Jan. 30 / Administration of , 2012

Remarks Following a Meeting With President Mikheil Saakashvili of January 30, 2012

President Obama. Well, I want to welcome vest in Georgia, for us to be able to sell Geor- President Saakashvili and his delegation here. gia our goods and services, and Georgia to be And it’s a wonderful occasion to have him here able to sell theirs as well. as we’ll be celebrating this year 20 years of in- On defense and security, I expressed my dependence for Georgia and the eighth anni- gratitude to the President for the extraordinary versary of the . contributions that have been made by the I think Georgia should be extraordinarily Georgian military in . They have proud of the progress that it has made in build- been one of the most dedicated contributors ing a sovereign and democratic country. And outside of NATO to the ISAF effort, and in one of the first things that I did was express my fact have taken on some significant casualties appreciation for the institution-building that’s as a consequence of those efforts. been taking place in —in Georgia, the We have talked about how we will continue importance of making sure that minorities are to strengthen our defense cooperation, and respected, the importance of a police—and a there are a wide range of areas where we are system of rule of law that is being observed, working together. And I reaffirmed to the the kinds of institution-building that is going to President and assured him that the United make an enormous difference in the future of States will continue to support Georgia’s aspi- not just this generation of Georgians, but fu- rations to ultimately become a member of ture generations of Georgians. NATO. And so I want to express my appreciation for Finally, I wanted to say to the President that the work that’s been done in the past, but also we appreciate the model of democracy and anticipating fair and free elections here, the transparency that they’ve been setting not just formal transfer of power that will be taking for their own country, but also for the region as place in Georgia, which I think will solidify a whole. And we think that with continued many of these reforms that have already taken progress over the next several years that a lot of place. countries will say to themselves that if Georgia We discussed how we can continue to can perform these transformations, then we strengthen the strong bilateral relationship be- can as well. They’ve been a responsible player tween our two countries. Part of this is eco- on the world scene and in multilateral fora. nomic. Obviously, Georgia has made strides in And so under the President’s leadership, I creating a effective free market system, and think that they’ve made enormous strides. And more progress needs to be made. The United we will continue to look for opportunities to States wants to help in that progress. strengthen what is already a very strong bilat- And so one of the most important things eral relationship. that we’re doing in addition to things like the So welcome, Mr. President. Thank you so MCC and OPIC loans is also what we’ve much for being here. agreed to is a high-level dialogue between our President Saakashvili. Thank you so much. two countries about how we can continue to Thank you. strengthen trade relations between our two Well, Mr. President, I’m incredibly honored countries, including the possibility of a free to be back in the Oval Office. And I can tell trade agreement. Obviously, there’s a lot of you we are incredibly grateful as a nation for work to be done and there are going to be a lot continued support and strong basically cooper- of options that are going to be explored. The ation that we’ll be getting from your adminis- key point though is we think it’s a win-win for tration and from the of America the United States and for Georgia as we con- at every level. And for my country’s indepen- tinue to find opportunities for businesses to in- dence, for its future, for the future of our de-

108 Administration of Barack Obama, 2012 / Jan. 31 mocracy, for the future of our region, that has ing in another political system, constitution been absolutely decisive and key in all differ- system, with more parliamentary government. ent directions. And as you rightly mentioned, there is—well, Obviously, there’s a very good understand- there will be—next year a new President will ing at a number of levels. We are grateful for be elected in Georgia. And that’s also impor- your support for our NATO aspirations. We tant because that’s also—will move our democ- are very grateful for elevating our defense co- racy forward and will generally get much more operation further and talking about Georgia’s to a diversified and pluralistic political scene. self-defense capabilities and developing it, be- And obviously, I will continue to cooperate cause that’s also, of course, an important mes- with you in all these directions that these gains sage back to my nation. get solidified, irreversible. And nothing can It’s very important that you mentioned, ob- take Georgia away from this track of progress. viously, the prospect of a free trade agreement Nothing can bring us back to a less democratic, with Georgia, because that’s going to attract corrupt, retrograde political system or political lots of additional activity to my country and ba- actors. sically helping our nation-building process. And obviously, this was very, very—from my Thank you again for complimenting us on point of view, I’ll be—again, my personal grati- our reforms. Obviously, the reform process is tude. I’ll be leaving this office very happy be- never over, but these reforms would not have cause we basically got what we wanted to get. happened without strong commitment and Thanks so much. support and advice from your administration President Obama. Thank you. and from the United States and your people on President Saakashvili. Thank you. the ground. We deeply appreciate all this. Obviously, next—this year we have parlia- NOTE: The President spoke at 2:59 p.m. in the mentary elections which will mark also bring- Oval Office at the .

Remarks Prior to a Cabinet Meeting and an Exchange With Reporters January 31, 2012

The President. Hello, everybody. This is our about a whole set of measures that can acceler- first Cabinet meeting after my State of the ate financing to startup companies, can provide Union Address, and it gives me an opportunity tax breaks to startups and small businesses that to share my ideas and initiatives with my Cabi- are interested in either hiring more workers or net, but also to get some feedback from them. increasing their wages, that looks at innovative One of the top priorities that I mentioned ways for them to raise capital. And my expecta- during the State of the Union was the need for tion and hope is, is that they will get a bill to- us to small—promote small business. And I’m gether quickly, that they will pass it and get it very pleased that we’ve got Karen Mills here, on my desk. I will sign it right away, and I who has participated in our meetings before, would like to see that bill signed this year. but is now an official member of the Cabinet. In addition, we’ve got all the Cabinet agen- It is a symbol of how important it is for us to cies who are here represented; they are putting spur entrepreneurship, to help startups, to forward their own initiatives to enhance the move aggressively so that we can assure more ability of entrepreneurs to get up and running. companies that create the most jobs in our So, for example, the Department of Homeland economy are getting a leg up from the various Security, my understanding is we’re going to programs that we have in our Government. be talking about how we can improve the visa I mentioned at the State of the Union that process for those who are interested in invest- there have been discussions, bipartisan discus- ing in the United States and starting businesses sions between Republicans and Democrats, here in the United States.

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