The Government has set up an interagency commission to search for and transfer the bodies of persons missing after armed conflicts, - State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili told reporters after the government meeting.

According to the Minister, 10 different agencies will join the commission and its main task will be to conduct intensive and coordinated work to identify the whereabouts or burial places of 2 300 missing persons.

“I have one news - by the decree of the Georgian Government, an interagency commission was set up to search for and transfer the bodies of persons missing after armed conflicts. The commission comprises ten different agencies involved in this very important humanitarian process.

We can tell you that as a result of the armed conflicts of 1990 and 2008, about 2 500 people have gone missing. Since 2010, two mechanisms have been operating under the auspices of the Red Cross: the Georgian-Abkhazian and the Georgian-Russian-Ossetian mechanisms, as a result of which, 187 burial sights have been opened so far and 178 persons have been identified, the remains of which have been transferred to their families. However, about 2300 people still remain missing, which is a very large figure.

Therefore, we are committed to making our efforts even more effective, of course, together with the Red Cross, which plays a very important role in this process. I would like to thank this international organization for its successful conduct of the process. Also, I would like to thank all the participants of the mechanisms, because without cooperation, nothing will happen.

We emphasize once again that this is clearly only a humanitarian process that serves to determine the fate of missing persons. This is a very important thing for families, when after years of waiting for their loved one's fate, even when it comes to determining their death and transferring the remains”, - said Ketevan Tsikhelashvili.