Parliamentary chairman Davit Usupashvili and leader of UNM parliamentary minority group Davit Bakradze said after their meeting late on February 12 that ongoing negotiations had not yet produced any tangible progress, but both have expressed hope that ongoing “good working process” would lead to concrete results.

“There are issues on which it is possible to get our positions closer and work is underway in this direction,” Usupashvili told journalists after the meeting with Bakradze, which was a follow up to his meeting with President Saakashvili on February 11 which was also attended by Bakradze.

“There is no concrete progress yet to report; it’s a working process; you see I hold a constitution here; it’s a voluminous text and you see how many points are marked here; I can’t really tell you at this point what the outcome might be,” Usupashvili said.

“Our goal is to get our positions closer, because there are huge differences in our views,” Bakradze said. “I think that the process is ongoing well so far; I think we have a good chance to achieve a major and a serious agreement, which will serve positively first and foremost to our society and the country. On our part there is a readiness for cooperation and reasonable compromises, as well as to defend all those points which we deem to be [important] for the common and country’s interests.”

“I do not want to sound excessively optimistic; the process is not yet over, but I can repeat that it is a very good working process,” Bakradze added.