Saakashvili, Yushchenko Welcome New Year in Kiev
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 1 Jan.'05 / 18:31

Shortly after midnight on New Year's eve Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the Ukrainian President-elect Victor Yushchenko appeared on Kiev’s Independence Square were thousands of people where gathered to celebrate New Year.

Georgian televisions broadcasted Mikheil Saakashvili addressing people on the Independence Square in the Ukrainian. "During the [orange] revolution I couldn't officially support you, but I was with you and I feel myself again a resident of Kiev," Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili lived a while in the Ukrainian capital while completing coursework in the Faculty of International Law at the Kiev State University in 1992.

Saakashvili also said that "on this square, the future of Europe is being resolved."

Georgian media reported that Victor Yushchenko and Mikheil Saakashvili intend informal talks on January 1 to discuss bilateral ties, as well as relations with Russia and Euro-Atlantic structures.

The Georgian President also spoke about the Ukrainian developments on December 29, while reviewing 2004, and said that “the Ukrainian revolution triggered geopolitical revolution for Georgia.”
 
He said, the November Rose Revolution, which “gave Georgia a special status, would have stayed in isolation if not the recent developments in Ukraine.”
 
“Our factor was rather important for the Ukrainian revolution ... On the other hand Georgia is no more isolated... A state has emerged [in the region], which like Georgia, has chosen the way towards European integration,” Saakashvili said.

President Saakashvili also made his New Year address to the nation, which was broadcasted live from Kiev. He once again stressed that 2004 was a year of huge success for Georgia.

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