OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht called on the Georgian and South Ossetian sides to hold talks at the “highest-level.”

Speaking at a news conference after talks with President Saakashvili in Tbilisi, Karel De Gucht also said that the independence referendum scheduled for November 12 in breakaway South Ossetian authorities will be “counterproductive.”

“I invite the parties to a meeting at the highest-level under the patronage of the OSCE Chairmanship and I welcome the Georgian representatives to attend such meeting of which modalities still have to be fixed,” Karel De Gucht.

“I also call the South Ossetian authorities’ intention to hold a referendum counterproductive. It will not be recognized by the international community and it will not be recognized by the OSCE and it will impede the peace process,” he added.