The State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Mr. Paata Zakareishvili delivered a speech at 2nd Session of EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee in Brussels.
According to the State Minister, regardless the continued challenges from the occupied territories towards Georgia, the Government consistently pursues peaceful, pragmatic and result-oriented policy all through the last 4 years.
“Our objective is to support confidence-building and reconciliation between conflict-affected Georgian, Abkhazian and Ossetian communities. We delivered a rational response and managed to offset provocations in the condition of complex challenges and open provocations, as was the illegal installation of barbed wires and fences by Russia and illegal arrest of the people along the dividing line. However, the fact remains that we face a number of problems through these challenges that have a vast impact on the lives of the people on a daily basis across the divide. Therefore, de-occupation of Georgia is immensely important and we remain hopeful to have continued support of international community and our partners,” – Mr. Paata Zakareishvili declared in his speech at 2nd Session of EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee.
The State Minister gave an overview of Geneva International Discussions and Temporary Commission for the needs of communities affected by dividing lines in the vicinity of occupied territories.
“We maintained unprecedented momentum of peace in these 4 years, without any violence, incidents, additional casualties or IDPs. There was no room for the adversary to use our mistakes for further confrontation. The work for conflict settlement runs into Georgian-Russian dimension;with this respect Geneva remains a key. Another dimension of the conflict is Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian relations, which runs both in Geneva and elsewhere,” – Mr. Zakareishvili emphasized.
According to the estimates of the State Minister, Geneva International Discussions is indispensable and the only durable format which covers all key stakeholders until now, including the European Union, United Nations, OSCE and United States Delegation.
“The basic essence of the format is to hold discussion between Russia and Georgia on principle issues and commitments the format serves for. It incorporates three main subjects – the non-use of force, international security mechanisms and the return of IDPs. We put an emphasis on supporting small but important steps on humanitarian and security-relates issues together with the co-chairs. The latest achievement of these efforts was the renewal of Gali IPRM at 35th Round. Remarkably, this is a progress achieved after 4-year-break and creates further possibilities for the prevention and settlement of specific incidents in Abkhazia region. Unfortunately, many issues related with human rights violation are unresolved, that remains a subject for further rounds in Geneva. Hence, there is a tendency of decay in some areas – particularly in a view of recent developments in Gali. One of the central issues at Geneva Discussions is the decline and additional restrictions on the residents of occupied territories, predominantly the rights of ethnic-Georgians who are barred from teaching native language in kindergartens and secondary schools; also the new “regulation” poses many questions among this particular segment of population with regard to movement, work and property rights,” – Mr. Paata Zakareishvili declared.
In his speech, the State Minister highlighted the role of European Union in peaceful settlement of conflicts and expressed his gratitude for EUMM for its non-recognition policy, for the support of Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“Your support towards our engagement policy is important. Since 2008, the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia is the only international actor on the ground. Even though the monitoring mission is blocked from access to another side tofully implementits mandate, it remains important security mechanism. Full implementation of the mandate is featured prominently into the agenda and remains essential for international security mechanism. Peaceful, coherent and durable settlement of conflicts is indispensable for European Security, based on the principle of sovereignty and respect for territorial integrity of the states. Europe requires successful conflict settlement projects. The model is necessary for post-soviet space, Eastern Partnership and specifically Caucasus region which is marked by unresolved conflicts and underlying risks for European security. We need to work on reinforcing this model and explore applied resources for peace. Regardless a number of challenges the world, and principally Europe and our region faces today, there is a growing need for continued support for durable and peaceful settlementof conflicts,” – Mr. Paata Zakareishvili declared.
The State Minister noted, that there is no time to lose amidst Russification and growing dynamics of creeping annexation by Russia: “This was demonstrated by recent provocations on so called “referendum” in South Ossetia over its incorporation within Russia. This clearly contains a nature of another provocation.”
The State Minister underscored Georgia’s steady integration within the European Union.
“We remain confident and hopeful that European Union will grant Georgia well-deserved right for visa-free travel through biometric passports in near future. The achievement will further empower trust within the residents of occupied territories towards Georgia. More tangible benefits of EU integration process will create incentive for peace, as a clear sign of future we are offering to them and specific advantages the European perspective entails in a view of better education, healthcare, movement, trade and economic development. The Government of Georgia extends all deliverables of European integration process with due respect to all commitments, conditions and security requirements Georgia has undertaken,” – Mr. Paata Zakareishvili declared.
Mr. Zakareishvili also spoke about Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian relations both in Geneva framework and other formats – “in a view of bilateral dialogue, at this stage we don’t enjoy dynamics we strive for. Unfortunately, this is thwarted by those who are interested in sustaining conflict and preventing people-to-people contacts. However, we carry out our engagement policysteadily in the areas of healthcare, energy, agriculture, the exchange/transfer of archive materials,environment protection and cultural heritage. We have initiated important step in March through releasing long-term prisoners through bilateral talks and Geneva format. Georgian-Abkhaz cooperation facilitated by ICRC on identification, exchange and reburial of the dead and missing persons in 90-ies is alsoeffective. This is important in a view of humanitarian and human dimensions not only for families, but the overall peace process.”
The 2nd Session of EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee took place on 25-26 April in Brussels.