OSCE representatives hold their first meetings in Georgia after 2008
By Messenger Staff
Tuesday, November 3
Permanent representatives of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have held their first meetings in Georgia since July 2008.
American, Canadian, Lithuanian, Romanian and Swedish Permanent Representatives to the OSCE, the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization, have already held meetings with Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Georgia’s Special Envoy to Russia, Zurab Abashidze.
Georgia’s state security, conflicts, Russian aggression and its ongoing creeping occupation, human rights, justice system and other domestic and foreign affairs were all discussed during the meetings.
The PM stressed at the meeting that the visit was the best way to become familiar with the real situation in the country.
Garibashvili spoke about the successful reforms in the country which have empowered Georgia’s striving towards Europe, as well as Georgia’s peaceful attitude to solving conflicts, the Prime Minister’s webpage said.
Georgia’s Special Envoy to Russia, Zurab Abashidze, stressed that the OSCE representatives were interested in the current Georgian-Russian relations.
“We spoke about the difficulties and what problems existed in the Russian-Georgian relations. We also discussed the situation in terms of Georgia’s direct dialogue with Russia,” Abashidze said, noting that the OSCE representatives also asked questions as to whether he discussed the same issues with Russia’s Special Envoy that were touched on at the Geneva International Talks or not.
The Permanent Representatives were also scheduled to visit the Khurvaleti village, where Russian border guards have illegally erected barbed wire fences before paying a visit to the internally displaced people’s (IDP) settlement in Tserovani.
The OSCE mission was established in Georgia in 1992 and they supported the local Government in coping with regional conflicts, as well as addressing human rights issues and enforcing the rule of law.
However, it was ultimately impossible to reach a consensus over the continuation of the mandate and the mission closed in 2008.
The OSCE is concerned with early-warning crisis aversion, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. Its 57 participating states are located in Europe, northern and central Asia and North America and cover much of the land area of the Northern Hemisphere. It was created during the Cold War era as an East–West forum in 1975.
