UN General Assembly
2013

It is a great honour to once again represent my beloved nation at this rostrum. During the past decade, when I have had the privilege to address the Hall, Georgia has moved from a failed State to a market democracy. We have experienced both advances and setbacks, both breakthroughs and mistakes. But the world has been able to witness my nation’s constant commitment to freedom. I ask members today once again to hear the voice of a nation that transcends political, social and religious differences in a common love for freedom — a voice that, despite all the problems we have encountered and the challenges we still have to overcome, is full of hope. Looking at our world today, I think that this voice of hope is needed. The optimism of the early 1990s, when the spread of liberal and democratic values seemed natural, when the end of history had been proclaimed, and when the United Nations was set to become the heart and the soul of a world finally at peace, the optimism of that