Mikhail Saakashvili states his commitment to building democratic institutions in Georgia

Mikhail Saakashvili, President of Georgia, on 24 January said that his government is committed to "building a stable and healthy state, one based not on personalities but on robust democratic institutions".

In a speech to the Assembly, he said the last presidential elections were the first to be "truly competitive"; although he admitted the electoral process can be improved.

He declared that in Abkhazia and South Ossetia systematic abuses of human rights continue today, and the solutions Georgia offers to the problems in these regions guarantee the integrity of the State, self governance and the protection of human freedoms.