Officials from the Georgian and Abkhaz sides hailed the first session of the recently reinstated Coordinating Council in Tbilisi on May 15 and said that this negotiating format offers the chance for regular meetings between the sides. “We have discussed a broad range of issues which are on the agenda and we have agreed on a concrete agenda and timetable for those working groups, which are in frames of the Coordinating Council, so that they may deal with these issues. This format gives us the opportunity to meet more often and more regularly and to solve ongoing issues, because we are not standing still, the process is ongoing, everyday issues are emerging which need a prompt response and a solution,” Giorgi Khaindrava said. Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba said that the meeting was productive. “Those issues discussed today were well-prepared in advance for this kind of a constructive dialogue and for their approval. So we had no serious controversies about the issues which were on the agenda. They [the issues] just need more improvement and we have instructed the working groups to work over them,” Sergey Shamba said at a news conference after the meeting. Both Khaindrava and Shamba said that issues related with the return of IDPs are very complicated. “The 1994 agreement envisages a gradual solution to this problem and it [the document] calls [for the return of IDPs] in the Gali district first of all. Now we are engaged in this primary task, which is not yet accomplished but which we think is not our fault. We might have disagreements over this issue, but at the same time we have certain progress in this regard as well. With the assistance of UNHCR - who has an action plan which we are ready to implement. The working group which will gather in June will work over implementation of this plan,” Shamba said. He said that “the the UNHCR-developed strategic plan” over return the of IDPs in the Gali district is “a two-year program.” During the meeting the Abkhaz side handed Sokhumi's peace plan, which was proposed in early May by Abkhaz leader Sergey Shamba, over to the Georgian side. Shamba said that the Abkhaz-proposed peace plan is Sokhumi’s vision of “our [Georgian, Abkhaz] peaceful coexistence.” “We think that there are issues, which we can start to discuss today and on which we can find mutual understanding on. We also understand that not all the issues put forth in this plan will be understood by the Georgian leadership and society, but we are ready to work over them gradually - we understand that this is a long-term process. We have wasted too much time during confrontations. We should pave the way for mutual confidence. And we think that some major aspects of this peace plan give the possibility for this kind of movement,” Shamba said. Georgian State Minister Giorgi Khaindrava said that the development of peace plans by both sides should be regarded as a positive step. “The most important thing is that there is a position and a willingness to create, to develop plans which will give the chance to jointly resolve the conflict. Of course, at this stage we do not expect any sensational decisions over this issue, but the fact that Mr. Shamba has brought the document [the Abkhaz-proposed peace plan] to Tbilisi [should be welcomed]. We will study this document very thoroughly. You know that we [the Georgian side] are also preparing a so called 'roadmap' [for the resolution of the Abkhaz conflict]… I have not had the chance to thoroughly study this document [the Abkhaz-proposed peace plan] yet, I have just looked through it and I can say that there are issues which can be regarded as a basis for mutual understanding,” Khaindrava said. Khaindrava said that Tbilisi’s Abkhaz conflict peace plan will be “a list of those measures which will help resolve” the conflict. “I hope that we will be able to move our position closer to each other, which will give us the possibility to say that we have found a joint way to solve problems,” Khaindrava said. |
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