Georgian PM to feature at Paris Peace Forum panel discussion on regional security, challenges - Ambassador

Gotcha Javakhishvili, the Georgian Ambassador to France, on Thursday said Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili would feature in a panel discussion over security challenges and stability in the South Caucasus region at the 6th Paris Peace Forum on Friday. 

Set to be involved in the discussion with his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan, the PM will also highlight his Government's “positive role” in mediating for peace in the region, the diplomat told the press. 

Garibashvili last month told Tbilisi Silk Road Forum his Government, as an “impartial mediator” between the neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia in their long-running conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, was interested in ensuring a “lasting peace” in the South Caucasus. 

Featuring at the Forum along with Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, the PM also said the states had to solve their regional and development issues “by themselves”.

Garibashvili and Philip Reeker, the United States Department of State Senior Adviser for Caucasus Negotiations, brokered a deal involving Azerbaijan’s release of 15 Armenian prisoners of war in exchange for receiving from Armenia a map of landmines in the Agdam district of the region in June 2021.

• Azerbaijan releases 15 Armenian citizens through mediation of Georgian PM, US Assistant Secretary of State

In the agreement the captives were handed over to Armenia on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border, with the Georgian authorities attending the swap. 

In July 2022, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, held their inaugural meeting in Tbilisi, as part of the Georgian Government's Peaceful Neighbourhood initiative for the South Caucasus, which was initiated by Garibashvili.