–tête and extended formats. As a part of the cultural activities, the President will visit the State Museum of the Great Patriotic War, as well as the cultural and sports complex, Minsk-Arena and Belarus' High Technologies Park. The President will also deliver a public lecture at Belarusian National Technical University. At the end of the visit, President Margvelashvili, together with the Georgian delegation, will lay a wreath at the memorial complex, the Mound of Glory. The Georgian delegation will return to Georgia on March the 2nd. Among the members of the Georgian delegation are the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Mr. Giorgi Gakharia, the Head of the Administration of the President Mr. Giorgi Abashishvili, the Secretary of the National Security Council Mr. Davit Rakviashvili, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Vakhtang Makharoblishvili, the Secretary of the President for Foreign Affairs Mr. Tengiz Pkhaladze, the Parliamentary Secretary of the President Mrs. Ana Dolidze, and the Advisor to the President in Economic Issues Mrs. Maia Melikidze.

The forum “Challenges of Child Welfare in Georgia” was held at the Presidential Palace. The forum was opened by the President of Georgia, H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili.
The forum aims to identify and discuss the problems in the field of child welfare, in order to promptly determine necessary solutions and offer them to the decision-makers.
The President has thanked the diplomatic corps, international partners, and donors, participating in the forum, who help our country overcoming hardships through their resources. He has also thanked the government and those agencies who have taken serious steps in improving the social and health conditions of children.
"What could be better, more adequate and important than the care of the older generation on the future generation, in order our children to be live in a more protected environment. Numerous problems still exist in this regard, which require our coordinated and active response.
The fact that according to the UNICEF’s data, one in six children lives in poverty; the challenges that handicapped children face in terms of social integration; the fact that in many occasions children work like elders; or the fact that many children still live outside – these are all problematic issues.
These problems exist in every society; however, societies are measured according to how able they are to overcome and solve these hardships.
I see the willingness of the government of Georgia and the executive and legislative structures to face these problems and take steps to overcome them.
Unfortunately, the objective reality exists, full of economic problems, certain taboos, and clichés, which complicate the process of overcoming these challenges.
Our today’s gathering aims to unite us and to further strengthen our spirit of overcoming challenges and improving children’s rights, conditions of daily lives, and social integration process.
I will also be very actively involved in solving these problems in the future”, - stated the President.
The welcome speeches at the opening were also delivered by the Advisor to the President in Ethnic Minority Issues Mrs. Sopio Shamanidi, the Public Defender Mr. Ucha Nanuashvili, the Deputy Minister of Labour Health and Social Affairs Mr. Valeri Kvaratskhelia, the Chairperson of Education, Science and Culture Committee Mrs. Mariam Jashi, the Deputy Minister of Education Mrs. Lia Gigauri, and representatives of international and local organizations, working on children’s rights.
The welcome speech was also delivered by the First Lady of Georgia, Mrs. Maka Chichua who has thanked the President for this initiative.
"I have been very actively involved in this issue for several years; I constantly study and know many things that we need to do to overcome children’s problems. I will overcome these problems only with you. We must fight to ensure that we take serious, solid, and satisfactory steps. We will only manage this through the involvement of the government and the active participation of those institutions that need to be more engaged, namely the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, and each of us”, - stated Mrs. Chichua.
As she further noted, the forum aims to identify all problems and to discover ways of resolving them. Today the working groups will be established that will work on the above mentioned problems.
At the forum, the issues, recognized through practice and research in the field of child welfare were discussed, such as – deinstitutionalization of child care system, alternative systems of care, the services for children outside the government plan, the services of child protection, custody and care, exploitation of homeless children, violations against children, children left outside the education system, child labor, the support systems for children with disabilities and their parents.
The opening was also attended by the Head of the Administration of the President of Georgia Mr. Giorgi Abashishvili, the Secretary of the National Security Council Mr. Davit Rakviashvili, and advisors to the President.

The President of Georgia, H.E. Giorgi Margvelashvili has held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Mr. Vladimir Makei.
At the meeting the parties have discussed Georgia-Belarus relations and the prospects of further strengthening cooperation. The importance of strengthening economic and trade cooperation between the two countries was also highlighted.
The President has congratulated Mr. Makei on the occasion of opening the Embassy of Belarus in Georgia. President Margvelashvili has further underscored the significance of deepening relations between the two countries and the existence of the diplomatic corps of Belarus, accredited in Georgia.
The conversation has also touched upon the prospective visit of President Margvelashvili in Belarus, scheduled for the next year.
The parties have also discussed the recent regional situation and the President informed Mr. Makei about the recent developments in the occupied regions of Georgia. In turn, Mr. Makei has once again affirmed his support of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The meeting was also attended by the Head of the Administration of the President of Georgia Mr. Giorgi Abashishvili, the Secretary of the National Council Mr. Davit Rakviashvili, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Mr. Mikheil Janelidze, the Secretary of the President for Foreign Affairs Mr. Tengiz Pkhaladze, the Political Secretary of the President Mrs. Pikria Chikhradze, and the members of Mr. Makei’s delegation.
Mr. Makei has visited Georgia on December 20, as a part of the two-day official visit. As a part of his visit, the official opening ceremony of the Embassy of Belarus to Georgia will also be held.

The President of Georgia declared 2017 the year of education.
As Giorgi Margvelashvili said at the 9^th Parliamentary session, education is the freedom and only the educated person can reach the interior, social and political freedom.
"I agree with the Prime Minister, the country's main priority should be the education. I believe that with joint efforts, we will go to the educated and free society with freedom independence", - said the President.
Giorgi Margvelashvili stated, that Georgian authorities will have to start the changes.

After publishing final protocol by Central Election Commission the President of Georgia will convene the first session which will be opened by him. Giorgi Margvelashvili will deliver a speech. This statement was made by the Press Speaker of President Eka Mishveladze today, at press conference.
As for the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, according to her, after publication of SEC’s summary protocol, President will appoint Supreme Council first session.
18 of November is the time when CEC should publish the results of the 2016 parliamentary elections.