President says Geneva discussions are significant but demands an update
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, March 28
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili says that the format of the Geneva International Discussions, about Georgian conflict issues created after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, is an important platform, but it should be updated.
“The president believes that it is necessary to use all the existing formats and platforms related to occupied territories and conflicts in order our partners and us to permanently remind Russians about their obligations,” President’s Spokesperson Khatia Moistsrapishvili said.
“As for the Geneva format, there is a clear position in this regard. Geneva format has no alternative, but recent years have shown that technical issues are solved mostly within this format [not political],” she added.
Moistsrapishvili said that according to Zurabishvili the format does not respond to current political demands.
“The president believes that it is necessary to update this format to respond to political necessities. If this happens within the Geneva format, we welcome it, otherwise, other ways should be found to conduct a political dialogue [with Russia],” the spokesperson said.
Earlier this month Zurabishvili stated that a new political format should be created regarding the country’s conflict issues, as existing formats are ineffective to discuss and respond to the severe problem of the occupation.
She said that work on the new format has been launched and claimed that it will not be used as an alternative to any of the existing formats.
The Geneva International Discussions, launched in 2008 to address the consequences of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war is the only existing international format discussing Georgian conflict issues with the participation of central Georgia government, the de facto leadership of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, Russia, the US, the UN, the OSCE, and the EU.
There is a meeting format between Georgian Special Envoy to Russia Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, which is focused on trade-economic issues.
The Gali and Ergneti incident prevention meetings (IPRM) are about local humanitarian issues.
Russia and Georgia have no diplomatic relations since the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
