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  • Georgian leader asks businesses to help out grape farmers

    Georgian leader asks businesses to help out grape farmers

    Imedi TV, Tbilisi
    31 Aug 06

    Mikheil Saakashvili has asked private companies to buy 10,000 tonnes
    of grapes each to minimize the effect of an "economic war" declared by
    Russia against Georgia. In a speech broadcast live by major networks,
    Saakashvili said he was instructing the prime minister to coordinate
    the efforts to assist farmers in Kakheti province with the help of
    five cabinet members. Saakashvili said by closing its market to the
    Georgian wine Russia was hoping to cause a "total catastrophe" in
    Georgia. In a fierce attack on Russia, he compared its leadership to
    predators who "will eat you up if they smell blood". He also said that
    during his recent talks with the Russians he was told that "the only
    thing you can ask of us is not to make your situation worse than it is
    today".

    The following is an excerpt from report by Georgian Imedi TV on 31
    August: [Presenter] The president of Georgia is meeting businessmen in
    Sagarejo. We go live to [Mikheil] Saakashvili's meeting with
    representatives of the business community.

    New Customs Code

    [Saakashvili, in a vineyard] Greetings. I will turn around. You
    probably have never seen the president make a speech in such an
    unusual setting. I probably have never stood at such an angle to the
    microphone.

    First of all, I would like to welcome you all here in Kakheti. Thank
    you very much for taking time. I know that this is holiday season.
    Most of you look very refreshed. We are very pleased because this
    means that in September our business will go back to rebuilding our
    country with more vigour. It was important for me to meet you and
    discuss what the state should do for you and what you can do for your
    people, what you can do for your business, for your success and,
    consequently, for Georgia's future, Georgia's success and every
    Georgian's well-being.

    Before we move on to the main issues I'd like us to start with one
    also very important issue. Tomorrow, on 1 September, the new Customs
    Code enters into force. Customs duties on a vast majority of imported
    products, apart from a majority of agricultural products and certain
    types of products that can be produced in Georgia, have been
    abolished. We do not want our products to face even more
    competition. [Passage omitted]

    Russia's Georgia "policy"

    While we have done everything we could, are doing and will continue to
    do for you not to be intimidated by the Georgian state, there has
    emerged a big intimidator. It is trying to terrorize you and the whole
    of Georgia.

    Unfortunately, it is our neighbour's, Russia's political
    establishment. In recent years Russia has unfortunately had a clearly
    articulated policy with respect to Georgia. I would like to believe
    that this is the policy of only one part of Russia's leadership. The
    policy exists however. The policy is very straightforward, not to give
    Georgia an opportunity to raise its head, get stronger and restore its
    territorial integrity because Abkhazia must never go back into
    Georgia's fold, because Tskhinvali [South Ossetia] must never go back
    into Georgia's fold, because if Georgia is successful it will shatter
    the world-view of the people who take these decisions. Hence, there is
    a very clear policy in Russia aimed at changing the government and the
    authorities in Georgia as soon as possible, before it is too late for
    them. They are doing this in a very simple way. We should strangle
    Georgia to make the Georgian people believe that it makes no sense to
    fight for freedom, it makes no sense to fight for the restoration of
    the rule of law in Abkhazia and that they should overthrow this
    government, go down on their knees and crawl and kiss their toes and
    give in once and for all.

    They are not even promising anything in return. I know this because I
    have had talks. Are you not in a bad situation, they ask. The only
    thing we can do for you is not make it worse. Don't ask for anything
    else in exchange for talking to us, let alone Abkhazia or
    Tskhinvali. You will never get them back.

    Forget about them. Your main concern should be not to make your
    situation even worse. This is what we are told. Everyone else is
    offering help and assistance in the restoration of our territorial
    integrity. These people are telling us to forget about our
    territories. The only thing you can ask of us is not to make your
    situation worse than it is today. Frankly speaking, this was the
    essence of my recent talks with our partners in Russia. They are
    saying this at every level. They have finally closed the
    [Qazbegi-Zemo] Larsi checkpoint [border crossing]. They closed it not
    only to us but also to neighbouring Armenia whose cargo went through
    Larsi. Let's do some things together, they are saying to Armenia. They
    will of course fail to get anyone to agree to this but there are
    attempts to put pressure on Armenia too in the context of
    Georgia. They have completely closed their market to our wine. They
    have closed their market to our products. They have closed their
    market to between 90 and 95 per cent of products we export. The
    situation is very clear. There are three components [to their policy].

    The closure of everything is the first. Their satellite parties in
    Georgia are the second. These parties have different names but it is
    very easy to identify them. The people who are saying that the
    Georgian authorities have closed the [Russian] wine market to the
    Kakheti farmers are representatives of Russia. The people who are
    saying that the Georgian authorities are unable to have the Qazbegi
    checkpoint opened are representatives of Russia. Unlike some of my
    predecessors, I am not talking about Kremlin agents and KGB agents and
    so on. The people who echo these decision makers' call for the
    Georgians to moan that the closure of the border is the fault of this
    government, that the closure of the market is the fault of this
    government are their main allies in Georgia. It is these people and
    the media outlets disseminating this. These networks will soon start
    propagating views that the problems with the harvest are the fault of
    the government.

    "Predators"

    No-one has ever succeeded by being a slave. I assure you of
    this. No-one has ever achieved anything by bowing their head. No-one
    has ever managed to restore their county's territorial integrity or
    create a proper economy by kissing someone else's feet. Only self
    respecting countries, countries like Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and
    Latvia, which went through exactly the same problems and yet have
    become Europe's most successful economies, can succeed. I do not want
    to name a number of other countries which do everything to please
    these forces but nevertheless are beggars, as poor as they have always
    been.

    Therefore, our approach, my friends, is very simple. When will the
    Russian wine market open? I can say this openly. They are
    listening. There are 12 institutes in Moscow recoding every speech of
    mine. I would like to say to spite them that as soon as they are
    certain that Georgia hasn't collapsed the Russian wine market will
    open. [Passage omitted]

    At a recent meeting Russian diplomats said they were surprised we were
    not begging them over wine. We know that wine is a big problem for
    us. Do you think they will open the market if we talk to them about
    wine? They will conclude that they are doing the right thing and
    should push even harder because these people have predator
    instincts. They will eat you up if they smell blood. On the other
    hand, every predator backs off when it senses that you are strong.

    This is a predator instinct. Attempts to talk to a predator, persuade
    it or make it feel remorse are in vain. A predator has no
    conscious. It is guided by animal instincts. It respects power and it
    knows who is afraid of it and who is not. Our task today is to say,
    without any excess rhetoric, swearing or insults, that we shall do
    what we have to do no matter what.

    I would like to tell you that this year we have already had a nearly
    50 per cent mechanical rise in exports to every country but
    Russia. [As heard] If we manage to double the growth next year we will
    reach the 2005 figures. Next year, we will be able to reach the 2005
    figures, the highest figures since independence. This year we can
    reach the 20m bottle mark. This is the figure for 2004, the first year
    after the revolution. If we, together, overcome these problems this
    year, if on our television they do not see - and I want to tell our
    farmers, the farmers in Kakheti, brothers, we will have problems this
    year. We will have problems because this was their plan. Their plan
    however was to cause not just problems but a total
    catastrophe. [Passage omitted]

    Asks businesses to help out farmers

    There is another thing I would like you to do. We should all help
    Kakheti this year. I'd like you to do this. Where is [Tbilisi Mayor]
    Gigi Ugulava? Come here, please. We are here in a beautiful
    vineyard. I came with my bodyguards.

    There also is a new police station in Sagarejo. This is very good. A
    decision has been taken to - I have told you that no-one is forcing
    you to do anything and no-one is threatening you. The state no longer
    extorts money. I would like to extort little bit of money from you
    today, for the first and the final time. I propose that your
    companies buy 10,000 tonnes of grapes each in Kakheti this year. You
    can feed it to your staff or make wine out of it and put your
    companies' names on it. Ugulava has a proposal.

    [Ugulava] We have decided that the Mayor's Office will buy twice as
    much as the companies present here. [Passage omitted]

    [Saakashvili] I should also tell you that an economic war has been
    declared against us. This is nothing but an economic war. This is not
    an ordinary situation. An economic war has been declared on us to make
    us weak now so that they do not lose a bigger war later. Therefore, we
    are setting up a kind of military command centres. I am instructing
    [Zurab] Noghaideli, the prime minister, to coordinate rtveli [grape
    harvest] in Kakheti. We have assigned ministers to four main
    districts, five to be precise, Sagarejo, Gurjaani, Telavi, Qvareli and
    Sighnaghi. There are problems with [the sale of] grapes in other
    places too but these are affected more than others. We have assigned
    ministers, Noghaideli, [Mikheil] Svimonishvili, the agriculture
    minister, Vano Merabishvili, the interior minister, Irakli
    Okruashvili, the defence minister and Zurab Adeishvili, the
    prosecutor-general. Each of them is responsible for one district. The
    government is not taking anything and is not setting the prices.

    We cannot introduce military communism but we will give tractors to
    people free of charge, we will assist in organizational issues and we
    will facilitate the provision of loans by private banks to plants so
    that the loss we incur in this year's rtveli is as small as
    possible. We will incur a loss but we must not make the enemy
    happy. We must not let the enemy achieve its goal. They should see
    that they are dealing with an organized nation as during the energy
    crises. [Passage omitted]

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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