Georgian Parliament Committee Chair hails “timely” visit of OSCE PA

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, on Saturday said the recent visit of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe was “very timely” to assess the situation and explore the possibilities of establishing long-term peace in the South Caucasus region.

In his address at the OSCE PA, Samkharadze stressed Georgia’s readiness to be a facilitator in the “peace talks” between Armenia and Azerbaijan to “achieve lasting peace” in the region.

We hope that with the willingness of both sides [Armenia and Azerbaijan], expressed publicly and officially, we will celebrate a durable peace between our two brotherly neighbouring nations in the coming months”, he added.

Samkharadze also noted the importance of the OSCE representatives' visit to the administrative line separating central Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region from the rest of the country, to see the settlement of internally displaced persons as a result of Russian occupation, “who do not have the opportunity to return to their homes for more than 15 years, and some of them for 30 years”.