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Georgian president: Georgia can share experience with Millennium Development Goals

Politics Materials 21 September 2010 12:35 (UTC +04:00)
While addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said his country is willing to share its experience combating corruption with the international community, adding that corruption is a serious impediment to implementing the Millennium Development Goals.
Georgian president: Georgia can share experience with Millennium Development Goals

USA, New York, Sept.21 / Trend Special Correspondent A.Privalov /

While addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said his country is willing to share its experience combating corruption with the international community, adding that corruption is a serious impediment to implementing the Millennium Development Goals.

"It is important not just to allocate funds for development, but also to establish control over their use," he said. "If you look at the fight against poverty only in terms of money distribution, then it is important not to allow these funds to fall into the hands of the local bureaucracy."

According to the president, "the funds allocated for housing construction to the hands of the local bureaucracy can be spent on building their own villas."

He added that the funds allocated for children's education may be used to send the kids of bureaucrats abroad, and the money allocated to build hospitals may be spent on sending the wives of bureaucrats abroad to give birth in foreign clinics.

"We were a country stuck in corruption, and millions of dollars were lost that should have gone toward retirees and children," he said.

Saakashvili added that in recent years much has been done to combat corruption in Georgia.

"Today, we are not only fighting corruption, but we have also done a great deal for the country's development," he said.

A 12-year educational system has also been introduced, the president noted.

"Roughly 10,000 teachers who speak English as a native language are also teaching our children," Saakashvili said.

He also stressed the country's progress in the medical and ecological sectors.

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