April 29, 2005 - 10:33 AMT
ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN MET GEORGIAN PRESIDENT
During the meeting with Armenian Parliament Speaker Artur Baghdasarian, who is on a two-day visit to Tbilisi at present, Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili stated that after the withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Akhalkalaki (the Armenian-populated region of Samtskhe-Javakhetia) the Georgian authorities do not intend to dislocate any military unit there. "We are just going to offer the local inhabitants to serve in the Georgian military bases with a salary higher than they get to date", the Georgian President said. He stressed that a program of social rehabilitation will be launched soon and added that Georgian Government "seriously proceeded" to the settlement of problems available in Samtskhe-Javakhetia. "We will establish a network of road repair. Presently the Akhaltsikhe-Akhalkalaki highway and roads within Akhalkalaki are being built while in autumn the construction of Tbilisi-Akhlkalaki-Akaltsikhe route to stretch to the Turkish border will be started", Mikhail Saakashvili noted.