THE PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA WELCOMES
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO GEORGIA ON HIS ARRIVAL

Format:

Air Force One arrives
President Saakashvili greets President Bush.
The President will be accompanied by his spouse, Ms Sandra Roelofs,
The Chair of the Parliament of Georgia, Nino Burjanadze
The Prime Minister, Zurab Nogahaideli
The National Security Advisor, Gela Bezhuashvili

[The official arrival ceremony with honors will occur on Tuesday morning at the courtyard of the Parliament of Georgia. There are no ceremonies or remarks this evening at the arrival at the airport.]

Monday, 9 May 2005
TBILISI , GEORGIA

PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI HOSTS PRESIDENT BUSH
IN OLD TOWN TBILISI AT ‘ABANOTUBANI’

Format:

In this visit to Old Town, Georgians will present some of their best traditional dancers and music as President Saakashvili and his spouse, Ms Sandra Roelofs, introduce President Bush and Mrs. Bush to the beautiful culture of Georgia and the strong Georgian tradition of hospitality and welcome.

No speeches or ceremonies will occur during this warm Georgian welcome planned by the artists and people of Georgia for the President of the United States.

“Abanotubani” has been the site of active warm springs and sulfur baths for more than a millennium. It is the oldest part of Tbilisi. The baths are still active and many Georgians regularly take the baths here.

Among the performers this evening at Abanotubani:

“National Academy of Ballet”, more than 100 artists performing
“Orbi”, nearly 50 youngsters from Tbilisi’s Academy of Young Virtuosos
“ Rustavi”, ensemble of 70 from the National Folksong and Dance academy
and another 100 Georgians in a variety of groups.

Many of these artists will also perform on Tuesday for the public at Freedom Square.

Tuesday 10 May 2005
TBILISI , GEORGIA

HONORS ARRIVAL CEREMONY

Elements of the Program

The President of Georgia greets the President of the United States and escorts him to the reviewing platform

Anthem of Georgia
Anthem of the United States of America

BAND NAME?

Commander of the Honor Guard invites
President Saakashvili and President Bush to review Honor Guard

Review of troops
Georgian Army
Georgian Navy
Georgian Air Force

President Saakashvili and President Bush greet the official Delegation of the Government of Georgia

President Saakashvili and President Bush greet the official Delegation of the United States and officers of the Embassy of the United States

Tuesday 10 May 2005
TBILISI GEORGIA

PRIVATE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA
AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
With Georgian and U.S. officials

Government of Georgia Participants in the private meeting of President Saakashvili and President Bush:

The Chair of Parliament of Georgia, Her Excellency, Dr. Nino Burjanadze

The Prime Minister of Georgia, His Excellency Zurab Noghaideli

The Foreign Minister, H.E. Salome Zurabishvili

The Minister of Defense H.E. Irakli Okruashvili

The State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration,
H.E. Giorgi Baramidze

Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Gigi Ugulava

National Security Advisor to the President Mr. Gela Bezhuashvili

Ambassador of Georgia to the United States, H.E. Levan Mikeladze

Government of the United States Participants:

Tuesday 10 May 2005
TBILISI , GEORGIA

PRESS STATEMENTS OF PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI
AND PRESIDENT BUSH

Format:

Announcement of President Saakashvili and President Bush
Opening Statement of President Saakashvili
Opening Statement of President Bush
A few questions from the press corps of Georgia, the White House press and representatives of other international press.

Tuesday 10 May 2005
TBILISI , GEORGIA

PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI AND PRESIDENT BUSH
HAVE DISCUSSION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES

All of these participants are citizens of Georgia:

Mrs. Nona Aldamova-Japaridze , from the Akhmeta District in eastern Georgia is a graduate of Tbilisi State Medical Institute. She is President of “Caucasian Women’s Rights”, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) which she established in 2003.

Aldamova-Japaridze          ahl-dah-noh-vah jah-pah-reed-zeh

Mr. Jambul Anchabadze was born in a village near Zugdidi, the major town in the western Georgian province of Samegrelo just east of Abkhazia. He received a degree in history from Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute and lectured in history there for nearly 20 years. After the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in 1992-93, he relocated to Tbilisi and currently teaches as a Professor of History on the “faculty-in-exile” of the Sukhumi Branch of Tbilisi State University.

Abkhazi                            ahb-HA-zee-ah
Jambul Anchabadze          Jahm-bull ahn-ha-bahd-zeh
Zugdidi                            zuhg-dee-dee
Samegrelo                       sah-may-greh-low
Sukhumi                          soo-hoo-mee

Mr. Rostom Atashov is a lifelong resident of Tbilisi. Mr. Rostom received his law degree from Yaroslavl State University in Russia in 1987 and worked there in the Prosecutor’s office after graduation. He returned home to Georgia in 1988 and joined the Ministry of Justice. He also sat several terms as a judge in Georgia. He currently serves as chair of the NGO “Union of Yazidis of Georgia” (Georgian Kurds are also known as “Yazidis”), the larger of two Kurdish organizations in Georgia. Founded in 1987, the organization has approximately 10,000 members and works to promote the Kurdish language and culture in Georgia and assists ethnic Kurds with their integration into Georgian society.

Atashov                  ah-tah-shahv

Mr. Edgar Bitbunov was born in Tbilisi. In 2000 he graduated from the Small Academy at the Association of Young Scientists of Georgia, Faculty of Law. In 1998 Edgar became head of the Assyrian Youth Department, part of the Assyrian National Congress (ANC) of Georgia, and two years later was elected to the board of the same organization. The ANC was established in 1992 and focuses on protection of the rights of Assyrians in Georgia, as well as preservation of Assyrian cultural heritage and issues of social integration. Since 2000 Edgar has been actively involved in organizing a number of conferences.

Edgar Bitbunov              biht-buh-nohv

Mr. Robert Chomarian was born in Akhalkalaki, chief town of Javakheti region, which is known for its large ethnically Armenian population. In 1972 he graduated from the Yerevan Institute of Agriculture in neighboring Armenia SSR. From 1979 to 1980, he worked on the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. From 1980 to 1989, he worked on the Department of Agriculture of Akhalkalaki District, and then on the Agricultural Committee responsible for supplying food to the Black Sea coastal resorts under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Georgian SSR. Currently he serves as Director of the Akhalkalaki branch of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which is rehabilitating children’s hospitals and medical clinics. He is also involved in exchange programs to bring ethnic Armenian school children to study in other parts of Georgia.

Robert Chomarian                 cho-MAH-ree-in
Akhalkalaki                          ah-hal-kah-lah-kee

Ms Alana Gagloeva, Deputy Spokesperson for the President of Georgia, is Tbilisi born and an ethnic Ossete. She was formerly a moderator of focus groups at the privately run Institute of Polling and Marketing in Tbilisi. She was also the drummer in Tbilisi-based rock band, Embryon. She is currently studying English, French, German, other languages and Culture at the Institute of Foreign Languages at Tbilisi State University.

Alana Gagloeva             Ah-lah-nah gog-LOW-ay-vah
Ossete                          oh-sett

Mr. Vasilii Ivanovich Kadenets was born in the Gulripshi District of Abkhazia and received a doctorate in Economics at the Sukhumi Subtropical Institute in Sukhumi. He currently serves as ataman (leader) of the Cossack Union of Georgia, and works actively to promote friendly relations between his organization and similar Cossack organizations in Russia. He fought during the 1992-93 conflict in Abkhazia (on the Georgian side).

Vasilii Kadenets                          vah-see-lee kah-deh-nehts
Gulripshi                                    goohl-reep-shee
Abkhazia                                    ahb-HA-zee-ah
Sukhumi                                    soo-hoo-mee

Mr. Mamuka Khutsishvili was born in the Samarkand Region of Uzbekistan because his ehnic-Meshketian family was deported from Georgia to Uzbekistan in 1944. He relocated to Georgia in 1997. He received a degree in management from the St. Petersburg Railway Transport Institute. Mr. Khutsishvili is now in private b usiness in Tbilisi. He spends a great deal of his time assisting the returning Meskhetian population with their reintegration into Georgian society.

Khutsishvili                                 hoot-seesh-vee-lee

Mrs. Ana Matveeva was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, and in 1985 graduated from the Kiev Institute of Light Industry where she received a degree in Economics. Ana has lived in Georgia since 1986. From 1986-99, she worked as an economist at the electronics factory, “Orion.” She began teaching at the Ukrainian School in Tbilisi in 1999, and in 2004 received a degree in Russian Literature from Tbilisi State University. Since 2000 she has served as the director of a Ukrainian secondary school in Tbilisi, where she currently resides.

Mateeva                                      mah-TEE-eh-vah

Ms. Marina Meshvildishvili was born and raised in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia. In 1991, during the midst of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, she moved to Tbilisi to continue her work with trade unions there. She currently resides in Tbilisi, where she has serves as the chair of “Tskhinvali House,” a confederation of 17 Georgian and South Ossetian NGOs that claims to work on civil society development in South Ossetia. She travels regularly to South Ossetia to meet with colleagues there.

Meshvildishvili                            mesh-veel-deesh-vee-lee
Tskhinvali

Mr. Nasib Nasibov was born in Marneuli, a principal town in the Azeri-populated region of Kvemo Kartli, bordering Azerbaijan. He specialized in Near Eastern Studies at Baku State University in Azerbaijan SSR. He currently works as a journalist for the venerable Azeri-language newspaper Gürcüstan, which was founded in 1921 as the voice of the Azeri community of Georgia and which remains the main media vehicle for the Azeri community to this day. He also teaches Azeri language at Caucasian University in Tbilisi.

Nasib Nasibov                    nah-sihb nah-see-bohv
Marneuli                            marr-new-lee
Kvemo Kartli                      kih-veh-moh kahrt-lee
Gurcustan                          goohr-jih-stahn

Mr. Anzor Shaoshvili graduated Tbilisi State University with a degree in economics and had a career for years as a documentary filmmaker and book distributor. Since 1995, he has served as coordinator of “JOINT”, a Jewish-American Joint Distribution Committee that administers food and medical assistance to vulnerable groups in the Georgian and Armenian population with a special focus on the Jewish community which has centuries of history in Georgia.

Anzor Shaoshvili                   ahn-zohr showsh-vee-lee

Mrs. Nino Stavridi was born in Tbilisi and graduated from Tbilisi University where she specialized in Greek language and literature. She did postgraduate work in Greece. She returned to Tbilisi and has worked since 2000 at the Embassy of Greece in Georgia as both consular and economic assistant. She is a member of the editorial board of the journal, Georgia-Ellada and a founder of the Georgia-Ellada Fund.

Nino Stavridi                   nee-noh stah-vree-dee

Mr. Arnold Stefanian was born in Tbilisi and graduated with a degree in International Economics from Tbilisi State University. He currently serves as the director of the NGO “Multinational Georgia,” an organization that works on legal rights for the various ethnic minorities of the country. He is currently engaged in a longstanding effort to lobby Parliament to pass a new law giving greater legal status to Georgian ethnic minorities. He is chair of the Union of Young Armenians of Georgia, which works specifically with ethnic-Armenians and chair of the Union of Armenians in Tbilisi.

Stefanian                   steh-FAH-nee-in

Mrs. Leila Suleimanova was born in Marneuli, one of the principal towns in the Azeri-populated region of Kvemo Kartli bordering Azerbaijan. In 1988, she graduated from Baku State University in Azerbaijan SSR where she specialized in Near Eastern and Arab Studies. In 2000 she founded the Marneuli-based NGO, “Union of Azerbaijani Women of Georgia”. She runs a U.S.-funded center to help educate local Azeri women in computer skills, Georgian language and about their legal rights.

Leila Suleimanova                   lay-lah soo-lee-mah-noh-vah
Marneuli                                 marr-new-lee
Kvemo Kartli                          kih-veh-moh kahrt-lee

Tuesday 10 May 2005
Tbilisi , Georgia

THE CHAIR OF THE PARLIAMENT OF GEORGIA HAS PRIVATE GREETING WITH PRESIDENT BUSH