I join all of you in celebrating Veterans Day today, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated in his speech at today’s event celebrating Veterans Day.

“The status of a veteran is one of the most honorable in our society, because it is not just a symbolic status, but one with its main merit lying in the fact that a veteran is the homeland’s protector, a selfless person sacrificing themselves for the homeland, who has protected and continues to protect our country. Therefore, I bow before each veteran. Once again, on behalf of our Government, I would like to thank our veterans, all veterans, who have shed blood for our country, who have protected and continue to protect and serve our state, our country. You know that our Government, our authorities, are doing everything to appreciate our veterans’ merits, service, their most difficult merit, I would say.

I can remember and list a few. You know that, about 10 years ago, there was no universal insurance package, even minimal, for the veterans. But today we can state proudly that the state, the Government, is spending 125 million GEL to have insurance for all veterans financed by the Government. Besides, of course, about 40 million GEL is spent to compensate war veterans, and about 25 million GEL is spent on various services. I also would like to point out that, on our Government’s decision, as you know, a 1,000-GEL monthly compensation was allocated for the families of our deceased heroes. I am not saying that it is a large allowance, but it is a symbolic expression on the part of our Government to allocate to them a monthly allowance, compensation. I do not want to list them all, and this list is long. However, I believe that it is not that the Government is priding itself on it, I only want to emphasize that it is our duty, our obligation, to do the maximum for our veterans.

I once again bow my head to honor the memory of our heroes. The Head of the Service opened the event, and we honored our heroes, our deceased veterans, and not only, with a moment of silence.

I also want to say that we are now working to make sure that the current service of the forces in general is duly appreciated. You know that we have implemented more than one important endeavor and initiative for service members, police officers, and other services, such as a raise-the salaries of soldiers and police officers, and Special Service employees, increased by 50%. I also would like to inform you that we will soon, very soon, announce a relevant decision, based on which the pension system for the forces will be regulated, because so far it has been static and closed, so to speak. I will announce this decision very soon.

You know that we have launched important reforms for our service members and police officers, which will ensure improvements in their social conditions, be it apartment construction or other social guarantees.

All this is being done to ensure that the employees of the forces-who are ready to sacrifice the most precious thing, their lives-are duly appreciated by the Government. I repeat that this is our duty, our obligation. Once again, I want to thank each service member, our veterans, our police officers. God be your protector. Thank you!”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.