Foreign Ministry says Geneva Int’l Discussions “important platform” in rejection of de facto Abkhazia authorities’ claim

The Georgian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday rejected claims by de facto authorities in the country’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region about the Georgian Government’s “refusal to engage in political dialogue” by calling the Geneva International Discussions - the platform used for talks between Georgian agencies and de facto authorities in the occupied regions - an “important platform”.

The Ministry told the Georgian Public Broadcaster the office would continue its efforts to “make progress” on matters of the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) at the talks, and added the office was preparing for the next round of discussions.

The channel asked the Ministry for comments following a statement by the de facto authorities in Abkhazia that said Russia intended to relocate the Geneva International Discussions and was considering Minsk or Baku as alternative locations.

The de facto authorities in the occupied region also cited Inal Ardzinba, the de facto Minister for Foreign Affairs, as claiming the Georgian Government was refusing to “engage in political dialogue regarding the signing of a mutually binding agreement on the non-use of force”.

The Ministry said it intended to use the platform for continued efforts to enforce Russia’ fulfilment of the August 12, 2008 ceasefire agreement that ended that year’s war between Russia and Georgia and required the former to withdraw its troops from the occupied regions.

The body also said humanitarian topics and return of internally displaced persons to their homes were also topics at the Discussions.