Greetings, my dear friends, I welcome the Parliament Speaker, Mr. Shalva Papuashvili, I welcome Mr. Grigol Liluashvili, and the service’s leadership, each employee. Firstly, I would like to join you in celebrating this day. Eight years have passed since the establishment of this service, and it has carried our very important reforms since, evolving into an independent, effective system, into a service that protects the safety of our citizens and empowers our state, and defends our state’s interests above all else, Georgian Prime Minister said in his speech at today’s event celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of the State Security Service [SSS].

Irakli Garibashvili thanked Grigol Liluashvili and each employee of the service, and pointed out the enormous importance of the SSS’s effective performance.

“Once again, on behalf of our Government, I would like to thank Mr. Grigol Liluashvili. Under his leadership, this service has advanced to the next level. Under his leadership, many important reforms have been carried out, making the service even stronger. For this, I thank you, Mr. Liluashvili, and your leadership, and I thank all of you, each and every employee.

I also would like to emphasize-and Mr. Liluashvili spoke about it at length-the enormous importance of the service’s effective performance. Your role is decisive, I would say, because you assess, identify, prevent, and eliminate threats, both internal and external. This service is also fighting against terrorism, corruption, and, most importantly-I would like to reiterate-protects the safety of our citizens at the highest level.

As you know, we are currently facing major challenges, our country and the region as a whole. The European Continent has not seen a challenge of this magnitude since WWII, and world order in general is facing a colossal challenge. Under these circumstances, the role of our Government and the State Security Service directly lies in maintaining peace and stability, of course. As you know-and Mr. Liluashvili succinctly explained and underlined it-despite numerous attempts, and provocative and destructive actions, our Government has maintained peace, stability, and, most importantly, we are rapidly stepping up the country’s economy, which reflects directly in the welfare of our population, citizens. As you know, there are multidimensional threats, and we have to deal with hybrid threats, with occupation and its accompanying risks, those that stem from occupation in general. On a daily basis, this service protects the safety of our citizens. At the same time, we-despite these challenges accompanying occupation-have succeeded over the past ten years in maintaining peace, stability.

This is the only peaceful period when the country has not lost territories, has not seen war or any serious conflict or challenge, which is of course a result of our Government’s prudent vision and policy, and there is no alternative to this. We know well that there have been many attempts at using Georgia as a tool against or for the benefit of particular countries. Our main slogan is the protection of our country’s national interests, not serving the interests of other countries. I want to underline this, because we, for over ten years, have been strengthening our country’s sovereignty and not the sovereignty of other countries. This is very important. It is with special gratitude that I would like to point out your high professionalism and your patriotism. This is what this service needs: professionalism and patriotism. For this, I once again thank you on behalf of our Government. I am confident that our country will avert these geopolitical crises and ongoing threats in general. We must lead our country to safety. We must protect our citizens’ interests. I also would like to note that Georgia is presently developing at exceptional pace. We are one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. We are also developing our relations both in the neighborhood and with leading, major economies. Ensuring our interests is a must. Every step we take serves the purpose of ensuring our country’s interests. In the same vein, our country’s regional and international role is growing every day. This needs encouragement, maintenance, and further empowerment. I am confident that, as a result of our right, pragmatic, result-oriented policy, our country will succeed in peaceful de-occupation and the unification of our country-there is no higher national interest in the country today. And this is our and the State Security Service’s main duty, along with the everyday activities carried out by you. And the interests of our citizens, all state agencies, and our population must be directed toward achieving this great goal. Of course, this requires taking into account and analyzing-properly, without emotions-the many crude mistakes or crimes committed in the past, and it also calls for consistently pursuing our national policy. The service needs further appreciation, further assistance, further empowerment. Mr. Liluashvili, it is our duty, my duty to do more for you, so that your everyday work may be even better protected, empowered, appreciated. And I promise to continue standing by you. Once again, Mr. Liluashvili, I wholeheartedly wish you and each employee of your service success and victory”, - said the Prime Minister.