President Mikheil Saakashvili said on September 7, while visiting the southern Georgian region Samtskhe-Javakheti, which is predominately populated by ethnic Armenians, that the government’s current policy aims at “putting an end to the isolation of this region.”

“This region was absolutely forgotten. But now, look how many things are happening… we are constructing a new road in Ninotsminda [a district in Samtskhe-Javakheti]… 2,000 Russian soldiers are leaving [the Akhalkalaki military base]. These soldiers were supplied [with agricultural goods] by locals and now this region will solely provide Georgia’s 20,000 servicemen with [agricultural] products. We are putting an end to the isolation of this region,” Mikheil Saakashvili told reporters after the opening ceremony of a new secondary school in the village of Gandza.