OSCE Chair Visited Occupation Line Before Coming to Tbilisi
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, February 12
Chairperson-in-office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak visited the occupation line in Georgia late on Sunday before coming to Tbilisi to hold meetings with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, Foreign Minister David Zalkalinai and the opposition members.
Lajcak, who paid one of his first visits as the OSCE head to Georgia, tweeted that it was his wish to see the occupation line first, the place where illegal barbed-wire fences separate Georgia and its eastern, Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
Slovakia took over the chairmanship of OSCE in 2019 in January this year and stated that working for improvements in conflict issues would be one of its top priorities.
Meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani Lajcak said that the slogan of Slovakia as the OSCE chair is People, Dialogue and Stability and “we should use all levers available for dialogue and support people affected by conflicts in Georgia.”
Zalkaliani stated that only the firm stance of the international community will provide opportunities for the resolution of the conflict.
He and the Georgian PM personally thanked the Slovak FM for visiting the occupation line.
Bakhtadze and Lajcak spoke about the priorities of Slovakia in OSCE in 2019 and its future intentions.
“Lajcak stated that the humanitarian issues of the conflict-affected population will be one of the top priorities for Slovakia in the OSCE," the Prime Minister’s press office said.
While in Georgia Lajcak met with the member of the European Georgia opposition party, Gigi Tsereteli, who currently chairs the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE.
Tsereteli stated that regional conflicts, their prevention, human rights and humanitarian issues have been discussed at the meeting.
Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have recognized the two occupied regions of Georgia Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent republics in the wake of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
The rest of the international community confirms that the regions are occupied by Russia.
