20:41, 16 January 2004

Georgian-Abkhazian peace talks within framework of Geneva Process to be continued

The agreement has been reached to resume Georgian-Abkhazian talks on the peace resolution of the conflict in Abkhazia. Georgian Minister for Special Affairs Malkhaz Kakabadze, who is in charge of the Abkhazian issue, told journalists on January 15 that an enlarged quadripartite meeting on security issues would be held in the Gali district of Abkhazia on January 19. Representatives of the Georgian and Abkhazian parties, of the United Nations and Russian peacekeepers will be participants in the meeting.

Mr. Kakabadze also announced that the agreement had been reached to continue talks within the framework of the so call Geneva Process, which is led by the Group of Friends of the UN Secretary-General on Georgia (the US, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia). In particular, the second meeting of working groups on security issues and a policy within the Geneva Process is designed for late February. This meeting was to be held in Tbilisi as early as the autumn of 2003, but it did not take place. The first meeting was held in Sukhum in the summer of 2003.

Source: REGNUM News Agency