Georgian PM vows regional peace mediator role at meeting with EU representative

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday pledged to proceed with his efforts to mediate for peace in the South Caucasus region in a meeting with Toivo Klaar, the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia. 

• Georgian PM: Georgia “neutral, impartial” mediator between Azerbaijan, Armenia

The Government Administration said the officials discussed regional and global security challenges on the backdrop of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Tbilisi meeting. 

Garibashvili's focus on the mediating role follows the Georgian Government's involvement in facilitating talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan during flare-ups in the intermittent conflict between the sides over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

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

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

In the agreement, which followed the most recent clashes between the two counties, 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 Neighborhood initiative for the South Caucasus, initiated by Garibashvili to facilitate talks between the regional states.