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Tuesday, October 4
Nicolas Sarkozy and Tbilisoba

Since its establishment, the Tbilisoba public celebration was always held on the last weekend of October, but after 33 years of this tradition, Tbilisi City Hall decided to change the date and it will be held on October 7-9 instead, Rezonansi writes.

Just two weeks ago it became known that on October 7, the French President Nicholas Sarkozy will pay a visit to Tbilisi where he will hold a public speech on Freedom Square together with his counterpart Saakashvili. So it seems that the Tbilisoba public holiday will be opened by the French President and the government changed the traditional date because of that. However Tbilisi City Hall categorically denies this and claims that the date changed because of the weather. According to opposition members of Tbilisi City Council it was planned beforehand in order to coincide with Sarkozy’s visit as the government wanted to create a pleasant mood for this day.

As for the visit's plans, it is known so far that after a public speech and address to the Georgians from Freedom Square, the French President will hold a meeting with President Saakashvili.



Foreign and Georgian Teachers Participate in Vintage

The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and Minister of Education, Dimitri Shashkini together with the participants of the programs “Teach and Learn with Georgia,“ and “Georgian Language for Future Success” visited Kakheti and took part in the vintage. The president, minister and the teachers picked grapes at the vineyard of the professional college “Aisi” and participated in wine making.

In the framework of the event, the president talked to the new participates of these educational programs.

Selected teachers of the “Georgian Language for Future Success” have already commenced their activities. In particular, they have started to teach Georgian language to the students of non-Georgian schools in the Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, and Kakheti regions. While conducting Georgian language lessons, the program participants co-teach with local teachers of the Georgian language and assist the teachers of other subjects to deliver classes bilingually.

Apart from teaching English to Georgian schoolchildren, the volunteer teachers of the program “Teach and Learn with Georgia” are actively involved in the social and cultural life of Georgia. They learn about customs and traditions of the country and take part in different events.

Meanwhile a new presidential program “Gas to Every Village” has been launched that implies the introduction of high and medium pressure gas networks to villages enabling any household, if wishing so, to form an agreement with a distribution company and receive natural gas.