Georgia: UN envoy reports progress during latest round of international talks

The United Nations envoy to Georgia and his European co-chairs led talks today as part of the continuing international discussions aimed at preventing an outbreak of renewed violence following last year’s deadly conflict in Georgia.

Johan Verbeke, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Georgia, and representatives of the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), took part in today’s round of the Geneva International Discussions. The UN and the two other organizations are co-chairs of the discussions.

Later Mr. Verbeke told reporters that today’s discussions had achieved a concrete result, with the Abkhaz side – which has previously committed to a mechanism designed to prevent and resolve incidents as they arise – indicating that it would now move towards the implementation stage.

As a result a first consultative meeting is scheduled to take place in Gali under UN auspices on 14 July.

The participants in the discussions also agreed to meet again on 17 September in Geneva.