Tea Akhvlediani, the candidate for the position of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, said “peace and development” were “equally important” for both Abkhazian and Ossetian communities, and named the objectives as “common interests and the only way to overcome existing challenges”.

In her remarks at a joint meeting of parliamentary committees, she underlined the Georgian Government remained committed to peaceful resolution of the conflict.

“Today, at the joint committee meeting as a candidate for State Minister, we presented a vision, both in terms of reconciliation and engagement, as well as civic equality and integration policies, which, on the one hand, is based on the principles of peace and stability, and on the other hand, on the principles of building an ethnically and culturally diverse, equal and democratic society.

We also discussed future plans, both in terms of implementing the peace initiatives applicable to the population living in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia, as well as the priorities of the State Strategy for Civic Equality and Integration applicable to the population living in regions densely populated by ethnic minorities, which is largely based on both the assessment of the results achieved to date, as well as the analysis of the challenges and opportunities still facing us, in order to achieve longer-term, sustainable, larger-scale results, both in one direction and in the other, within the framework of the policy within the competence of the State Minister’s Office”, - said Tea Akhvlediani.