Georgia, Tbilisi, Oct.11 / Trend, N.Kirtskhalia /
The 21st round of international discussions on security and stability in the South Caucasus will be held in Geneva on Oct.11.
According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the talks will be attended by representatives from Georgia, Russia, the U.S., the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the UN, OSCE and EU.
The Georgian delegation will be headed by NSC Secretary Giorgi Bokeria, while from the Russian side, State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. The Georgian delegation will include representatives of Bidzina Ivanishvili's future government. They will attend the meeting as observers.
Members of the working group on security will exchange views on the situation at the administrative borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and discuss ways of improving its long term stability, including by enhancing the efficiency of Joint Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (MPRI). The parties will continue to discuss methods to achieve the key objectives of the Geneva discussions ensuring the lasting security of puppet formations such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In this context, Russia insists on the signing of agreements between Georgia and the breakaway republics, but Tbilisi demands signing such an agreement with Moscow.
The Geneva talks were convened after the armed conflict in Georgia in August 2008, in accordance with the Ceasefire Agreement dated Aug.12.
Military actions were launched in the Georgian region of South Ossetia on Aug.8, 2008. Later Russian troops occupied the city of Tskhinvali and drove the Georgian military back. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in late August.
In response, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow and announced the two unrecognised republics as occupied territories.