Meeting between the Presidnet of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili and the candidate of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is over. Both leaders of the United National Movement and the Georgian Dream coalition made statements for media after the meeting.
`Our meeting today was the continuation of the healthy politics, which my team and I succeeded to bring in Georgia`s political reality. The fact that my team and I managed to create a precedent of democratic change of government for the first time in the history of Georgia; it will be mentioned in the history with dignity. The fact that during past one year, we succeeded to respond to all unworthy acts from our opponents with dignity has become the reason of today`s meeting and its continuation. We are reaffirming that we shall not treat out opponents the way they deserve, but we`ll treat them the way which our nation, our people and our culture deserve. It was the reason of our meeting today. We talked about foreign policy, coincidence of visions and etc, which we had stated before and we agreed that Europe and the Euro-Atlantic sphere will be our strategy, our aspiration to join Europe will be irreversible and Georgia will succeed to join NATO in a few years. It`s good that we have met; it`s good that Saakashvili could make the statement, which I welcomed, and the choice which he made after the elections. Our today`s meeting serves the aim to show the world that we are a cultural nation, we are beginning a new life and we`ll treat our opponents with dignity,` Ivanishvili said.
`A historic fact is taking place in Georgia today - in this region of post-Soviet space, the transition of the most of functions of executive government is taking place democratically. Georgian people have made their choice. We always said and we`ll say repeat it today, that we are respecting the choice of Georgian people, they are the supreme acting figures in the country, they determine political processes. We had a discussion and of course, it is not a surprise for anyone that we have fundamental differences on many political issues, many national issues, but as a responsible government, I, as the president, who is the guarantee of constitution, provide that the transition of functions occur democratically, without any incidents, the way that has never happened in the history of Georgia before - taking into consideration the interests of Georgian people and the interests of democratic frames. We must maintain democracy and succeed to more free elections in the future, democracy should be reinforced and the people of Georgia must be given an opportunity to develop it always. As a president, I will work to protect the interests of Georgian people and it will be the main goal of my team too,` Saakashvili said.